How to promote a Telegram channel and gain subscribers
How to promote a Telegram channel: a public link and search, similar channels, shared folders, cross-promotion, ads, boosts and giveaways, why bought subscribers do not help and how to measure results.
Promoting a Telegram channel comes down to a few honest methods: a public link, mentions in other channels and social networks, ads, boosts and giveaways. Bought subscribers are no substitute: those accounts do not read your posts, and Telegram's rules do not allow advertising such services. Below is what you can do right away and how to tell whether it works.
Where to start
A public channel has a username. As Telegram puts it, such a channel can be found through search and anyone can join it. You can post the t.me/name link on social networks, on a website and in chats where the rules allow it. A private channel is opened by an invite link, which you send to the people you want to invite.
Telegram asks you not to send channel links to strangers. If people report spam from your account, you may be banned from contacting other people.
How to get subscribers for a Telegram channel
- Cross-promotion. Two channels with a similar audience agree to mention each other. It is easiest to agree with channels of your own size and topic.
- Similar channels. When someone joins a channel, Telegram suggests similar public channels, and the same list opens from the channel's profile. Telegram builds it automatically from how much the channels' subscribers overlap, so it cannot be bought. More in Telegram's blog.
- Shared folders. Telegram lets you share a chat folder with one link: a person adds the folder and joins every channel and group in it at once. Public channels can go into such a folder — see Telegram folders.
- Comments. Discussion can be turned on under channel posts, which shows that readers respond — see comments in a Telegram channel.
- Ads. Through Telegram Ads or a post bought from another channel's owner. How it works is in advertising on Telegram.
- Boosts and giveaways. Boosts unlock extra features for a channel, and a giveaway with a subscription condition gives people a reason to join. Details below.
Boosts and giveaways for a channel
A boost is a vote for a channel from a subscriber with Telegram Premium. The more boosts, the higher the channel's level: see Telegram boosts.
Telegram's built-in giveaway works like this: an admin buys Premium subscriptions to hand out among subscribers, immediately gets 4 boosts for the channel for each one, and Telegram itself picks the winners. See the Premium giveaway guide and the overview how to run a giveaway in a channel.
You can also run a Stars giveaway through the Shiba Bank bot, under «🎉 Giveaways». The bot posts a message with a «Participate» button in your channel, checks the conditions, for example a subscription to channels or a boost, pays the prizes itself and shows a public check of the result — see how to run a Stars giveaway. For the bot to post, it must be an admin of the channel with the right to publish messages.
Why not to buy subscribers
Fake growth means paid subscribers, views and reactions from bots or dead accounts. They do not read posts or respond, so the subscriber count rises while views stay the same. Telegram does not support it:
- under the ad platform's rules, you may not advertise services that inflate followers or other metrics;
- under the terms for content creators, fake views and other artificial activity count as invalid: Telegram may withhold a channel's rewards and, in serious cases, close the channel and the account.
Telegram Ads rules are in the official policy, the creator terms are on Telegram's page.
How to tell that promotion works
Channel statistics show where new subscribers come from, how many joined and left, and at what hours people read posts. The owner and admins can see them. Compare the sources of subscribers before and after an ad or a giveaway to find which method brings real readers. The graphs are explained in Telegram channel statistics.
Frequently asked questions
How do I promote a Telegram channel from scratch?
Make the channel public, share its link on social networks and in other channels, agree on cross-promotion and run giveaways. Check the results in the channel's statistics.
How do I get more subscribers in a Telegram channel?
Through links and mentions, similar channels, shared folders, ads in other channels and giveaways. Buying subscribers does not work: the accounts do not read posts.
Can I buy subscribers for a Telegram channel?
You can, but it brings no readers: such accounts do not read posts, Telegram's rules ban advertising these services, and fake activity counts as invalid.
Do boosts bring subscribers?
Boosts raise a channel's level and unlock features, but they do not bring subscribers by themselves. Links, ads and giveaways do.
How do I run a giveaway to gain subscribers?
Set a subscription to your channel as a condition. A Stars giveaway with a public check of the result can be run through the Shiba Bank bot.
