Grow on Medium

5 Strategies that have Rocketed Double Growth in Followers on Medium Four Months in a Row.

120% growth in January, already 50% growth in 9 days in February

Are you looking to expand your reach and build a bigger following on Medium?

I started on Medium in mid-June 2022. Those first few months were SLOWWW. Look at these numbers. Those go with posting about 2–3x per week.

In mid-December 2022, I decided to change things. For months I had an almost sole focus on LinkedIn. I shifted that focus to Medium. The results were instant. That began the rocket launch.

I wrote a short Medium story joking about a continued doubling in follower growth. We’re not talking big numbers. I had gone from 24 to 48 in November and then 96 in December.

At that time (mid-December 2022), I decided to kick my butt into gear to see what was possible on this platform.

At that time, I was also almost nine months into writing daily and building a digital writing business.

Writing this story, I am now ten months into building a digital writing business after walking away from a full-time, six-figure salary in April 2022.

The full story in this article link.

Growth since December has far surpassed what I thought was possible. The key has been time and investment of energy.

In a Medium story in mid-December, I publicly stated some goals for the next year.

I beat the first goal and was accepted into the Medium Partner Program just before Christmas. By the end of December, I was at 165 Followers.

I also made $3.14 in December with metered stories in the last week and a bit of the month. In January, growth rocketed.

Rocketing into January 2023 with 120% growth.

Before the New Year, I set a goal to try and post at least a story daily. Granted some got delayed as I await Medium publication timelines. Some turn around and publish stories very quickly, while others take a bit.

I began investing a lot of time in engaging other writers and their stories. It worked.

Growth in January was over 120%. I ended the month with 370 Followers. I also had 5–6x growth in earnings. In January, I made about $17.

I know… big money! :)

The rocketing in growth has continued though. It’s not even the middle of February and I’ve seen over 50% growth already.

Today I’m over 550 Followers, which is almost all of January’s growth in only 9 days of February. Things are actually picking up speed.

The formula for Medium Growth?

The formula for growth on Medium is not complicated. An older screenshot from Medium says it all. This is a place to write, read, and connect.

If you want followers, that last word is the key one.

It’s not called anti-social media. Reach out and connect with other writers. Connect with those that leave comments on your stories — especially those that don’t leave the standard “thanks for sharing” or “great piece” comments.

It may not be complicated, but it does take a lot of time and persistence.

Here is a five-part strategy that I’ve used, and it’s probably not much different if you were to ask ChatGPT or surf around Medium for similar stories. I also share how I’ve used these strategies.

1. Create Decent Content

The first step to spurring growth on Medium is to create decent content that people want to read. Keep in mind this can be broad. There are a lot of people on Medium and an even wider audience that find Medium stories through search engines.

You will most likely see advice such as ‘niche-down’ and make sure your stories are ‘relevant for your audience’ — but… what is your audience if you’re just starting out?

Take a look around Medium and there is a broad range of topics that are written about and posted daily. There is also a broad range of Publications that you can apply to and write for.

Thus far in my journey on Medium, I’ve written quite broadly — please feel free to check out my list of stories. I’ve also applied to and published with some broad topic publications. Medium is a writing platform that supports people writing all across the map and still picking up followers and growing an audience.

You may find you already have a niche and love writing about it. Then go for it!

If not, play around. Practice in public. Experiment. Keep things interesting.

2. Engage with Other Users

This is the secret sauce!

One of the best ways to build a following on Medium is to engage with other writers. This means commenting on their articles, sharing their work, and participating in discussions. By doing so, you’ll build relationships with other users and increase the visibility of your own content.

Some publications have connected social media communities such as Slack, Discord and Twitter.

The absolute key to my rapid growth has been spending nearly every day reading other stories, clapping, and leaving a comment. Not just any old comment, but the type that I like to receive. If I like the content, I push “follow”. More often than not, someone follows back. I do similar.

I notice that some writers with huge numbers of followers on Medium follow very few people. This is unfortunate and misses the “Connect” part. You can see what anyone has for Followers and Following by clicking the “About” tab.

Here’s mine today. I follow more than I have following me.

Doing this, I’ve met some pretty cool people doing cool things.

3. Collaborate with Other Writers

Collaborating with other writers can be a great way to grow your audience on Medium. There are some pretty cool folks running some cool publications. Some are large and some are closer-knit communities.

For example, I connected with Veronica Llorca-Smith and her A Smiling World publication. We’ve struck up conversations and mutual support on LinkedIn and Twitter.

And, Misbah Sheikh and her The Hub Publication. She also supports writers in the publication on Twitter.

I just connected with Oscar Soto ⚡ and this publication How to Increase Your Followers Number.

By working together, you can reach a wider audience and expand your network and opportunities.

Seeing how these folks are doing cool things and building a community, my wife and I started a publication linked to an initiative we recently launched: Humanity Academy.

These are all opportunities to connect, support and expand followers and audience.

4. Use Keywords and Hashtags

To make your content more discoverable, be sure to use keywords and hashtags that are relevant to your topic. This will help Medium’s algorithm surface your work to users who are searching for content on that topic.

You can also use popular hashtags to join conversations and connect with other users who are interested in the same things as you.

I try to balance between highly popular tags like “Writing” or “Life Lessons” and others that are not nearly as used like “digital writing”.

5. Promote your work

Finally, don’t be afraid to promote your work on other platforms. Share your Medium articles on social media, link to them from your blog or website, and reach out to other writers in your niche.

The more you promote your work, the more people will see it and the more likely it is to be shared and spread.

I have developed a system in recent months where I start with content on Twitter. Often single tweets and some threads. I’ve also used the Atomic Essay form — come on over and have a look to see what that is.

I expand that content into LinkedIn posts.

I take any feedback I get from those, plus look at the analytics, then expand to a Medium story.

I then also share my Medium story back on Twitter and LinkedIn.

With LinkedIn, I will often include part of the story in the post. Through analytics, I can often see where traffic is moving between the various sites. This is valuable information for refining my writing and topics.

Every weekend, I publish a free weekly newsletter- Box Cutter — where I share my systems and processes plus top posts from the week from all the platforms.

You can stop by and check it out without subscribing. However, if you’re interested, please subscribe. I only send out one email per week. There is also other content on my site that you can check out. It’s a fun growing community.

Those are the 5 strategies I’ve been using to keep up the torrid pace of double growth in followers for four months running. Boil it down to:

• Content
• Connect
• Collaborate
• Curate
• Promote

Can I make it five or even six months of doubling each month?

That is yet to be seen. I am now watching for those other two goals I shared above. I want to reach 1,000 Followers by April. On a good path to smash that goal early.

And, I want to become part of the Medium $100/month club, which apparently only about 6% of Medium writers achieve. I have some work ahead to reach that.

Stay tuned for progress.

If we don’t follow each other, pop in and let’s do so. Please feel free to connect on the other platforms I have linked below.

How about you - what strategies do you use? What’s worked for you?

David Loewen is a digital writer and researcher with an eclectic career trajectory. He is now a solopreneur writing and posting daily on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. He publishes a free weekly newsletter Box Cutter.