Anatomy of a Viral Substack Note

Are there any secrets to going viral?

I don’t really understand what going viral means.

I speak for many others when I say this (right?). Why do some things go so viral while others just fester like a fart in the wind, with barely a soul noticing?

It’s a mystery I’ll probably never understand.

This is the sort of post which will make a lot more sense to those who spend time in or on Substack and have their own newsletters. For my regular band of loyal readers, I’ll briefly explain.

Inside Substack, people post Notes, which are akin to the types of things people post on all the other social media platforms. This includes memes, pictures of pets and idle coffee cups on desks, wise quotations, literary inspiration, lousy humour (mainly from me), banal platitudes exhorting you to ‘never give up’ and ‘write for yourself’, grifters promising massive growth if you subscribe to them and pay a lot of money and do exactly as they say, people showing off subscriber numbers and begging for more to get them to 100, 500, 1000, 5000, etc. Here are a couple of my favourite Notes writers to give you an idea:

I’m a bit of a prankster, posting wisecracks, being sarcastic, and naming and shaming people who do things I don’t like (like the grifters and those spouting off about ‘unpopular opinions’ that are not unpopular at all). Sometimes I make snide comments about why certain Notes have gone so viral. But I’m not the only one, as you can see. This author with an amusing name made me chuckle the other day with this:

Michael’s Note has well over 2,000 likes. Poor Groucho’s: a mere 5.

I’ve never had a Note or anything go viral (I think). What’s the minimum number of likes that constitutes officially going viral? 100? 1,000? 10,000? I’ve already established that I’m a numpty when it comes to social media (and also here). I haven’t really got a clue, I just like to mess around and have a bit of fun with it. My most viral moments have been replies to other Notes - one got over 100 likes (yay for me!) and another couple are hovering around 75-80.

But as for my own Notes:

Here’s me being silly, taking the piss out of people posting photos of their big achievements. In this case, I had questions for Jessie: Did she get the news while she was out running and take this picture right away? Or did she get the news earlier and then suddenly feel inspired to take this picture at this moment? Or did she carefully plan this and say, “you know what, let me take a picture while out jogging to share with everyone?” Is it a coincidence that the lighting was perfect?

In my previous post, I interviewed ChatGPT. In my next post, I have an interview with an up-and-coming author about to make it big in the literary world. For this post, I asked three Substackers who recently had Notes go viral a few questions to get inside their minds and discover the anatomy of a viral Note.

The one thing these Notes have in common? In my (humble) opinion, they are all very worthy.

1 Going Pretty Viral:

Lindsey Smith | Not Normal

Q1: When you wrote that note, did you have any idea of the impact it would have?

No, I had no idea! I actually debated for a few days whether to post it, as I don't like to be negative towards other writers, but the original poster's Note bothered me so much that I thought I'd share my perspective on it in case it resonated with others. I have noticed that Notes about writing and/or Substack tend to get more views than other notes, though, which makes me think the Man Behind the Curtain (aka the Substack algorithm) must favor those types of Notes more than others.

Q2: What was going through your head when you saw the likes piling up?

When I saw the likes piling up, I was curious. I've had a few things go viral-ish before, but they'd never resulted in a boost in subscribers. Social media and notes are fun, but of course what I really want is to connect with others on a deeper level via my actual writing and posts, so I was mainly keen to see if the Note would bring in some new subscribers (it did!).

Q3: Do you feel any added pressure now with your notes?

No, I don't feel any more pressure with Notes- I feel that they are sort of like dandelion heads blowing in the wind. Pretty one minute, gone the next. I do feel a little anxious as to whether these new subscribers will stick around once they get a real taste of my writing, which unlike my viral Note, is all funny essays and satire and not at all a commentary on writing.

2 Going Super Viral:

Helen Barrell

Q1: What prompted you to post that note?

I'm in a WhatsApp group with a couple of friends where we send each other silly memes and random funny things we find. One of my friends spotted a brilliant typo in the Guardian newspaper; a British newspaper which is legendary for its typos, to the point that satirical magazine Private Eye refers to it as the Grauniad. My friend took a photo and sent it to the group. It made me laugh so hard, so I decided it was worthy of sharing on Substack and my own Facebook (yeah, I still have one of those). I did ask him first before I shared it. I just thought it'd a raise a smile with the people I chat to on here.

Q2: Did you have any inkling that it might go so viral?

I had absolutely no idea it was going to go viral like it did. If it had, I would've credited it properly. I'm a librarian and I feel itchy at the thought that I didn't! I know I can edit it, but I can't bring myself to after it's whizzed so far across Substack in its original form. I posted it in the afternoon. My Substack chums were liking and restacking, then at some point in the evening, I noticed that Jenny Eclair had restacked it. She's a British comedian who recently joined Substack and she's a bit of a heroine of mine, so I felt rather chuffed. I think it'd had about 20 or 30 likes, and then I went to bed.

I woke up the next morning and picked up my phone before I'd put my glasses on. I squinted at the screen. 50 likes? No... I put my glasses on and saw... 500 likes. I blinked and blinked again because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. But there it was. It must've picked up speed and touched a nerve with our cousins in the US and Canada over the afternoon and evening their time, while I was asleep. And that was when it struck me. "Oh, heck. I've gone viral."

Q3: Was going viral on Substack everything you’d ever dreamed of?

I can't say I've ever dreamed of going viral. It's something I've become rather scared of, to be honest, because on other platforms, going viral will bring out the trolls. And yet, despite the fact that the note is still going (I'm still getting likes and comments even now, two weeks later), there hasn't been any trolling. And I think that says a lot about Substack. For a couple of days, my phone was going mad with notifications and I had to work out how to turn them off!

If I was to pick apart the reasons for why that particular Note went viral, I think it's because it's such a funny typo. So many writers and publishing industry folk are on Substack that it means there's a heck of a lot of people here who have personal experience of typos. We've all worried about missing them in our work, and we've all gone into print, or sent out a Substack newsletter, with one in. And that particular typo is even funnier because the wrong letter is just so HUGE. A massive, decorative F. A loud and proud mistake. And because it's robbed the place of the "D" at the start of "During", it's even created a new word: "Furing".

What on earth does that mean? It even seems to make some sort of sense, even though it's complete nonsense. "Furing the pandemic...." Is it a way of describing the fury and frustration and perhaps the ennui of lockdown? Could it even be related to being a bit furry because the barbers and hairdressers were all shut? The pandemic touched us all, so that strikes a chord as well. I think it may have helped that people were making funny comments on it, and I was trying to reply to everyone as well. It turned that note into a fun place. And, ultimately, it was just a very lucky find. My thanks to the Guardian, and my mate Gareth.

3. Going Mega Viral:

Lee Bacon

Q1: When you wrote that note, did you have any idea of the impact it would have?

Not at all. Whenever I think a note’s going to be huge, it’s a sure sign it’ll sink like a stone.

Q2: How did you feel when you saw the number of likes creeping up?

It was a bit like watching my kid ride her bike for the first time. I was excited, but also nervous, like, Uh oh. What have I unleashed?

Q3: Are you worried the success will go to your head?

It already has. After the note went viral, I drove down to the local yacht store and told them, “Give me the biggest thing ya got.” When they asked about finances, I whipped out my phone and showed them my stats. They called security.

Q4: Any advice for aspiring notes writers looking to go mega viral?

Don’t TRY to go viral. That’s just asking the algorithm to kick you in the teeth. Focus on finding your little community on Substack. Engage with their stuff and they’ll (hopefully) engage back. Be generous with likes and comments. And then, if a note DOES blow up, it’ll feel like a fun bonus. Just don’t expect to get a yacht out of the deal.

For an absolutely hilarious deeper dive into a different note that went viral, check out Lee’s latest post: This Is What Happens When You Go Viral

And good luck to you too, in your quest to go viral. If it’s your quest.

Be patient. It will happen one day (maybe…maybe not…)