Marketers seem to suffer from the Shiny Object syndrome more than most. They’re distracted by the newest, shiniest toy dangled in front of them. Seriously, my dog gets less distracted when I jangle my keys.
Content marketers are just as bad. I’ve seen people jump on Medium, LinkedIn, Ello, This, Inc, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and the Huffington Post, only to jump back off weeks later.
They’re all looking for that elusive publisher, that one tool, that will solve all of their marketing and publishing problems.
If I publish on LinkedIn, people will read my stuff.
If I publish on Ello, people will buy from me.
If I publish on Medium, I’ll be a star.
They don’t do anything more than any other publisher is doing.
Oh sure, Medium created an app for people who like to think deep thoughts over soy lattes, while LinkedIn is reaching a huge business audience because Richard Branson and Gary Vaynerchuk publish there. But Medium is not the message.
These are still just publishers. They don’t have Magical Publishing Fairy Dust that makes people read your work. You do.
Don’t Build on Rented Land
For years, I’ve said you need your own place to be the central hub of your social media and personal branding. You need some place to send people, some place that is yours and yours alone. Some place that you control, aren’t at anyone’s mercy, and aren’t subjected to the fickle winds of the market.
That’s your blog.
That’s not a spot on Blogger or WordPress.com. (I had a client blog get shut down years ago without warning, because Blogger didn’t like our outbound links. Two years’ of content, gone in an instant.)
That’s not your Facebook business page. (Facebook pleaded with everyone to launch a business page, only to shut down their reach unless you pay up.)
That’s not This.cm. (They shut completely down on July 31.)
That’s not LinkedIn, Medium, or Ello. (Read the previous three paragraphs.)
It’s your blog on your server with your version of WordPress. (Or, God help you, Joomla or Drupal.)
You have no control of your content when it’s on someone else’s site. You can’t stop them from deleting your content, limiting its reach, or shutting down completely.
But if it’s on your blog, you’re in control. It’s your site, it’s your content, and you get to say what you want.
If you still want to use those other sites, go ahead. Just post to your blog first, wait a day or two, and then post to those other sites.
That’s because you want your content to get all the Google juice. If it’s published first, Google will see it as the canonical material. If it’s not first, Google won’t even notice it.
It’ll be like me at my high school dances all over again.
(Secondary publishing: the high school band nerd of content marketing.)
But, even that won’t sprinkle the Magical Publishing Fairy Dust on it.
IT’S STILL ABOUT YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK!
Social media is the thing that separates average writers with huge networks from great writers with small networks.
If you don’t push your content on social media, people won’t see it. If you don’t promote your work, no one will read it. If you don’t tell people, they won’t care!
Regardless of where you publish, you need to tell as many people you can about your work. They don’t care where you’re published, they just want to see it.
Social media, not some hyped-up blogging software, is your Magical Publishing Fairy Dust.
Do you want to be widely read on LinkedIn? Share your LinkedIn posts on Twitter and Facebook a few times a day. People aren’t always on Twitter or Facebook when you post your messages the first time.
Want your Medium post to reach a larger audience of like-minded readers? Follow your favorite authors, leave smart, personalized comments, and share their work. They’ll check you out, and if they like what you’ve done, they’ll share your work in return.
We’ve been saying this since 2007, when we first started telling people how to reach a wider audience. And it hasn’t changed. The tools may have changed, but the techniques have not. People will read your stuff if you a) have something worth reading, and b) tell them about it.
Bottom line: I’m not saying don’t publish on LinkedIn, Medium, or other places. Publish there second, publish on your blog first. Don’t give up final control of your work to someone else’s so-called magic.
Photo credit: Sophie Anderson, Take the Fair Face of Woman (Wikimedia Commons, painting, public domain)
