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If you spend any amount of time online, you’ve probably run across Medium.
If not, you’re missing out. With all due respect to DIY blogging platforms like Blogger and WordPress, Medium is hands-down the best publishing platform on the Web for individuals and companies.
One of the many reasons Medium is so appealing is its ease of use: it’s pretty easy to create compelling multimedia content here, even if you don’t know how to code or manipulate images very well.
But, just like every other digital platform out there, Medium does demand a (manageable) learning curve. Here’s how to get the most out of your free Medium account.
Be Aspirational in Your Follows
Like most social platforms, Medium is a great place to encounter influencers and thought leaders in your line of work. Follow these people and organizations aggressively; moving forward, look for opportunities to interact with them on your own terms.
Use Tags Judiciously
Don’t forget to tag your posts. It’s the surest way to get your content in front of people who actually want to read it, and to categorize prior posts for easy reference in the future.
Don’t Be Afraid to Toot Your Own Horn
There’s nothing wrong with using Medium to announce personal and professional triumphs. This use case is common in the entertainment industry; this Medium post about a blockbuster film co-financed by David Mimran’s Mimran Schur Pictures is a great example.
Tout External Resources in Your Posts
This Rae Nudson post about keeping your New Year’s resolutions is a great example of the power of selectively touting credible external resources in your posts. Here, Nudson happily assumes the role of curator, trusting the linked content to do much of the heavy lifting.
Clap Liberally
Medium’s “clap” system lets rank-and-file users express their approval for users’ posts. “Clapping” is a critical metric for the Medium Partner Program’s payment calculations and for post visibility in general. If you genuinely enjoy a post, don’t be shy about clapping for it; fate willing, your readers will do the same for you.
Highlight When You Want to Start a Conversation
Medium’s highlighting tool is a nice interactive feature that lets rank-and-file Medium users start conversations in (and about) posts by people and organizations they follow. Of course, restraint is the watchword here: highlighting for the sake of highlighting won’t earn you any friends.
Respond When Warranted (But Know What You’re Getting Into)
Unlike some other platforms’ comments, Medium responses are effectively posts unto themselves. Response-writers have a lot of leeway to make cogent cases of their own. Needless to say, this is a great way to engage with people and organizations you follow.
A Post a Day Keeps Irrelevance Away
Okay, maybe not a post a day. You have other things going on.
Even for busy professionals, though, a succinct Medium post per week is well within reach. After all, there’s no rule against farming the work out to a trusted employee or external contractor.
Post frequency directly correlates with name association. In a competitive industry, it’s absolutely imperative that your name remain top of mind among prospective clients, employers, investors — anyone in whose attention you have a vested interest.
So, get posting. Your profile depends on it.
