Every brand, business, and person seems to have a blog nowadays. I mean, I just found myself Googling “dogs with blogs” to make a point and honestly just found way too many dog blogs.
Like this little guy.
Okay, let’s focus on why you’re really reading this and why I’m really writing this (which sadly isn’t cute dog blogs).
I’m writing on Medium to tell you why publishing on Medium is a great opportunity for you and your brand. #meta
See, Medium is different than traditional blogging and by leveraging the unique strengths of the platform, you and your brand can begin to grow an audience, engagement, and conversion rates. And that’s what content marketing is really all about right?
Without further ado, here are the reasons why you should be publishing on Medium.
#1 — Medium’s Platform is Already Popular
The first (and maybe hardest) part of content marketing is getting the right eyeballs to find your content. Blogging on your own website requires having people already visiting your site. And, let’s face it, as a startup or your own brand, those numbers can be pretty low.
But blogging on Medium is completely different.
Writing on Medium is a lot like posting on Facebook or tweeting.
With social media, you’re trying to reach a large audience with relevant information on a popular platform (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc). Writing on Medium is exactly the same thing.
It’s a platform that a lot of people are on. And, when people are on it, they’re searching for an answer or a story. Just like when someone google’s “dogs with blogs” and really hopes to find cute dogs with blogs, people who search Medium really want to find the answer to their query.
Search on Medium does, of course, work differently than on Google, Facebook, or Twitter but the premise of these being platforms that users go to find answers is completely the same. As Erik Devaney from Hubspot puts it, “…Medium is more than just a destination site: It’s a hybrid content discovery/publishing platform.”
So, as a startup, writing on Medium is great because a large audience is already looking for content on the site. Plus, you become part of a community that shares ideas, stories, and answers.
Which goes right into the second point…
#2 — Medium’s Community will Help You Grow
To re-quote Devaney, Medium is a hybrid discovery/publishing platform. We like to think of it as a social publishing platform where individuals and brands come together to write, comment, and share great, relevant content.
If you’re looking at writing on Medium, it’s incredibly important to remember that this is a community. Have you ever seen a link posted on Reddit that was so obviously promotional content to someone’s blog? Redditors appreciate useful content but they appreciate it so much more when it comes from a respected, known and trusted source that’s an active part of the community. The same goes for Medium.
So, as you are deciding if publishing on Medium is right for you, remember that you should plan some time every week to read other authors’ or brands’ posts, make some engaging comments, and search around on tags. Respond to every comment on your own Medium blog to make sure your own community feels listened to.
Basically, make sure you share the love and give a big round of 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 for your favorite posts.
Karma works in great ways on Medium.
Once you begin establishing the relationships with other authors and publications, you can look at creating content together or other co-marketing opportunities. Treat Medium like a community and your personal brand or startup will begin to grow in new and unexpected ways.
#3 — Medium’s Formatting is Simple
“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations” Orson Welles
This quote has resonated with me since my college days of trying to create a moving performance on a shoestring budget. Now, it’s baked into our beliefs here at Knewly.
Knewly believes in keeping things simple, which is why we focus only on publishing on Medium. The constrictions and restraints on Medium allows for our creativity and skill to be focused on the storytelling of your brand; not on spending hours upon hours creating custom templates, and designing blog posts visually.
By eliminating distractions for both the author and the reader, Medium’s platform creates an environment of focus. This allows people to get lost in content versus being distracted by noisy ads or pop-ups.
Medium’s simplicity lends itself to simple, original, and hand-crafted content that readers get lost in.
In the end, writing on Medium…
…can be a really great way to extend your reach as a startup or someone building their own brand. By creating original and optimized content on a widely popular platform, interacting with the Medium community, and using Medium’s simple formatting, both startup and personal brands can start growing their reach on Medium.
Remember what we said about giving a round of 👏👏👏👏 ?
💛💛💛
