FIND YOUR READER
How to Connect With Readers Beyond Publishing Stories
Connecting with your audience after you publish a story is as important as the story itself.
It’s all about relationships. The connection builds trust with your readers. It also helps the right audience engage with your content and gives you more insight into what stories engage your most loyal readers. Taking the time to genuinely listen, respond, and collaborate with your audience increases engagement and the impact your work has on your community of readers.
Boosting engagement with your readers can help grow your audience. More importantly, it strengthens the relationships with readers. Engagement ensures that your work remains relevant and valuable to your readers. Relationships are the most valuable products of strong community engagement.
Audience engagement is core to the Medium user experience. Oftentimes, an audience is seeking an outlet for constructive dialogue to bolster their reading experience. The platform is designed to encourage reader engagement and offers tools to help writers facilitate healthy conversations with their audience.
Your most successful story doesn’t necessarily have the most traffic. A successful story is one that serves your loyal readers and demonstrates increased engagement from your most faithful followers. Engagement can create a feeling of community that keeps readers coming back. Here are some ways to connect with your audience after publishing your stories and drive deeper engagement with your readers:
Respond to readers who leave responses
One of the easiest ways to engage with readers is in responses. When you show your audience you’re listening, it fosters more thoughtful and productive conversations. Responses show you what your readers are thinking about and what they are interested in learning. Taking the time to respond to these responses gives you an opportunity to answer reader questions, engage in public dialogue about your story, and adds clarity around the topics you cover.
Earlier this year, Medium launched threaded responses designed “to help readers and writers interact seamlessly and engage in dynamic, contextually nuanced discussions.” This new feature enhances the responses experience by allowing users to easily generate conversations.
Below is an example of how to engage with readers from Steve LeVine who writes The Mobilist.
Responses sections are also a great place to simply acknowledge your readers and thank them for contributing to the conversation. You might also consider clapping for a reader’s response you found particularly insightful as another way to acknowledge engagement with your story.
Celebrate your avid readers
If a story sparked conversations in the responses section, that is a good opportunity to elevate and highlight your readers. Consider publishing a roundup of “Top Reader Responses of the Week” to exhibit your most engaged readers and reward their contributions.
Below is an example of how to publish a roundup of the best readers’ responses from Ben Le Fort who has two publications on Medium, Making of Millionaire and Modern Policy Options.
Another way to spotlight your readers by turning their response into stories. Here is an example of how to publish a post responding to readers by Joe Honton:
Celebrating your readers can help develop a community of readers with deep affinity for your stories. You can also do so by amplifying the voices of your readers by updating existing stories with reader responses. Showcasing the best responses in a visible way demonstrates to your readers that your platform is community-oriented. Celebrating your readers makes them feel heard and appreciated as the time they took to read and comment netted a positive contribution. Making your readers feel part of the community you’re building helps keep them coming back.
If you’re updating a story with a response, make sure to indicate this to your readers. Transparency is an important part of building community. It also signals to your readers that you are attentively reading their responses and that theirs could appear in a story soon.
Solicit responses from your readers
Whenever you want to know something about your audience or gain insight into what they’re thinking, just ask them. Writers spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to write. We spend a lot less time leaning into the audience to learn more about what they think or need. Invite your readers to share their reflections on your stories.
Here is an example of how The Economist used Medium to “improve the quality of debate” around the U.S. 2016 election:
Encourage platform engagement
Highlighting and clapping are unique engagement functions on Medium that allow for a simple, yet impactful interactive way for readers and writers to connect.
Comedian and writer Natalie Kim prompts readers to “CLAP” if they enjoyed the piece:
Asking readers to use these platform-tools not only encourages engagement but also offers insight into what’s resonating with your audience. When a reader highlights a sentence or paragraph in your story, you’ll be notified and will be able to see who is showing you highlight love and what they are loving. Readers can also see highlights from other people they follow.
Additionally, highlight your own story to draw attention to parts you want your readers to notice. When your readers engage with your story, they’ll see your highlights, too.
Below, Adrienne Samuels Gibbs, Deputy Editor of ZORA, highlights a quote in her Momentum story.
Read what your audience is writing
Your readers may also be writers covering the same or similar topics. They might also be on other social media platforms talking about similar topics or following up on the topic directly in your inbox. Use that as another opportunity to highlight what your community is saying.
Steve LeVine, who writes The Mobilist, publishes a short weekly roundup including tweets, articles, comments, or emails from his readers. See his post below detailing an email exchange with one of his readers:
In another example, LeVine shares a piece written by one of his readers:
Varying the types of reader spotlights you publish is a creative way to make your reading experience more engaging for your readers. It serves as a signal to readers in your community that you are equally as engaged with their work and deepens your connection.
Additionally, when you read an interesting story on Medium, respond to it by dropping a comment or highlighting pieces that resonate with you. Show readers what’s important to you by making yourself an active part of relevant communities.
How do you connect with your readers beyond publishing? Did I miss anything here? I can’t help but end by saying I welcome your responses below ⬇️
