Along Came Medium — Why THIS is the Platform We Should Be Talking About
How many articles are out there talking about Snapchat? Or Facebook Live? How about Facebook Instant Articles? A lot.
Now, in proportion, how many articles are there in the marketing community hyping up Medium? Not so many.
So I decided to create one.
It’s clear Medium is gaining momentum. The site receives 30 million unique monthly visitors, recently snagged $50 million in VC funding, added Ben Horowitz to its board, and has everyone from Hillary Clinton (i.e. her ghost writer) to the CEO of Google publishing on it.
Medium is something special.
Why you ask? Well, I could talk for hours about that (shoot me an email if you want to nerd out). But for now, let’s focus on a few points. Here they are:
It Gives Writers a Voice
The best brands give a voice to the voiceless. They give a group access to opportunities they would not have had otherwise. Time and time again, Seth Godin uses the example of Harley Davidson when making this point.
The same applies to social media platforms. The best social networks don’t just connect one person to another; they give a voice to the voiceless.
In terms of social media, there are plenty of examples.
For photographers, along came Instagram. For film makers, along came YouTube. For slap-stick comedians, along came Vine. For us writers, we’ve been anxiously waiting for a long time. A long long time.
And now it’s here. Along came Medium.
Sure, we’ve been able to write on Facebook or WordPress or LinkedIn. But those platforms were never built specifically for writers.
Medium gives a platform for writers and thinkers from all industries to share ideas. It allows for them to let down their walls a bit, very different the overly formal style of Forbes or Bloomberg.
LinkedIn Pulse is the closest thing to Medium, and it is lacking authenticity and soul.
LinkedIn Pulse feels like walking into a 1950’s corporate office. Medium feels like walking into a hip tech startup with bean-bags and beer on tap.
Medium provides contributors with a wonderful middle-ground somewhere between formal and casual.
It allows them to potentially have thousands of readera without spending 5+ years of daily blogging to get there.
For writers and thinkers, there’s a lot to love.
Product and Timing
It Has a Low # of Touch-Points
Touch-points are the number of interactions needed to sustain a following.
Medium is a low touch-point channel. Very different than the trend we’re seeing today of increasing touch points, like Snapchat and Twitter and Periscope and Instagram and Facebook Live.
While Twitter and Snapchat and Periscope and Facebook Live and YouTube Stream are telling us to “do more”, Medium is telling us to “do what you can”.
Users can stop in and stay for as long or as short as they’d like to. Top articles on the site might have been from someone who has written 100+ articles or someone who hasn’t written any prior material.
It’s the wild west. And it’s wonderful. So why aren’t we talking about it?
It’s Scroller-Friendly & Personalized
We live in a world overflowing with content. The barriers to entry for content creation are lower than ever.
We live in a scroll-and-skim society. We need to be able to skim through a valuable article while we’re on public transportation or walk our dogs.
Medium is built for this in mind, as shown by the quotes, callouts, various type sizes, and X Minute Read feature.
Platforms like YouTube are wonderful. But they’re completely immersive. Today’s consumers do seek immersive experiences (i.e. virtual reality & augmented reality), we also seek convenience. Efficiency. Speed. In everything we do.
What’s more convenient and efficient than consuming a Medium article explaining how to market your product or foreign policy news, in the matter of minutes? Maybe a Sunday massage or a self-pouring bowl of cereal. But not much else.
Today’s consumers are starving for curated content. Starving for convenience. Starving for aggregation and personalization.
As the world gets more and more noisy — we need curated content we can trust. From PEOPLE we trust. Enter Medium. Where people, not brands, are at the epicenter.
Because of the overflow of content, we as consumers want everything in a convenient location. It’s why brands like Flipboard have gained so much traction. Medium does this using personalized tags for its users.
Of course there are other noteworthy product features on Medium: the sleek interface, the text editor that makes Google Doc’s feel like a typewriter, analytics that don’t suck, and more. But that’s a whole other discussion.
Brands Love It
Brands love it just as much as the people do.
This is great news for the people because in today’s cutthroat tech economy, when big companies enjoy something it means it won’t go out of business tomorrow.
There are many reasons why brands love Medium, but two stick out: the intimacy and the low amount of time/energy needed to sustain a following.
With Medium, brands can come across as authentic without needing an endless number of interactions with consumers, as is needed on other intimate platforms like Snapchat or Periscope.
Companies can use Medium as a way to connect with audiences on a much deeper level. Brands are able to share opinions on sensitive political issues to show consumers they aren’t like those other “big bad corporations”.
They can crack a joke, write open letters, propose bills, and more.
In short, Medium allows them to helicopter in at their leisure, drop some knowledge, show their brighter side, and be done.
Medium is a place where even the most acclaimed public figures can show a different side of themselves. And that’s powerful.
People email me a lot to ask how THEY can grow and nurture their Medium audience.
I can’t answer everyone’s questions as well as I’d like to, so myself and the team at Arctiphi Marketing created a free booklet on growing your audience and voice on Medium.
This free booklet covers everything from setting up your profile for success to getting on a publication to tricks on using Medium tools for improvement & increased traffic.
Give it a read! I really think you’ll gain value from it :)
Medium is one of the fastest growing platforms on the planet. Be sure to find your voice on Medium before it's too late…arctiphi.com
Tweet me at DakotaShane_Nun or email the team at info@arctiphi.com to let us know what you think!!
