You Don’t Need Social Media To Grow On Substack

How I Got 6,000+ Substack Subscribers Without Relying on LinkedIn, Twitter, Or Instagram.

I used to post everywhere.

Instagram. LinkedIn. Twitter. YouTube. I even had two podcasts.

I spent hours clipping videos, writing captions, and designing thumbnails in my attempts to repurpose everything.

The plan? Be seen. Go viral. Grow fast.

Instead, I just burned out.

I felt my phone buzzing like a fire alarm. Notifications, drafts, and scheduled posts. The more I posted, the more behind I felt.

Endless content left me anxious, distracted, and resentful of the platforms that were supposed to "grow my business."

And after all that effort? I barely gained any new subscribers.

So I stopped.

I re-evaluated my relationship with traditional social media. Left YouTube. Stopped podcasting. Quit LinkedIn. Pulled back Instagram. Stopped repurposing everything.

That’s when something unexpected happened:

My Substack kept growing.

Not from reels. Not from LinkedIn. But from writing—directly on Substack.

Then it clicked:

I never needed traditional social media to grow my Substack. I just needed to invest my time in the right place.

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This Letter Is Brought To You By WriteStack

Most Substack writers ignore Notes. Big mistake.

Top creators get 50% of subs from them.

WriteStack gives you personalized Notes + a dead-simple scheduler so you can post consistently, grow faster, and never run out of ideas.

And an all-in-one notes dashboard, so you can double down on what works, and ditch the others.

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The Data Tells The Story

At the time of writing, I’ve grown my Substack to 6,174 subscribers.

My social media efforts generated 80 of those.

• Instagram: 50.

• LinkedIn: 18.

• Facebook: 12.

That’s 1.3% of my total audience.

Which means 98.7% came from somewhere else entirely.

And here’s what really shifted things for me.

I realized in the time it takes me to film, edit, and upload a single Instagram reel, I can write one or two Substack Notes. A single Note has brought me more subscribers than Instagram has in two years. And I’ve written dozens that have done this.

So when people ask how I attract subscribers, my answer is simple:

Write on Substack.

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When To Use Social... and When To Skip It

Social media isn’t bad. It’s just not always the best tool for the job.

Context matters.

If you have a large, engaged audience on another platform—use it. If you’re sitting on 50,000+ LinkedIn followers or a highly engaged X following, it makes sense to announce your Substacks there. Even temporarily.

That’s what creators like Dan Koe and Justin Welsh did. Big platforms, big momentum, big lists. It worked for them because they had existing audiences before coming to Substack.

But that wasn’t me.

When I started, I didn’t have much traction anywhere else. Maybe 1,000 on Instagram. Under 1,500 on LinkedIn. My growth didn’t come from those platforms. It came from writing.

Ironically, my social channels grew because of Substack, not the other way around.

This is why I stopped trying to siphon people from other platforms. The time I spent repurposing content brought in less than 1% of my total growth.

As a solopreneur, I decided to focus.

I chose to grow Substack, on Substack.

Because I think that’s where many solo creators get stuck:

They’re told to be everywhere. Automate. Repurpose. Crosspost. Caption. Schedule.

But if you don’t already have an audience elsewhere, you’re spending time building bridges to places with no one waiting on the other side.

It’s not wrong. It’s just not required.

And when every hour matters? Simplicity wins.

The time you spend managing five platforms could be spent writing one really good Note. That Note might bring in more growth than a month (or year) of social ever could.

If you’re starting from scratch, Substack should be the first place you invest your time. Because that’s where your readers will end up anyway.

Then… if you do have the time, energy, or desire to use social, great. Just be honest about what you’re trying to build.

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What Actually Drives Growth

Most people assume growth comes from doing more.

More content. More platforms. More reach.

But in my experience, growth comes from doing less—just more intentionally.

Here’s what actually worked for me:

• Weekly newsletters to build trust and credibility.

• Notes to drive visibility.

• Comments (& Chat) to build community.

That’s it.

Sometimes I sprinkle in collaborations. But those three things are the foundation.

I don’t have a big audience elsewhere. I don’t try to build one anymore. I built here, on Substack, where the people I wanted to reach already were.

Substack has its own ecosystem.

And if you understand how it works, you don’t need social media to grow.

• Notes are your discovery engine

• Newsletters are your trust builder

• Comments (& Chat) are your relationship layer

• Collaborations and recommendations amplify your reach

If you’re just getting started, don’t try to stack everything at once.

Pick one level you can sustain, and build from there.

That’s the idea behind my Substack Growth Framework.

It’s built in five levels, from simple habits to full business integration. You level up when it feels easy, not when you feel behind.

And if you are active on platforms like LinkedIn or X, you can absolutely make them work for you. I wrote a short guide on how to siphon that traffic back to Substack. You can read it here.

But if you’re short on time or just getting started?

Start here. Start small. Stay consistent. That’s what drives sustainable growth.

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Before You Go

If you’ve ever felt behind because you’re not on every platform… If you’ve wondered whether you can really grow without social media… The answer is Yes.

You don’t need to post everywhere. You don’t need a huge following. You don’t need to do more.

You just need a rhythm you can return to consistently, without burning out.

And trust that it will take you where you need to go.

Hope this helped.

Landon

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P.S. Want a clear path to grow your Substack from scratch?

Grab my Substack Growth Guide to learn the exact strategy I used to get from zero to 6,000+ subscribers without relying on social. Read it here.

And if you do have a presence on LinkedIn or X, don’t miss my guide on how to siphon that audience back to Substack. You can check it out here.

P.P.S. If you found this helpful, would you do me a quick favor and restack it? Sharing spreads the message and motivates me to keep writing practical content to help you thrive in your online business.