Someone lands on your channel from an ad, a QR code on a menu or the link in your Instagram bio, and decides in 5–7 seconds: subscribe or close. In that window they see the avatar, the name, the subscriber count and the last two or three posts. If that set doesn’t explain what the channel is and why they need it, no subscription happens, no matter what the click cost you.
Setup is the cheapest part of growing a channel: one evening of work, and every visit after that converts better. Below is every element in order, with Telegram’s actual limits and example wording. What to do afterwards so people arrive at all is covered in the Telegram channel growth playbook.
What a visitor sees in the first seconds
Open your channel from a second account, or ask a friend who doesn’t read it. The order the eye moves in:
- Avatar and name in the header.
- Subscriber count. You can’t hide it.
- The last 2–3 posts. Not the pinned message, the feed itself.
- The pinned message in the bar above the feed.
- The description, only if they tap the header.
The main conclusion: almost nobody reads the description, everybody reads the last posts. If the feed shows three forwards and a “Happy holidays” when you launch ads, no setup will save it. Publish 5–7 posts that show the format first, then open the traffic.
Title: 128 characters allowed, 25 needed
A title can be 128 characters, but a phone header shows roughly 25–30 before it’s cut off. Telegram search matches words in the title and the @username, so a niche keyword in the title brings free subscribers. Among channels with the same words, bigger ones rank higher, so for a small channel this isn’t the main source, but there’s no reason to give it up.
The working formula: brand + what you do or who it’s for.
| Weak | Better |
|---|---|
| Brew Coffee | Brew — coffee & breakfast in Lisbon |
| Dan’s channel | Dan Reyes · taxes for freelancers |
| Official channel of BuildTech LLC | BuildTech: turnkey apartment renovation |
One emoji at the end of the title is fine. More than that eats space, doesn’t help search, and turns into squares in notifications on older devices. Words like “official”, “channel” or “company news” carry no information and can go.
@username and the link
The username is 5–32 characters: Latin letters, digits, underscore. It becomes the t.me/username link that goes on business cards, into your Instagram bio and into ads. Two rules:
- Pick something you can say out loud:
brew_lisbonbeatsbrw_cff_lsb_2026. - Don’t change it after launch. The old link stops working everywhere you placed it, and anyone can grab the freed-up address.
For ads and for each traffic source, create named invite links: Manage channel → Invite links → Create. Statistics will then show how many people came from the business card and how many from a specific ad post. How to read those numbers is in the Telegram channel analytics guide.
A private channel lives only through invite links and doesn’t appear in search. That makes sense for closed clubs and paid content. A business that needs new people needs a public channel.
Avatar: a circle, 40 pixels, no small text
Telegram shows the avatar as a circle, and in the chat list it’s a circle about 40 pixels across. Three requirements follow:
- A square of at least 512×512, main object centered, because corners get cropped.
- No text smaller than a third of the height. A tagline on the avatar is unreadable in the chat list, and the name is written right next to it anyway.
- One object, contrasting background. A logo on the brand color, a close-up face for a personal channel, a product on a plain background for a shop.
The test is simple: screenshot your chat list and check whether your channel stands out from its neighbors. If you, like half the list, have a white logo on blue, change the background.
For a personal channel a face works better than a logo: the subscriber understands they’ll be reading a person. For a business with several authors use the logo, but then sign the posts, more on that below.
Description: 255 characters, by formula
The description holds 255 characters; links and @mentions in it are clickable. The first line shows in the preview when someone forwards a link to the channel, so don’t spend it on “Welcome!”.
Four parts: what it is + who it’s for + how often + where to write.
Turnkey apartment renovation in Lisbon. Before/after projects, prices per m², mistakes clients end up paying for. Two posts a week. Get an estimate: @buildtech_manager
Taxes and bookkeeping for freelancers in plain English. Breakdowns of tax office letters, deadline calendar, Q&A on Fridays. Consultation: @dan_tax
Brew coffee shop, Alfama. New menu, deal of the day, table booking. Open 8:00–23:00. Delivery: brew.pt
What shouldn’t be there: hashtags (they belong inside posts, where they open a channel search, here they only eat characters), slogans about “the best channel”, a list of all your social networks. One contact link and one website link is enough.
Pinned post and in-channel navigation
You can pin several messages: the bar above the feed shows the latest one, the rest cycle on tap. For a new visitor the pinned post is the channel’s only “home page”, so it should contain:
- Two sentences on what the channel is and who writes it.
- “Start here”: 3–5 links to your best posts. The “Copy link” menu item gives you a post’s link.
- Hashtag categories:
#case,#pricing,#howto. Inside a channel a hashtag is clickable and opens every post that uses it. That is your navigation. - How to get in touch and what happens to questions in comments.
If that post doesn’t fit in 4,096 characters or needs images along the way, build a page in Telegraph (telegra.ph). It opens inside Telegram instantly, with no browser, and you can edit it without touching the pin.
Hashtag categories only work with discipline: three or four tags, identical spelling, in every post. How to build categories that don’t fall apart after a month is covered in the content pillars article.
Settings that are visible from outside too
| Setting | Where | When to enable |
|---|---|---|
| Comments (discussion group) | Manage channel → Discussion | If you can reply within the day. Empty comments under every post are worse than none |
| Reactions | Manage channel → Reactions | Always. Keep 6–8 appropriate ones, remove 🤡 and 💩 for a business channel |
| Sign messages | Manage channel → Sign messages | For channels with several authors: the name appears under the post |
| Restrict saving content | Manage channel → Channel type | Only for paid content. For a business, forwards are the main free growth source |
| Name color and profile background | Appearance | Unlocks by channel boost level |
What boosts unlock at each level is covered in the channel stories and boosts breakdown.
When setup won’t help
- Fewer than five posts in the channel. The visitor won’t understand the format, whatever the pin says.
- The channel covers three topics at once: renovation, crypto and memes. Setup doesn’t hide a missing focus.
- The last post is two months old. The date is visible in the feed, and it speaks louder than the description.
In all three cases: content first, header polish second.
Checklist before you send traffic
- Title: niche keyword + brand, the meaning reads in the first 25 characters.
- @username can be said out loud and matches your handle elsewhere, if it’s free.
- Avatar is distinguishable in the chat list at 40 px.
- Description follows the formula, the contact is clickable.
- Pinned post with “start here” and categories.
- 5–7 posts in the feed that show the format.
- Reactions configured, comments on only if someone will answer them.
- A separate invite link for every traffic source.
Once the header is done, what’s left is keeping the posting rhythm, because an empty feed is what most often undoes the setup work. Repost21 puts Telegram posts into a shared content calendar on the best slots alongside Instagram and Threads, and Luna can draft the channel description and first pinned post from your inputs. Try it free, one channel fits in the free plan.