Substack Creators Should Embrace WhatsApp Channels

WhatsApp could boost open rates to our work. Here's how:

Hey Everyone,

Meta is bringing a trifecta of new products that I think will be potentially impactful for Creators like Substack writers. WhatsApp Channels, Instagram twitter clone Barcelona, and perhaps less relevant to us, the Instagram chatbot that will have at least 30 different personalities.

Since Substack Chat has a limited engagement due to low app usage among our readers, and other channels struggle to provide community for readers such as Facebook Groups, Slack, Discord or other tools, I think WhatsApp Channels might actually be an agnostic good bet with higher open-rates.

Google is also releasing News Showcase to more countries, which could impact some Substack writers as well. The other place to try to get positioned would be the Artifact news reader app.

Whatsapp Channels

• Instagram Barcelona

• Instagram Chatbot

• Google News Showcase

So why could WhatsApp Channels be a big deal?

• On WhatsApp, Channels messages will show up in a new tab called Updates.

• Channels are a one-way broadcast tool for admins to send text, photos, videos, stickers, and polls.

• It’s for local updates and following creators.

• It could benefit Creators as a go-to way to reach more people and given Meta’s promise to “embed AI into everything”, it could be an upgrade from Discord and other community channel tools.

• This is mostly since Substack’s app and Chat and Notes is immature and only reaches a fraction of our readers.

WhatsApp was officially launched in November 2009 as a chat app service for iOS. 14 years later it has over 2 billion users globally. And is ranked among the most popular mobile messenger apps in the world.

While Email open rates average out at around 30%, SMS have much higher baseline open-rates. Word of mouth might also happen for writers more on an app like WhatsApp. Think also about the synergy it might have with the new Twitter clone by Meta, which has a code name Barcelona.

Meta starts and tries a lot of things that don’t work out though, particularly related to Instagram. But WhatsApp is an untapped oasis to be honest, always has been, especially in countries where its use is more tied to the social fabric of things.

“a private way to follow what matters”

Your Substack Newsletter audience really is like your private club, so I see some synergy here. If you are too lazy or unable to have a YouTube channel, this seems like a sound community investment.

• You can also get to a channel from invite links sent in chats, e-mail, or posted online.

• WhatsApp says it’s aspiring to build the most private broadcast service available.

• As a channel admin, your phone number and profile photo won’t be shown to followers. Likewise, following a channel won’t reveal your phone number to the admin or other followers. Who you decide to follow is your choice and it’s private.

• Notably, these are one-way conversations, so users won’t be able to reply to those messages.

• The company has plans to build payment and other monetization services into Channels, too.

So WhatsApp says they will bring Channels to more countries and the ability for anyone to create a channel over the coming months.

What’s happening in 2023 is more Creator tool are becoming more accessible. ConverKit building a “Creator network” is evidence of that, but that’s not free. WhatsApp has a long tradition of being free and easily accessible.

Channels is also a creator tool, to some extent, a place for those with an audience to “send text, photos, videos, stickers, and polls,” according to WhatsApp’s launch blog post. While I like the app Geneva, it doesn’t seem to have grown very well as a young startup. WhatsApp has had many years to mature with features and a huge global audience which means it’s valuable real-estate for a Creator, since the majority of people will have it already on their device.

WhatsApp is still Growing

As more people around the world join the internet, WhatsApp will be one of the first tools they are exposed to. With the going down of relevance of Facebook and Facebook Messenger, Instagram and especially WhatsApp might stand best the test of time.

Substack tries to do community features, but at the end of the day its app is just too small, clunky and even unappealing as a reader to be useful for Creators that want really engaged communities. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t do discussion threads, Notes, Chat and so forth. But it’s not going to attract new readers or anything.

Does your Niche Need a Channel?

WhatsApp Channels could be a top-of-the-funnel device and community interaction around your niche topic.

A WhatsApp Channel on your Newsletter’s topic could be the way people globally discover your Substack better. Think about it.

WhatsApp might be one of the better mobile places to reach an audience and engage with your existing audience.

WhatsApp could have higher “open-rates” than traditional Email Newsletters, which might have reached saturation in your niche topic already.

Google News Showcase is also relevant here. News Showcase product is a set of features and dedicated spaces within Google's search products that elevate high-quality information for readers. The products are meant to help deliver more traffic to the websites of participating publishers.

It remains to be seen if more Substacks will be seen in Google News, Google Showcase and important news related apps like Artifact. On Artifact, a pop-up appears to subscribe to the Newsletter, which means it could be really valuable for Substack writers.

The Twitter Clone Meta is building is also focusing on decentralization, which means it might have staying power on a more web-3 friendly internet with services like Bluesky Social, Mastodon and others that will eventually be connected in different ways.

Social Media is Bifurcating

Getting your LinkedIn posts to go more viral is already somewhat important if you want more traffic to your Newsletters. I’m noticing more influencers on Twitter also doing paid Subscriptions, though often these are people without a Substack to work with.

News is Changing online

Google Showcase was created as more countries began to introduce legislation that would require tech firms to pay for news. WhatsApp is quickly turning into something other than just a messaging app. It’s dipping its toes into media and the Creator Economy and in the macro scope of things, it’s really important and could be rather impactful.

LLMs will also change search less into a textbox and more into a conversation. This could drastically reduce how websites are found and how publications are read or discovered.

Peer to Peer (P2P) Ecosystems tag “Recommendations”

With recommendation ecosystems of peers, Newsletters on Substack, SparkLoop, beehiiv, ConvertKit, and Refind already have ways to increase their Newsletter audience faster and easier and with paid boosting better than ever before. Some of these feels more like paid acquisitions and aren’t right for most Substack writers, who are just building smaller publications and aren’t yet at that stage yet.

Some Newsletter writers swear by Telegram or Slack or Facebook Groups, but even Discord might not be the right channel for your audience. You might need to go with something more mainstream. WhatsApp broadcasts are more of a one-way street, but they can still potentially be a great source of on-boarding to for new readers to discover your Newsletter and niche topic better.

If feels like WhatsApp Channels will also learn from some of the mistakes of Instagram broadcasts in the past. They still need to flesh things out, but the core idea is good.

TikTok Series is an Important Feature

For Creators, perhaps even more impactful might be TikTok Series long-video behind paywalls.

Series, was first announced in March and only open to select creators. Participants can charge money for access to exclusive content. It’s like Twitter Subscriptions but better since obviously it’s geared to video and to people who have cultivated a significant TikTok following already. There are some Substack creators who fit this category actually.

This is Internet Princess on TikTok.

So yeah, maybe one of these new products will work out for Creators:

• TikTok Series

• Twitter Subscriptions

• Meta’s Twitter clone: Barcelona

• WhatsApp Channels

Don’t spend all your time on Substack Chat, threads, Notes - it’s not going to necessarily reach many people or much of your audience, think bigger too! Think about how to patch Platforms together in the quilt that’s best for your niche and Newsletter topic and for your own habits of creativity and consumption.

I hope this helps and gives you a guide post to some of your influencer activities and personal brand management.

Your Newsletter doesn’t have to be an island in the wild, you can do commerce with the other natives in your pocket of the internet sea.