Running a Telegram channel: a practical guide

How to create and set up a Telegram channel, format and schedule posts, grow subscribers honestly, read statistics and keep the channel secure, step by step.

Telegram is one of the most widely used messengers in Uzbekistan: it is where schools talk to parents, mahalla activists to residents and small shops to their customers. Many people open a channel, then abandon it after a few weeks or run into problems because they do not know the settings. In this guide we look at how to run a Telegram channel properly: the difference between a channel, a group and a bot, creating a channel step by step, the key settings and admin rights, formatting, pinning, scheduling and silent posts, growing subscribers honestly, statistics, security and copyright. At the end you will find common mistakes, a practice exercise and a checklist.

The overall social media strategy, including goals, choosing a platform and replying to customers, is covered in the article on social media for small businesses; here we focus on Telegram itself. Menu names follow the English interface. Telegram updates often, so the position or name of a button may have changed slightly, but the ideas stay the same. The names and situations in the examples are illustrative.

Channel, group and bot: what is the difference

Telegram offers three tools for working with an audience, and mixing them up is the most common beginner’s mistake.

Channel: a one-way noticeboard. Only admins post; subscribers read, react and (if enabled) comment. Subscribers cannot see each other. Suited to news, announcements, timetables and useful tips.
Group: a shared chat. Every member can write and the member list is visible. Good for a team, course participants or mahalla activists, but a large group needs rules and a moderator.
Bot: a program account that replies automatically. It is created through @BotFather and responds to commands: taking applications, answering frequent questions, handling orders.

A simple rule: to broadcast, use a channel; to talk, use a group; to automate repetitive work, use a bot. They often work together. For example, Mohira, who runs a small learning centre in Fergana, posts the timetable and announcements in her channel, answers parents’ questions in the linked comments group and uses a simple bot for enrolment.

Creating a channel step by step

Opening a new channel

Android: tap the pencil icon on the main screen and choose New Channel. iPhone: in the Chats tab, tap the new message icon → New Channel. Telegram Desktop: the three-line menu at the top left → New Channel.
Channel name: who you are and what the channel is about. For example, “Mohira Learning Centre: English and maths”. Just “News” or an abbreviation tells a newcomer nothing.
Description: in 2–3 lines, say what the channel is for, how often you post and how to contact you. You can change it later.
Photo. Tap the camera icon and add a logo or a clear picture. It is shown in a small circle, so avoid images with small text.
Channel Type: public or private.
Finally, Telegram offers to add members from your contacts. Skip this step: rather than adding people without asking, send them the link later and let them subscribe themselves.

Public or Private

Public Channel: it has a permanent link (in the form t.me/name), can be found through Telegram search, and posts are visible even without subscribing. This is the usual choice for an organisation, shop or learning centre.
Private Channel: people can join only through an invite link. Suited to an internal team or a closed course. If the link ends up in the wrong hands, revoke it (Revoke) and create a new one.

The channel type screen may also include a Restrict saving content setting: when it is on, posts cannot be forwarded or saved. That is useful for closed course materials, but for a public channel it stops your posts from spreading.

Choosing a @username

For a public channel you choose a link name (username): Latin letters, digits and underscores, at least five characters. A good name is:

short and easy to say, so nobody misspells it when you dictate it over the phone;
in line with your organisation’s name, such as @mohira_markaz;
free of meaningless numbers and lots of underscores;
unlike any well-known channel or brand, otherwise people will take you for a fake.

If the name is taken, add your city: @mohira_fargona. Do not change it often: the old link will remain on printed business cards and QR codes.

Key settings

To open the settings, tap the channel name, then Edit on the info page (or the pencil icon; in some versions Manage Channel).

Sign Messages

With Sign Messages on, the name of the admin who published each post appears beneath it. This helps when several people run the channel, as you can see who wrote what. If the channel should speak only in the organisation’s name, leave it off.

Discussion: a comments group

You cannot comment in the channel itself; for that you link a group to it: Edit → Discussion → Add Group, then create a new group or choose an existing one. A comments button will then appear under every post. Someone must keep an eye on the comments, removing spam and abuse and answering questions. If nobody can, it is better not to enable them, because unanswered questions leave a poor impression.

Reactions

In Reactions you choose which reactions subscribers can leave: all of them (All reactions), only the ones you pick (Some reactions) or none (No reactions). For an organisation’s channel a few neutral reactions work well: they show which posts people liked.

Admins and their rights

You add an admin through Edit → Administrators → Add Admin, and each admin gets individual rights. The main ones are:

Change Channel Info: changing the name, photo and description;
Post Messages: publishing posts;
Edit Messages of Others and Delete Messages of Others: editing and deleting other people’s posts;
Invite Users via Link: creating invite links;
Add New Admins: appointing new admins.

Practical advice: give a staff member who writes posts only Post Messages. Give Add New Admins to one most trusted person or to nobody at all. Always remain the owner of the channel yourself and review the admin list every quarter: remove anyone who has left the organisation straight away.

Preparing and publishing posts

Formatting

Select some text and the menu that appears will offer Formatting (on some devices via the three dots):

Bold: for the headline and the most important words;
Italic: for notes and quotations;
Link or Create Link: attaching a link to a word; a link on the words “Application form” looks far tidier than a long address;
Spoiler: hides text until the reader taps it, which is fun for a quiz answer;
as well as Underline, Strikethrough, Monospace and Quote.

In Telegram Desktop, Ctrl + B (bold), Ctrl + I (italic) and Ctrl + K (link) work. Use formatting sparingly: if everything is bold, nothing stands out.

Pinning

Put information people need all the time (address, opening hours, how to enrol, channel rules) in a separate post and pin it: press and hold the post (right-click on a computer) and choose Pin. The pinned post stays at the top of the channel. You can pin several posts, but keep it to two or three.

Schedule Message and Silent Message

Press and hold the send button (right-click it on a computer):

Schedule Message: plans a post for the date and time you choose. It is the handiest way to prepare several posts at once, say once a week.
Send Without Sound: the post arrives but the phone makes no sound. A courtesy for late-evening and early-morning posts and minor corrections.

In some versions there is a bell icon in the input field that switches on a mode where your next posts go out silently. A good habit is to send important announcements with sound and ordinary tips without.

Post types and length

A channel can carry plain text, a photo with a caption, several photos or videos in one post (an album), video, voice messages and round video messages, files (for example, a timetable as a PDF) and polls (Poll; in quiz mode it becomes a quiz).

A text post can be several thousand characters long, while a caption under a photo or video is limited to far fewer. More important than the limit, though, is the reader’s patience. A post that fits on one or two phone screens reads well: the main point in the first line, then 2–4 short paragraphs, and one clear action at the end (“Link to enrol”, “Leave your questions in the comments”). Put a long guide on your website and give a short summary and the link in the channel.

To plan topics in advance, see the article on content planning; for good photos and videos, read the guide to photo and video on your phone.

Growing subscribers honestly

The number of subscribers should grow slowly but steadily. Methods that work:

Start with your own circle. Send friends, colleagues and existing customers a personal message: what the channel is about and why it is useful. Not a mass “please subscribe”, but a sincere two- or three-sentence invitation.
Cross-recommendations with partner channels. Agree with the owner of a channel on a related topic and of roughly the same size that each of you will recommend the other in one post. For example, Mohira’s centre made such an arrangement with the channel of a children’s bookshop in her city. Only recommend channels you trust yourself.
A link on your website and in your email. Add the channel link to your organisation’s website, your email signature and your other profiles.
Business cards and a QR code. Telegram creates a QR code for a public channel (via the QR icon on the info page or the share menu; where exactly depends on the version). Put it on business cards, a sign by the till, a noticeboard or an event slide.
Posts worth sharing. A useful list, a clear timetable or a sensible tip gets forwarded on its own.

Do not drop your link into other people’s groups without permission: that is spam and damages the channel’s reputation.

Why buying subscribers does harm

Say no to services that “boost subscribers”:

fake accounts do not read posts, so views become far too low compared with the number of subscribers, and it shows;
your statistics become distorted: you can no longer tell which posts people genuinely liked;
partners and donors notice the imbalance, and the organisation loses trust;
Telegram takes measures against fake activity, and the channel may be restricted.

A small but real audience is always more useful than a large but empty number.

Statistics: what to watch

Under every post there is an eye icon with the number of views, the simplest indicator of all. Detailed data is on the channel’s info page under Statistics (or View Statistics in the three-dot menu). This section does not appear straight away: usually it shows up once the channel reaches a certain number of subscribers, and that condition changes over time. Until then, record views in a simple spreadsheet.

The statistics usually include:

Growth / Followers: subscriber growth, who joined and who left;
Views by hours: when posts are viewed most;
Views by source and New followers by source: where people find you;
Recent posts: views and shares of your latest posts.

Once a month, set aside 15–20 minutes and answer three questions: which posts were viewed and shared most, when your audience is active, and what you posted on a day when many people left. Adjust next month’s plan accordingly.

Security and copyright

Account and channel security

A channel is only as secure as its owner’s account: if the account is stolen, the channel goes with it.

Two-step verification. Under Settings → Privacy and Security → Two-Step Verification, set an extra password and a recovery email. Do not use this password anywhere else.
Active sessions. In Settings → Devices, end any unfamiliar session at once (Terminate).
Fewer admins. Every extra admin is an extra risk.
Login code. Never share the code Telegram sends you, not even with someone claiming to be “Telegram staff”.

Fake “we will verify your channel” messages

As your channel grows, you may get messages in the name of “support”: “Your channel will be blocked, follow the link to confirm”, “We will give your channel a blue tick”, “We will buy your channel, transfer ownership”. This is phishing. Remember:

official Telegram service messages come only from the verified “Telegram” account and never ask for your password or code;
channel verification cannot be “arranged” through private messages;
never transfer ownership (Transfer Ownership) at a stranger’s request;
do not tap suspicious links; Report the message and block the sender.

More ways to protect yourself are in the article on online safety.

Copyright

Do not pass off other people’s texts, photos or videos, whether from other channels, websites or authors, as your own:

use Forward, which shows the source automatically;
if you quote, name the author and add a link;
ask permission before using someone else’s photo or video;
post photos of people only with their consent (for children, their parents’ consent).

Content without a source can be removed after a complaint from the author, and the organisation’s reputation suffers.

Common mistakes

An unclear name and description. A newcomer cannot tell what the channel is about.
Adding people without asking. They leave anyway and may complain.
Sending everything with sound. A notification in the middle of the night is the number one reason people mute a channel.
Comments switched on but left unattended. Spam and unanswered questions pile up.
Full admin rights for everyone. One stolen account puts the whole channel at risk.
Ten posts in a day, then a month of silence. Regularity matters more than volume.
Long unformatted text and copying other people’s posts without a source.

Practice exercise and checklist

Set aside an hour and prepare a real channel for yourself, your organisation or your club. If you are not ready yet, open a private channel to experiment.

Write in one sentence whether you need a channel, a group or a bot.
Create a channel with New Channel: a clear name, a 2–3 line description and a clear photo.
Choose Public or Private; for a public channel, come up with a short @username.
Set up Sign Messages, Reactions and, if needed, a Discussion group.
Add a second admin and give them only the Post Messages right.
Write an introduction post, format it with a bold headline and one link, then pin it (Pin).
Use Schedule Message to plan three posts for the next three days, one of them with Send Without Sound.
Save the channel’s QR code and add it to a business card or notice.
Turn on Two-Step Verification and check the Devices section.
After a month, look at the views (or the Statistics section) and mark your best post.

Checklist

The name, description and photo show at a glance what the channel is about.
The link is short and the same everywhere.
Important information is pinned.
There are few admins, their rights are limited and you are the owner.
Two-step verification is on and there are no unfamiliar sessions.
Posts are scheduled and night-time posts are silent.
If comments are on, someone is watching them.
Other people’s content carries its source, and subscribers have been gained honestly.

A Telegram channel is one of the most direct ways for an organisation or business to reach people: each post arrives on the subscriber’s phone as a notification. Repay that trust with a regular, useful and secure channel. To explore the wider concepts, read the article on marketing basics and the glossary entry on social media.

If you would like to learn digital marketing and content creation systematically, take a look at our association’s free marketing programme and other training programmes. When you are ready, submit an application and our specialists will get in touch.