MODULE 9: Platform-Specific Social Strategies
Navigating Algorithm Conflicts and Link Penalties on External Platforms
This module documents how to use external social media platforms (X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit) for Substack awareness despite their algorithmic conflicts with external links.
Before investing time in external promotion, you need to understand the structural reality: social media organic reach has collapsed across all platforms, every platform penalizes external links, and success requires high time investment with unpredictable results.
This module shows you what actually works on each platform, realistic timelines, and why Substack’s internal tools (covered in Module 8) should remain your primary growth focus.
The Critical Reality of Social Media in 2024-2025
Social media promotion for external links is structurally more difficult now than at any point in the past decade. This is not marketing hype or algorithmic mystery. This is documented mathematical reality.
The Organic Reach Collapse
Social Status, which benchmarks monthly reach statistics, measured organic reach across 2024: