Why Twitter is the key to growing your Medium account
There’s an opportunity on Medium that many of you are missing.
Over the last month, I've noticed that many writers have not linked their Twitter accounts to their Medium profiles. At first glance, that seems like a small issue. After all, Twitter peaked several years ago and Medium is its own robust platform.
However, there are several reasons why writers miss out big time if they don’t integrate Twitter into their Medium strategy.
Firstly, Medium is a community where writers create their own content and learn from other writers. Many articles on “how to succeed on Medium” explain that commenting on articles is a strategic way to gain followers. However, these pieces usually fail to mention that the platform’s flawless integration with Twitter almost extends Medium into Twitter. As you likely know, Medium and Twitter share a cofounder, Ev Williams, who launched Medium after his time at Twitter.
Firstly, just like many websites, Medium has a function that allows you to tweet out an article in three clicks.
Here’s what this looks like on mobile:
Step #1 is clicking on the sign in the lower lefthand corner
Step #2 is clicking on the Twitter icon
Step #3 is clicking “post” or (making any edits to the tweet and then hitting post)
For simplicity’s same, I will call this process the “three click method”.
Medium allows users to tweet out articles with the three click method. Since their platform is so closely integrated with Twitter, Medium’s three click method to tweet an article includes the writer’s Twitter handle. Of course, Medium can only support this for users who have inputted their Twitter handles.
That means that if you haven’t linked your Twitter to your Medium account and someone uses the two-click tweet function to share your article, then it will display like this:
That means that your name will show up in the tweet but your Twitter handle won’t be tagged and you won’t receive a notification. You won’t realize that someone paid you a huge compliment by tweeting about your work. Without a notification, you won’t know to engage with your reader – and that’s a missed opportunity.
Here’s what it looks like when someone tweets your article through Medium’s three click method after you have linked your Medium and Twitter accounts (and you get tagged in the tweet).
Even if you have a Twitter account, if it’s not linked to your Medium account, then that’s not enough. Think about it; when you tweet a link to an article, you don’t want to waste 30 seconds searching for the writer’s Twitter handle. I know that whenever I tweet an article that I don’t usually take the extra step to tag the journalist (unless I already follow them).
Secondly, tweeting articles by your favourite writers is a great way to grab their attention.
It’s hard to pop your head above the constant stream of noise on Medium. Your favourite writers are bombarded by comments and they probably don’t notice when a fan gives their article a full 50 claps.
When you’re trying to get a writer’s attention, my first reflex is to check how many followers they have on Twitter. If they have 1000 followers on Twitter but a whopping 40k on Medium, then I think you can guess where I’ll concentrate my efforts. I suggest combining a mix of interacting with writers on Twitter and within Medium. Comments on Medium are still the best way to provide an in-depth take on someone’s article.
In conclusion, Medium and Twitter are inextricably linked. Leveraging your Twitter profile to interact with Medium users will help build your brand as a writer. Just remember that Medium extends into Twitter, retweet your followers’ compliments, and your own genuine self. The interaction will pay off in the long run!
Kathryn LeBlanc is a writer and digital strategist living in Ottawa, Canada. Her writing can be found on LinkedIn, Medium, and Vice. Tweet at @kat_leblanc to say hello ✌️
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 303,461+ people.
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