Summary

The website content provides innovative strategies for promoting articles, particularly on Medium, including leveraging Twitter threads, tagging, interlinking articles, using poetry, and summarizing in short-form.

Abstract

The author, an experienced Medium writer since 2019, shares five unconventional methods to increase readership for articles. These methods include creating Twitter threads with snippets from the article, tagging individuals and relevant accounts in both the article and social media posts, linking to related pieces to improve SEO, composing poetry to complement the main article, and writing short-form summaries to pique interest. The author uses a personal example of an article about Chantilly cake to demonstrate these techniques in action. The piece emphasizes the importance of cross-promotion and engagement with the community to enhance visibility and reach a broader audience.

Opinions

The author believes in the effectiveness of reading reciprocity as a method to grow an audience.
Tagging individuals and relevant accounts on social media platforms is seen as a valuable way to increase visibility.
Interlinking articles is considered beneficial for SEO and mutual promotion among writers.
The use of poetry, such as haikus, is suggested as a creative approach to draw attention to the main article.
Short-form content is recommended for summarizing key points and generating interest in the full article.
The author views the process of promoting articles as an enjoyable experiment and provides a positive report on the engagement and readership numbers achieved through these methods.
Engaging with different publications and audiences is highlighted as a key strategy for reaching a wider readership.
The author invites readers to share their own article marketing strategies in the comments, indicating a collaborative mindset.

FIND YOUR READER

5 Unexpected Ways to Promote Your Articles

Some quick and creative ways to get readers for your pieces, on Medium and beyond

Updated January 24, 2024

I’ve been a writer on Medium since 2019, and since starting my writing groups, I’ve learned some tips and tricks along the way. I’ve written about growing your audience through the tried-and-true method of reading reciprocity. Here are some more tips and tricks to help you market and promote your work with your readers and gain a few new ones.

I will use my story about Chantilly cake as an example:

1. Create a Twitter thread

Make the most out of your posts! I recommend including no more than three snippets from your piece and schedule it in the morning to get the most views. Don’t forget to tag references from your piece. Please note that the image is linked to the actual Twitter thread — just click on the pic and it will take you there.

2. Tag people

I suggest you tag people in your actual article and promo posts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. In this one, I tagged a favorite Medium foodie friend, Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) who often talks about food on Medium and Twitter. I also tagged Whole Foods, Human Parts, Medium, and other food-related accounts.

3. Link other pieces

I love to spread the love by adding links to related pieces. It’s good for everyone’s SEO, too. Links were added from related Medium pieces and references.

The Curious Case of Whole Foods’ Chantilly Cake Shortage

If cake were a drug, this one would be a Schedule I substance

humanparts.medium.com

I wrote a how-to article that naturally turned into a praise piece on image formatting. I linked three of my favorite Medium articles throughout the piece and in my source list. I also tagged the writers, editors, and publications.

*Please note that the next 2 tips require you to create new pieces that you will link to the article you’re trying to promote. Thank you

4. Use poetry to promote or complement your piece

I used freeform and haiku poetry (published in The POM) to promote my story. My former writing partner introduced me and the group to using haikus at the beginning of a piece.

Chantilly Cake -Baked Addiction

Tasty poetry

medium.com

Chantilly Cake Haiku

Tasty poetry Part Two

medium.com

5. Summarize with short-form

Short-form is another quick way to highlight or summarize key points from the article you’d like to promote and pique interest. The short-form promo piece should be 150 words or less and should include a link to the article and tagged writers (if space permits). Click the story below for a demo, quick slice of advice, and short-form how-to guides published in Everything Shortform, edited by Greg Prince, who is also the editor of The Partnered Pen:

Chantilly In Shortform

The Analysis

I had a lot of fun writing this article and all the corresponding pieces. This was somewhat of an experiment for me. Here’s a breakdown of the numbers thus far, not too bad for an article about cake.

4 — Additional pieces were created to promote the original article: two poems, a short-form piece, and this how-to article
5 —Different publications and audiences were reached by publishing the different pieces in Creators Hub, Human Parts, The POM, and Everything Shortform
650 — Reads in last 30 days with 20+ comments
1,400+: Views in last 30 days

I’d be interested in knowing how you market and promote your pieces. Let me know in the comments.

** Note for Tip#1 — I’m in the Eastern Standard time zone — but as ⭐ Robert Jameson pointed out it’s always morning somewhere so you have to find your sweet spot. Mine is between 7:45–8:30 am EST.