Medium is a blogging platform that has been around for a while but it has gained popularity recently.
You can get paid for writing about whatever topic you want on Medium, but to showcase your work and garner a following, social media is particularly valuable...
Why Use Social Media to Promote Your Medium Articles?
In regards to the commission on published articles, Medium only pays its writers for internal reads from paid subscribers.
This means that in order for you to make money from someone who reads your articles, they must be members who pay the US$5/month subscription and the article must be accessed within the platform.
So how does social media help you increase your Medium following?
Firstly, if you share your work on various social media platforms, someone may read your work and decide they want to sign up to bypass the paywall and have access to all of your articles. This will give you a commission, as well as a new reader.
You can grow your internal Medium following by interacting on Facebook groups and on Twitter. Other Medium members will follow you on the site after chatting with you on social media or reading your work. Therefore, this may increase your payout from Medium over time.
External reads and views from social media can also mean possible job offers and offers to guest post on blogs. Meanwhile, some companies may offer to buy your article from you.
You can make friends through social media groups for Medium, learning from the veterans of the platform and forming a great group of friends from interacting on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
How to Promote Your Medium Articles on Social Media
The three best platforms on which to promote your Medium posts are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These platforms are the ones with the most users, which will give you more visibility for your articles.
Facebook is the social media platform with the most active Medium writers. This is where you will meet new friends who also write on Medium, join groups to share your articles, and ask questions about how the platform works.
If you are new to Medium Facebook groups, there are a few groups you can join that are great for building rapport with other writers and gaining a following on Medium:
- Medium Writers and Bloggers (9K members)
- Medium Writers (4.5K members)
- Medium Mastery (4.3K members)
- Medium Writers Lounge (3.9K members)
- Medium Dreamers (2.5K members)
- Medium Magic (1.8K members)
Using these groups is a great way to get your name out there and interact with other Medium writers. But it's not the only way to showcase your work on Facebook.
You can also post your work on your personal Facebook profile or make a Facebook Page for promoting your Medium articles.
When you post on your personal Facebook profile or Page, be sure to post the Medium Friend Link for your article to the comments of your post so your friends who aren't Medium members can read it without being blocked by a paywall.
Twitter is a writer's paradise. Twitter is the most interactive when it comes to readers complimenting and sharing your work. When you connect your Medium page to your Twitter account, this ensures that each time your work is shared via Twitter, you get a notification.
To connect your Medium account to Twitter:
- Go to your Medium application
- Tap on the avatar on the bottom corner on the far right.
- Select Settings.
- Next to the Twitter option, tap on Connect.
- Read the prompt and select Authorize App.
- If prompted, enter your Twitter username and password.
- Select Authorize App again, you will then be redirected back to your Medium app.
You can also post your work on your Twitter page and use the appropriate hashtags to draw the attention of prospective clients and other Medium writers.
In particular, the hashtag #writingcommunity is a very active hashtag to use to promote your writing and build your Medium and Twitter following.
Overall, Instagram is a great platform to use to promote your writing. Many top writers claim that they have gotten jobs from promoting their blogging articles (including Medium work) on Instagram.
Although Medium has an Instagram profile that shares inspiring quotes, there are not many Instagram profiles for interaction between Medium members.
We suggest sharing your work by posting the link to your Medium article in your Instagram bio, screenshotting the article you want to share, and then captioning the photograph of the article to lead people to click on the link in your bio.
Since you are not able to post links in the actual image caption, we suggest clicking Edit Bio and then copying the friend link from your Medium article into the "Website" field. This will ensure the link is posted to your bio.
Although users cannot add links to the captions in our Instagram posts, luckily, there are other ways to add links to your Instagram posts and you can also use these tips to promote your Medium articles.
Etiquette for Medium Writers on Social Media
One of the main things to remember when sharing your Medium links on social media is to be considerate. "Link droppers" are people who just drop their Medium links under other people's posts on Facebook or Twitter, with no intention of interacting or reading another writer's work.
This is frowned upon, and truthfully, not many of us read the articles that people drop without context or interaction. Keep in mind, that the less you read your fellow writer's work, the fewer reads you will get on your pieces. People want to know there's a human being behind the writing and not just a marketing machine.