My Note went viral - got more than 10,000 likes and hundreds of new subscribers in just a few days
Five lessons I learned about how you get something go viral, the breakdown of this Note's anatomy and a template how to write one yourself (and go viral on Substack).
How it all started?
Ok, now it’s getting emotional…
I don’t share much of my personal life. Not only online, but also with people around me - it’s just who I am.
But last month something happened.
Friday, December 13th - 7 years since I lost my mom. I usually made sure I could come to her final resting place and talk to her for a while. But not that day. I had to be in Vienna for a strategy meeting I had to attend and present something I worked on for months in my 9-5. Taking a day off wasn’t an option. Judge me if you will, it’s a decision I made and that’s that.
Few days earlier, December 8th, it was my mom’s birthday - that’s the day it got me. I had to write that story. Somehow I felt it was a way to think about her for a while and honor her memory. It gave me some comfort and relief since I couldn’t come to her.
Here it is, my first truly viral note on Substack:
I see more and more people say personal stories don’t go viral anymore in Substack Notes.
I’d always challenge that statement.
Storytelling is as old as humanity itself. It’s the most powerful way you influence others by making them:
know you better
believe in your ideas
relate to your experiences
It’s how we build trust.
You need all of that if you want to sell something.
So I wrote this Note last month.
It went viral.
I proved them all wrong.
How do you know it goes viral?
Virality on Substack is relative. The platform is new, so we don’t see millions of likes (yet). Usually, a couple of hundred likes is a good sign and there are Notes with thousands of likes.
, who is a genius and a master of data, helped me analyze Notes and virality on Substack. The highest number of likes we saw in the data was around 30k likes, so that’s the ultimate Substack virality for now. Check Finn’s Substack for more data insights about Substack.So how do you know?
I’ve seen Notes with more than 100, even more than 200 likes gained in the first 2 days after publishing. That’s the sign I accepted as virality.
My note got more than 100 likes on the first day and on the second it passed 300 likes.
That’s when I knew it’s happening.
How long did the viral effect last?
It was roughly from the publishing day, 8th of December to 21st of December, so 13 days. It’s still going on, but much much slower.
I noticed you need to keep answering the comments to keep it going. I had some days when I skipped and I felt it slows down, but then when I got back to answering it kept on.
That’s just a hunch, no facts to prove it.
How many new subscribers it got me?
This note got almost 10k likes and I got more than 200 new subscribers for the period the effect lasted. It still gets views likes and comments, but not that many.
That’s not much, considering the number of likes, but I wasn’t writing that Note with the purpose of growth.
How you get something to go viral?
When I started writing that Note I had a problem: I wasn’t sure how to structure it.
So I went to look for some ideas from other people’s Notes with personal stories that got a lot of traction. Here’s one great example of a personal story Note which got 27k likes. When I saw it I knew exactly how to structure my Note.
Looking at what works for other people is a great way to learn. It’s not “stealing” if you pour your heart and your soul into the thing.
Here’s a brutal truth no one talks about openly: this is actually the name of the game of VIRALITY. The workflow looks like this:
You take what goes viral
You map a template out of it
You use this template with your own ideas
Everyone talks about doing this with your own content. But if you don’t have anything viral, what do you do? You look for others.
Here’s another brutal truth: even if you have viral pieces, you should still look for what works for others.
All the big names do exactly this.
I did it with this note.
I see a lot of people doing things I started doing first. I don’t get frustrated. It’s actually an honor - it means my voice is heard.
But there’s a catch. I see many writers copy things they personally like. It doesn’t work that way. That’s an ego trap. You need to use what gets results, even if you don’t personally like it.
Ok, how to map that template?
That’s really simple.
It’s an attention game. That’s why you need is a strong opening. That’s ALL you need to map.
Look at my note and compare it with the example I used for inspiration. You’ll see they start very similarly. But when you start reading you’ll see they’ve nothing in common.
What REALLY makes something go viral?
When you study viral posts long enough, you’ll start to see a pattern.
VIRALITY is all about a hook causing surprise and curiosity: combine something ordinary with something unexpected. And it needs to appear at the moment when your reader decides whether this is something interesting or boring. Less than 1 second. That’s how much time you’ve got.
With posts - it’s all about the title and the first 3 sentences. With Notes: the first two lines.
In my Note? You keep reading because you’re hooked to know what happened next.
Here’s a list of examples of personal stories that went viral lately. They all have that thing in the very beginning:
Can you use AI?
Definitely yes. But I don’t. Not for personal stories. Because I have to write the whole thing to give enough context to the AI.
You still can use ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to map down the template for you.
At the end of this post you’ll find a ChatGPT prompt designed to map templates from viral notes and write these notes for you.
Breakdown of this viral Note’s anatomy
Ok, now let’s walk through this note and break it down.
Writing style:
Rhythm: Each sentence delivers one thought or fact, creating a rhythmic flow. I used a variation in the sentence length, alternating between super short and longer. This adds to the suspense.
Raw and Relatable Topic: Unfiltered storytelling about my family struggles—something nearly everyone connects with emotionally.
Chronological Narrative: I started with a pivotal event (diagnosis) and moved through key moments in my mom’s life. I noticed these types of Notes gained tons of traction lately.
Simple Language: No fancy words, making it highly accessible, readable, and skimmable.
Repetition for Emphasis: I intentionally repeated "She never gave up" for impact.
Tone and Voice:
Tone: Emotional, nostalgic, but also inspiring. I mixed sadness with admiration, creating a bittersweet vibe.
Voice: Personal, intimate, and reflective. I talk directly to the reader, inviting them into my life.
Underlying Emotion: Deep love and pride. I tried to inspire resilience without explicitly or directly trying to motivate.
Formatting:
Short Sentences: Minimalist and punchy. This creates suspense.
Paragraphs: Extremely short. Just one sentence per line. This makes it easy to read and creates pauses for emotional weight.
Structure:
I start with a strong opening: a single focus (“My mom.”).
Moved into key life events in a linear order.
Ended with a poignant and heartfelt conclusion (love and legacy).
Punctuation: Minimal commas, more full stops for emphasis.
Spacing: Generous line breaks to create breathing room and enhance the story’s rhythm.
For my writing, I used a classic storytelling technique from a popular poem from Portia Nelson “Autobiography in 5 short chapters”. Here it is:
5 Key lessons I learned from this Note
I’ve said this many times: you have to be on Notes to grow your Substack. Join my Notes30 challenge, I promise it will make a difference you’ll see and feel.
Here’s what I learned from this Note particularly.
Personal stories are highly relatable. I got tons of comments and so much stories from people who resonated with what I wrote.
People get to know you. I got a lot for you thanks for sharing this so now people will know more about me. Those were mainly from people on my list.
You get to know people. Different people resonated with different parts of my story - some with my mom, some with my dad, some with me, and some even wanted a picture of the socks :D
You learn some life lessons. Some people who went through the same disease shared what kept them alive. It’s priceless.
People want more from you. That’s key. It’s why I always say Notes topics need to be connected with whatever you have on your newsletter. People wanted to know where can they learn more about me and my mom’s life, which I don’t have in my Substack. That’s probably why I got only 200+ subscribers. I know writers with viral Notes, which got them 25k likes and 20k new subscribers just because the Note is about the same topics from the newsletter. Wild! Lesson learned…
But, where do I share these personal stories if they’re so relatable?
Their place is not as post on your publication either. Also not as posts under your profile.
Why?
Because it’s the place for whatever you want to make money from.
Where then?
I see many big names start a newsletter with a short personal story or share them in between the content when they’re relevant. That’s the place. Tim Denning is a great example.
Template and a guide on how to write that type of Note for yourself (and go viral on Substack)
I have prepared a template out of this Note.
I also have a ChatGPT prompt that helps me map templates from other viral notes and write these notes for you.
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