How I Got 11,000 Newsletter Subscribers In My First Day

I don’t like social media, but I guess I’m not bad at it.

Photo by Razvan Chisu on Unsplash

I know, I know. I swore I was never going to write an article like this. But if something genuinely succeeds on the mystery that is social media and if I learn something valuable, I am going to share the heck out of it. (As an aside, an influencer friend told me not to share. Apparently, we can’t afford more competition on LinkedIn. But I say as long as you’re using social media for good, compete away. Outdo me. I’m rooting for you.)

Anyway, here’s the story.

Last Wednesday, after much waffling and graphic design, I launched the Do Good, Be Happy newsletter on LinkedIn. It was automatically shared with my three hundred thousand followers on the platform — or, at least, those who haven’t toggled off newsletter pings. I think the phrasing on LinkedIn’s automatic notification is something like “Isvari Maranwe invites you to join her newsletter,” which is a very nice and personal touch.

Within twenty-four hours, about eleven thousand people had voluntarily signed up (or accidentally clicked subscribe, I don’t know). Several people messaged me and seemed genuinely excited for my weekly content. And hundreds of people liked my first article, a summary of my raison d’être that I wrote…