Medium Tips

The Most Overlooked Marketing Tool on Medium

Medium responses can drive more relevant traffic than Quora, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook combined

Most successful writers will tell you to stay away from your stats. And that is true. You shouldn’t obsess over metrics. But we all do obsess over it — even those who tell you not to look at your stat pages (they’re probably the worst).

Stats are somewhat of recognition of your work. The answers to how many eyes have seen your message and how many people agree are in the stats. Stats are essential. But you shouldn’t look at them frantically every 7 minutes.

“Nothing changed, Karen, get back to writing.”

Every once in a while, I open the stats page to an awesome surprise. And the same happened this morning. My views exploded. The stats marked a seven-fold increase compared to a regular day. And I was confused, as I couldn’t see a single over-performing article. It took me another minute to figure out what’s going on.

Comments. The answer was in the bloody comments. Another Medium comment exploded in views, and thousands of eyes read my 120-word response. (The words “comment” and “response” are used interchangeably in this article.)

The whole scene was underwhelming, to say the least. Responses drove most of my traffic that day, and you can’t put that traffic behind a paywall.

Your responses also count to your total views on Medium. I can’t change this on my Apple devices. You could potentially open up each article and count the views you got today, and figure out what’s really going on. Still, if you have hundreds of published stories, you might decide there is a better use for your time.

The Most Underrated Marketing Tool on Medium

Writing Medium responses can draw thousands of views to your page. I decided to challenge myself to write at least one thoughtful comment each day. I read constantly, and it was not a problem. The results flooded my stats instantly.

I got more traffic from Medium responses than Quora, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter combined.

What did I do? The challenge was easy. Every time I read an engaging article, I’ll take another minute to comment or expand the discussion.

I tried to offer extra value or question the narrative of the story. Each response came from the heart. I’d comment a few stories, on certain days. But the main goal was to write one response each day.

I did the same with Quora earlier and received mixed results. I’ve answered at least one question every day. And I tried to answer questions close to something I was writing about at the moment.

Quora is a fantastic marketing tool, don’t get me wrong. Every writer should write there.

Unfortunately, I’d found myself arguing with people over different opinions and lose time because of it. Also, the traffic coming from Quora was mostly external. And even if one of my articles blew up because of Quora, I wouldn’t get any money for it. Bittersweet wins.

If your goal is to make money from your Medium stories, then Quora, Facebook, LinkedIn, and all the other platforms have their limits. If your goal is to get the most eyes on your work and spread the message, then Quora might be the best tool in the shed.

Medium Responses

I have to say that “great story” or “I agree” are nice comments, and every writer loves to hear that, but it won’t drive much traffic to your page.

I used a different approach. I would read each story, think about it for a second, and see if I could add value to the conversation. Maybe I could expand, or ask a good question? Perhaps I didn’t understand something the author wrote, and I asked for further explanation? If one person didn’t understand something, there is a good chance more people didn’t understand that same thing too. Asking questions is essential to adding value.

When you provide value for others, they might be more inclined to check out your other work. I’d do the same. Whenever I find something helpful from an author, I tend to search for his other work. (I read most of Chris Fox’s work after discovering 5,000 Words Per Hour.) I guess that’s how life works. The same goes for fiction, movies, and pretty much anything else. When you like a film with Johnny Depp, you might search for other movies with him in the lead role.

The idea behind this approach is the same. You write a comment that others might find value in, and they click on your name to check your other work.

The simple way to use responses:

• Open Editor’s Pick or Popular on Medium page.
• Browse the stories, and find something you’re interested in (you won’t have a problem with it as there are many interesting stories here.)
• Read the story A to Z (don’t skim and go straight for the comment. You might embarrass yourself if the author has already addressed your concern in the article.)
• Write a thoughtful response.
• Design the response to resemble a short story. You can add titles, photos, and bold text.

This is pretty much it. This marketing tool is fun, lucrative, and you’ll learn a lot. You’ll also connect with other authors on the platform.

The Downside

Responses are structured like Medium stories. You can do everything except place it behind the paywall.

The response views are tangled with ones from your published stories. Such a system can create confusion. And you might wake up one day to 10K extra views that didn’t come from your paid stories. (Don’t celebrate just yet.)

You might ask yourself why can’t you put responses behind a paywall. Good question. I believe Medium should address this issue. Earning money from responses might help this community thrive even further.

For now, you can benefit from responses in indirect ways. Also, the community is wonderful. (Medium is my favorite place online.)

The Takeaway

I’ve noticed that Medium responses drove more relevant traffic to my page than Quora, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram combined. The right traffic of Medium users opted in to check the rest of my work.

This approach connected me to the Medium community and drove thousands of new eyes on my work.

I’m not sure if you can calculate the exact earnings from this tactic, but I can say that I’m seeing more activity around my posts.

Comment responsibly and try to add value. We’re all part of this beautiful community. And your voice matters, as much as any other.