Effective Engagement on Medium

How to get the most out of the modern writing platform

Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash

Introduction

Medium is a great platform for writers of all kinds. It’s been around since 2012 and is effectively limitless in terms of what kind of content you create: you can blog, create tutorials, produce documentation or training materials with embedded code and other media, write poetry, prototype ideas for your book, or just create random cool things that are fun to make and which others may find interesting.

As of 2020, there is a huge community of readers and writers engaging on the platform every day, which means there is always an opportunity to jump in at any point and start participating.

So how does one get the most out of such an expansive and useful resource?

Content Creation

Being a platform for readers and writers, it stands to reason that a foundation of engaging on Medium is the act of writing itself. If you have goals of writing professionally (being paid to write or using your work as an instrument for building your business or brand) then it’s also important to both understand content creation from a writer’s perspective, and to learn how to produce content of value that will benefit your overall cause.

The cornerstone of writing is to know why you’re doing it and who you are doing it for. There are a few ways to look at this, and your day-to-day experiences may include any combination of these ideas:

• For the pure enjoyment of it
• To create a record of some event or discovery
• To organize thoughts or ideas in accessible and meaningful ways
• To provide information to others or distribute knowledge
• Introducing new concepts or philosophies to a large audience
• Informing others about a cause, organization, business, or brand
• Earning money to boost your income and overall quality of life

Writing on any media is effectively a blend of art, science, philosophy, and other topics. In modern times, we have the ability not only to create written content itself, but to augment it with high-resolution photography, impressive graphics, source code for software, and other cutting-edge rich media that add depth and dimension to your work, that otherwise would have been very difficult or extremely costly to produce and distribute prior to the digital age.

Notice that “for the pure enjoyment of it” is at the top of the list. If you’re not feeling inspired at any given moment or it doesn’t feel right, take a moment to engage in something that will boost your overall mental state and bring fresh thoughts into your mind, such as going for a drive or talking to a friend.

Photo by Art Lasovsky on Unsplash

Producing Your Work

With your core purpose and intended audience defined (even if the only reader for this particular article is yourself) you can begin to work backwards and discover a path that takes you from a blank page to a finished article that brings yourself and others a sense of enjoyment.

Letting go of perfection is crucial here as there is no such thing as perfect in this case, since the concept of “perfect” requires a reader, of which there are millions of around the world on Medium. Which one of them has the true concept of what is perfect? Your work doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be good enough for people to appreciate and enjoy.

While there may be the occasional naysayer who will criticize you or find holes in your articles, don’t take it too seriously. Everyone is entitled to their perspective and it’s not really up to anyone to define others’ point of view. After all, each of us will disagree with something sooner or later.

Conversely, many readers will provide useful and constructive feedback that can help you improve the quality of your work, such as politely identifying spelling and grammar errors or suggesting ideas for new content. Be receptive and thank people for their feedback, which often contains perspectives and ideas which may never have occurred to you otherwise. A little humility goes a long way and those small moments can add up to big successes.

While it’s important to experience some enjoyment from the writing process and gain a sense of joy from producing great content, it’s also important to remember that it does take some discipline, especially concerning the issue of perfection, which can easily become an excuse for not completing articles and delivering them to your readers. As with any challenging mental obstacle, it takes dedicated effort to overcome perfectionism and get the job done.

Here are a few concepts to keep in mind for writing good articles:

1. Be authentic: if you are writing a personal blog piece, write from a place of truth and authority since you are the authority on your own life. If you are creating some piece of work related to a field or industry, do your research and learn as much as you can, so you can deliver high-quality information with confidence and catch your mistakes before others do.
2. Use imagery: this includes placing high-quality and relevant graphics or photographs at the top of and within your article. Imagery can also be text which draws a picture within the reader’s mind. The combination of the two is incredibly powerful and can unlock inspiration both within yourself as you write the article, and within others as they read it.
3. Create structure: Break long paragraphs into smaller ones that express complete thoughts in an easy-to-read manner, and balance out the ratio of content to blank space which creates a frame structure that helps the reader process each concept quickly and easily.
4. Use formatting: the content formatting tools available on Medium are simple to use, and yield beautiful results when used properly. Examples include subtitles under the article title and at the top of each main section, drop caps (the big first letter), bold or italic style, links, the three-dot ( . . . ) separator, preformatted text, and quotation blocks.
5. Use threading: weave key concepts throughout your article and maintain continuity from one topic to the next, allowing the reader to follow your thoughts and understand them without having to work at it. Remind the reader of important concepts as necessary, and link to external resources to provide more info about topics the reader may not be familiar with.
6. Review / Edit: take breaks in between writing each major section to give yourself a moment to digest what you just wrote and queue up the next part, occasionally reading through what you have written so far to check that it flows properly and doesn’t contain mistakes or parts which are ambiguous, out of place, or difficult to understand. When you are finished writing, take another break and review your entire article the same way.

Discovering a process that works for you and learning how to utilize it to the best of your ability can help you unlock potential and deliver high-quality content that you enjoy writing and others benefit from reading. Above all else, be patient with yourself and if you become stuck, try free-writing.

Photo by Leon Seibert on Unsplash

Reading and Commenting

It may sound obvious, but the key to being a good writer is to be a good reader. Read often, and take advantage of Medium’s reading list feature by adding items to your list and then making it a point to work through the list whenever possible. Find a time to do this that works for you (for example, when you’re struggling with writer’s block).

Read with intention and put effort into understanding the content so that you have something to say about it, and then take the time to leave a comment on each article. Compliment the author, provide feedback, and share your similar experiences or ideas about the subject. These are fundamental concepts of good business in general, and they go a long way towards helping you find your place within the vast community of readers and writers on Medium.

It’s also OK to disagree with the author or to point out errors as necessary. When you find information that is factually incorrect or based on pure opinion or bias, provide your insights and back them up with data, which can include anything from analytics and metrics to external references (links).

Final Thoughts

The combination of effective writing with active readership and feedback is a good overall strategy for anyone interesting in writing on Medium or getting better results from their current writing efforts. At the end of the day, there is simply no substitute for dedicated work when it comes to achieving anything of value, so finding the time to create content and engage with others is the key to getting the most out of the platform.

Share your own thoughts and ideas on writing and connecting with others in the comments section below, and stay tuned for more writing tips and tricks.

Thanks for reading and good luck with your next article!

Kenneth Reilly (8_bit_hacker) is CTO of LevelUP