6 Ways to Gain Followers on Medium
The organic way.
For those new to Medium, it helps if you have followers, people who read your articles. Medium is a publishing platform for writers and readers. Anyone can sign up and read the talent who write and share, and anyone can sign up and post a story.
Until you master curation (curation is when a story gets curated into a specific topic getting it in front of more readers. Curation means your story will be shown to the people following the topic in which it was curated), you may have to use other ways to get noticed.
I never use the follow/unfollow method on any social media platform. I wouldn’t recommend it.
If you’re trying to forge a writing career, earn income from an online business, or sell a service, you want true fans. You want to grow your follower base organically and attract people who like your work, will engage, and eventually buy what you are selling. You will not attract this type of person through the follow/unfollow method because it is inauthentic.
True fans read your work, like it, and follow.
If you trick people into following you by the follow/unfollow method, they are not true fans, and they may never read any of your work.
You gain true followers from adding value to their lives.
Value comes in the form of an entertaining story, a story that educates and informs or simply an interesting story you can’t stop reading.
Your true fans will read your work, buy your products, and follow you on whatever platform you share. Don’t underestimate the power of a true fan, even if you only have five. If you have five, you’ll gain more.
Treat them well.
Six ways to gain followers on Medium
1. Make thoughtful comments on stories in your niche
One reason I found success on Medium within the first few months of posting was that I was a regular reader of Medium stories from its infancy. I’m a long-time fan of the platform, and I’ve seen what works. You can start that today. Start reading.
Find stories and topics that interest you and read those.
Post a thoughtful comment on a story that has a lot of engagement, and that genuinely interests you. Turn the comment into a short story; you can even add a photo to your comment. Ask a question about something in the article that you would like the author to clarify.
Be respectful, and thank the author for sharing.
Be authentic. Writing something you found interesting about someone else’s work creates an opportunity to meet readers and writers who also found the same story interesting, you could get followers from your comments and ideas.
2. Join Medium-centric Facebook groups and share your work
Join Medium-centric Facebook groups and share your work. Just enter “Medium” into the Facebook search bar, and they’ll pop up.
You’ll meet other writers in Medium Facebook groups. This is a great way to put yourself out there and find like-minded readers and writers. You can share stories, comments, concerns, and your publication if you have one.
I have gained quite a few followers, views, and claps from posting my work in these groups. It’s a great way to meet other writers with common goals. The writers I’ve met have all been supportive and kind.
Medium writers are some of the most generous people on any social medium platform.
3. Respond to comments
When you get your first comment, print and frame it.
It’s exciting!
It was for me. I love helping people, and when I get readers’ comments on how I’ve helped them do something better, I do a pirouette at my writing desk. It actually makes my day.
You may not get a comment on your first post, but if you keep at it, you will eventually.
The key is to keep writing.
In the beginning, when you’re receiving only a few comments, it’s easy to keep up with responses. Take the time to respond.
Now that I have more comments, it takes me longer to respond, but I do my best to respond to all of them. Some have slipped through the cracks, but I try to respond every one.
Content saturates the internet. There is so much vying for your reader’s attention. When they choose to spend time reading your work and then take the time to comment, you need to take the time to respond.
4. Publish in larger publications
Besides curation, this may be the best way to gain followers.
Medium in-house publications, which can be found on the Medium homepage, have a large number of followers and wide distribution.
Follow the submission guidelines to these publications and submit your work.
If you don’t get accepted, keep trying. When you do, you will be introduced to a whole new audience. More readers will read your work, and you will get more followers by merely showing up in more places.
Someone will read what you wrote, like it, and want more, so they will follow you. Write well so that they can’t ignore you.
5. Start your own publication and niche down
Start your own publication in a specific niche you write in.
I have two publications, and the follower count increases steadily.
It is best to simultaneously submit to more significant publications while adding stories to your own.
If you start a publication, pick one topic to write about in the beginning.
Niching down tends to get more attention and more followers faster. When you have followers to your publication, you can take advantage of Medium’s letter feature to send your stories directly to your publication’s followers.
Once you increase your follower count, expand the topics in which you write. This is a great way to get your stories in front of your true fans, but the only way to access the letter feature is to start a publication.
Start one today.
6. Curation, Curation, Curation
I almost titled this post Five Ways to Gain Followers on Medium Without Curation. But I can’t talk about increasing your number of followers without writing about curation. Curation still remains the best way to increase your follower count, get views, reads, claps, comments — engagement.
When a story is curated, it is curated into a topic that fits the story.
Some topics are more popular than other topics. The topic “life lessons” is more popular than the topic “loss.”
The Medium story algorithm is driven by topics, so when your story is curated in “productivity,” it is shown to all the readers on Medium who follow that specific topic.
This is huge, your story will get in front of a larger audience. The readers following the topic productivity will have a chance to see your story.
Medium curation means your story will be shown to the people following the topic in which it was curated.
Curation is the most important way to get followers and engagement.
Engagement makes you money on Medium. Curation remains important. I’ve written about how to get curated before, and I will write an updated post on curation next week.
Keep getting better as a writer, and your curation rates will increase.
Jessica is a writer, an online entrepreneur, and a recovering type-A personality. She lives in Los Angeles with her extrovert daughter, two dogs, and two cats.
