Picking the Perfect Platform for Your Message
Do you need to write a book, blog, or something else?
This week I published a piece on Medium about all the articles I’ve written on there that have earned $200, $500, $1,000 or even $2,000. It didn’t take long for someone to point out to me that just because Medium works for me, it won’t work for everyone. To point out that for him, in fact, Medium has been a complete waste of time.
I’m not naming names, but I checked out his posts and saw straight away why that is. He’s a sales-y, marketing-guru type whose posts are quite obviously promoting his products and those of others that he’s affiliated with.
Don’t get me wrong, you absolutely can make recommendations – and affiliate sales – on Medium. But anything that comes off as a very blog-post-like product review/comparison just isn’t quite right for the platform.
I posted that type of thing a lot on my old Wordpress blogs, but I never re-posted to Medium (even though you can certainly re-post blog posts to Medium, if they’re a good fit for the platform).
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Medium is more akin to a high-quality magazine than a blog, and the articles that really take off on there reflect that.
The blogger mentioned above needs to probably stick to his Wordpress blog for those product reviews and comparisons, and post something a little different on Medium. And if he wants to run a newsletter, or write a book, he maybe needs to put something a little different in each.
Some messages can be adapted to any channel. Some suit one more than others. And some need to be re-formatted for each platform.
And some people aren’t going to like this, but there’s really only one way to decide on this. Get deeply familiar with the platforms you’re interested in using. Want to write on Medium or Substack? Spend a lot of time on those platforms to see what works. Want to run a blog (or vlog)? Follow the top bloggers (or vloggers) in your niche. Want to write a book? Read the best-selling books in your genre and topic area.
The same is even true of social platforms, as all the hard-sell Twitter bros find when they try and repost the same content to Substack Notes. Different platforms come with different styles, tones and messages. And once you’ve nailed that, you need to attempt the very challenging task of fitting in while also standing out.
You can adapt your content across different platforms of course. You can use your blog, or Substack, or Medium to publish posts, newsletters, or stories that you then compile into a book. But the key word here is adapt. You will need to tweak things to match the platform you’re using.
So what about you? What’s your platform of choice right now? What’s your priority when it comes to putting your words out into the world?
And if your answer is something else, feel free to share what it is in the comments. Maybe you’ll inspire someone else.
Some thoughts from others I’ve been enjoying this week
Launch When It's Good, Not When It's Perfect by
2 Reasons Every Writer Should Tell Their Story Online by Veronica Llorca-Smith
Are Free Newsletters Better Than Paid Newsletters? by
What else I’ve been up to this week
Reading: Everybody Writes: Your Guide to Good Content by Ann Handley (one of my recommended resources for freelance writers)
Listening to: Made for These Times: A Start-Up Guide to Calling, Character, and Work That Matters by Justin Zoradi (on Audible)
Enjoying: Working my way through The HERO Framework online course from Kirsty Boden-Stuart of Write Like You Mean It.
This week’s Medium posts
(Friend links, as always, so you can read for free if you’re not a member.)
That’s all for this week. If you’re reading this online and you’re not subscribed yet, feel free to subscribe to get future posts straight to your inbox.
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First of all, thank you for sharing my article! I appreciate it.
Secondly, I completely agree with you. You can do marketing and sales on Medium, but it needs to be more subtle than what you'd write on a blog. People on there complain a lot about not making any money, and it's almost always because they're not using the platform in the right way.
P.S. I love the way you format your newsletter by sharing your Medium articles and links to other articles you recommend. I'm thinking of stealing your format. (And giving you credit, of course!)
I've only written a couple of Medium articles (I mean to do more), and I find that, as you mention, it's best if I aim for a high-quality magazine article feel in my writing.