Okay... Let's Try This Again... with a twist

The results are in! We don't seem to know how to use Substack beyond readin' and writin'... yet. Let's aim to fix that.

So my last two posts played with some of the functionalities of the Substack platform; namely audio and video respectively (was that the correct use of a semi colon? I really don’t know but it feels right, ya know?).

While both posts got similar view and like results as most of my posts (in the 200-300 range), the actual listens and views of the audio-visual parts of the posts was less than 10 combined. 10! That’s what called in marketing terms (not something I often pay attention to these days) as a “terrible click-through rate”.

So people read what I wrote but didn’t actually check-out the material that I was writing about.

What does this tell us? The big five possibilities:

1. Most people are being nice by just clicking on the first level link buttons to give me a view without actually looking at what I posted beyond a 5-second scan. I’m not mad if this what you’ve done. It’s still some level of support. Though I’d prefer if 100% of people hung on my every thought and went into deep contemplation over it. Still, I know this isn’t very realistic and borderline narcissistic— and we don’t need more of that in the world right now.

   But to quote some guy who later won an Oscar…

1. I made the mistake of “assuming” (see my last post) that listening to the audio or watching the video would be straight-forward and obvious. I probably should’ve written clear instructions.

1. Very few people are actually willing to put much effort into keeping up with my thoughts if it lies outside the standard expectations on a platform like Substack. Again, that’s ok. I get that I’m not for everyone and even those who do appreciate me often can only do so in limited amounts. Hint: those people are not likely to follow through with later parts of this post, but that’s not you, right?.

2. My posts just aren’t as amazing as I think they are. Judging by comments and messages that I receive, this is not something that I believe to be more than 10% of the equation (see #1).

   this is a clickable link

   (Go ahead— you know you want to. It’s a song by Peter Gabriel that is just alright, but it fits lyrically with what I just wrote for #4 and it’s still pretty cool for an older established artist who has no real reason to keep pushing boundaries but is anyway. Honestly, it’s like every era of his career in one song but not as good as that sounds.)

3. And speaking of #4, the real answer could be… and probably is… a combination of all of the above.

The good news is that both the audio and video quality on Substack is excellent. This is especially true of the video which far exceeds the quality of YouTube (which adds an excessive amount of compression among other things). One can even post video on YouTube through Substack which is pretty convenient for the creator and I will likely take advantage of once I have an actual long-form video to post (SOON! I promise!). ¹

The audio quality is also quite good and I appreciate the FREE built-in transcription feature (even though it is very error-prone). Substack can also serve as a free podcast distributor across all major apps with minimal set-up. That’s cool.

So, in short, Substack could be a “one stop shop” for putting my very inciteful, important, and essential thoughts into the world. If only I could figure out a way to combine it all into a single post… hmmm…

But that brings me to some of the bad news. Well, not bad news, but challenges of stumbling upon something pretty awesome here… in my opinion anyway. I recognize that the set-up of Substack works perfectly fine for 99% of users.

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Yet hear me out on this: I predict that there will be a significant demand for more versatile use of Substack by those frustrated by the increasing political interests of certain billionaires who control most of the prominent social media outlets. Substack could become the primary distributor of the modern-day equivalent of underground zines (1960-2000) and pamphlets (1750-1800).

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Speaking of which… SHAME ON SUBSTACK FOR NOT BEING BETTER ABOUT SHUTTING DOWN NAZIS. I haven’t really encountered much of anything in my feed, but I know others have seen some disturbing stuff. In marketing terms (again, something that I really don’t consider much anymore), this weakens Substack’s unique strategy position to be a leader in free thought and dissent against the rise of fascism, fear-mongering and hatred. I mean, deep discussion and informed consideration are things that Substack does very well. Sure, people looking for that isn’t 100% of the market but it’s a pretty massive contingency. And (final marketing reference, I swear) the power of niche marketing is often the key to building a successful business. Even universal companies like Coca-Cola, Apple, and Yamaha started as very niche-oriented.

Mostly, I really wish I could post both multiple audio and video files into a single post without coming-up with work-arounds that require combining with other platforms. It’d just make Substack unique and empower real creativity even further. For example, what if I want to post multiple audio files within a post (like an album review featuring clips that are legally clear to use)? Currently, I’d have to link to separate files elsewhere in other apps (and I’m already certain many followers don’t want to put that level of work in) instead of just having all the files live within the original post. The same is true for video (imagine a university-level analysis of movie scenes directed by Sam Firstenberg— actually please don’t).

But stress not, my dear readers! I have stumbled upon a workaround via Substack’s “private yet public” feature. Or as Substack calls it: “secret draft link” that is available under “settings” when creating new posts. It’s a little awkward.

Actually, it’s very awkward. But it’s all we have for now. And potentially all we’ll ever get. But I don’t think I’m being overly paranoid by anticipating that knowing how to use social media in unconventional ways may be an important skill to have. It never hurts to be prepared, anyway.

And just because it can be awkward, don’t take that to mean (ie “assume”) that it can’t be fun. While I think this is the point where the folks referenced in #2 of the initial list I gave bow out, try thinking of the rest of this “post” as a “choose your own adventure” type thing. I probably won’t do a ton of experiments like this, but it’s an interesting way of pushing some of Substack’s limits in unintended ways.

If you don’t like either option, but want to see what I’m up to, then just play along and click either, there will be more choices down the line.

So your first choice, if you choose to continue and take the red pill, is this:

• If you want to check out a song section (more info in the link) from the rock opera I’m working on that I really love, then click here.

• If you’d like to watch the most popular YouTube video I’ve made so far (it’s about death and cancer), then click here.

NOTE: the experiment doesn’t seem to work on the mobile app. Sorry! If you don’t want to look on a desktop or laptop then you are now excused!

If you want to stick with the blue pill or just end your engagement for today, that’s also ok. No judgement here. Just leave a comment. Or don’t. No pressure.

Either way, I hope we’ll connect again soon.

the video I posted in the last post was under eight minutes so I don’t consider it long-form.

1. the video I posted in the last post was under eight minutes so I don’t consider it long-form.