Cracking the Code to Rapid Follower Growth

How Did I Make 1000 Followers in Medium in Less Than a Month

# My Blueprint and Paradigm of Gaining Followers

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Let's share a moment—spend 30 seconds with my story.

Your authentic engagement is a treasure to me. 

If it doesn't touch your heart, feel free to pass on the applause (Clapping). 

It's the genuine connections and the spirit of true readership that I hold dear.

In spite of only posting a few articles weekly and responding to comments only after work and on weekends, I’ve received a lot of engagement on my stories, which I greatly appreciate.

Surprisingly, gaining 500 followers in a week was an unexpected outcome after publishing this article last weekend only. Please take a look as well if you have missed it as it includes great tips for me to reach an initial 500 followers.

Although I may not be the quickest to reach 1000 followers on Medium, I believe my tips can help others as well to reach the same milestone.

With the right strategy in place, anyone can achieve the same outcome. Also, I firmly believe this article will assist those aiming to quickly secure their first 100 followers and begin their journey with Medium’s Partnership Program.

Once more, I’m ready to share the effective tips that have worked for me, so stay tuned!

Additionally, for those who seek an initial 100 followers without hard work, I’ve also outlined some simpler, less demanding methods towards the end.

Before we start, I would like to share one story that I love with everyone.

Heaven and Hell: The Tale of Long Chopstick

Have you heard this story about heaven and hell with long chopstick? Every day, residents of both Heaven and Hell are served the same delicious meals. However, they can only use their chopsticks to eat, and it is at least 180cm long.

Imagine the process of using that chopstick, picking up sushi, and trying to dip it into soya sauce with wasabi and put it into your mouth.

In hell, everyone tries to feed themselves, but no one succeeds. There was one exceptionally skilled individual who managed to eat on his own, but his success rate was low due to the constraints. Others, envious and unable to eat, would disturb him, leading to arguments and blame.

In heaven, on the other hand, everyone fed each other, creating a joyous atmosphere daily.

I hope this story offers a hint about what I will share in this article. Much like the Heaven and Hell narrative, I strive to build a ‘Heaven’ of follower groups in my community.

Also, I believe four key aspects contribute to gaining Medium followers:

1. The quality of your articles — Do they provide valuable information to the intended audience?
2. The frequency of your articles. How often do you post?
3. The quality of your interactions with other writers.
4. The frequency of your interactions with other writers.

With this in mind, let’s dive into the real tips now!

1. Save Your Precious Time and Energy for Your VIPs (Find Matchers and Givers Living on Medium Heaven)

How to Become More Efficient With Your Precious Time?

I am an agile project manager (Scrum Master), so I am often faced with challenges with either resource or time constraints of the IT project. This led me to focus on two things.

• Saving my time by interacting with the right people for the quality of my interaction.
• Working on the quality of my article instead of the quantity.

Why have I saved so much time in gaining more followers? I believe it’s because I was good at identifying the Matchers or Givers and concentrating on them.

But, how can we efficiently identify and attract the right followers on Medium to follow you? Not just any followers, but those genuinely interested in your writing?

To give some analogy, there are three types of people in the world:

• Givers
• Takers
• Matchers

This classification also applies to the Medium community. If you want to know more, try watching this TED talk by Adam Grants. Or you can read my summary of the video below.

Adam Grant’s — “Are You a Giver or a Taker?”¹

1. Three Types of People

He talks about three kinds of people in workplaces:

• Givers: They always try to help others.
• Takers: They mainly look out for themselves.
• Matchers: They try to keep a balance between giving and taking.

2. How These Types Perform at Work

• Givers often don’t do well because they’re too busy helping others.
• Takers might succeed quickly but don’t often keep their success.
• Matchers aren’t usually the top performers.

3. Givers Can Be Top Performers

Givers are often the most successful. However, they can also struggle if they don’t look after themselves.

4. Making a Good Environment for Givers

He suggests ways to make sure givers do well at work, like encouraging small acts of help and making it okay to ask for help.

5. Being Nice Doesn’t Always Mean Giving

Just because a person is friendly doesn’t make him or her to be termed a giver. Some people are not too pleasant outside but can be givers, while others look like very nice individuals outside, and yet they become takers in real life.

6. Giving Leads to Better Workplaces

Companies where people help each other tend to do better.

7. Changing How We See Success

He says “We should think of success as helping others, not just winning.”

Adam Grant’s message is about encouraging a culture where helping others is valued and leads to success for everyone.

Important Disclaimer

I am not suggesting that individuals who don’t reciprocate a follow are takers. Many writers choose this approach, and I fully respect it, understanding their aim is to attract a genuine audience that follows because they enjoy their articles.

I’ve observed that many of these writers instead engage with return comments or claps, rather than following back. So they can be still the matchers and givers in terms of claps, comments, and highlights.

Different people have different ideas and perspective about things and there is always something to learn from each other.

However, if you are eager to quickly reach your first 100 followers, or if you’re aiming to increase your follower count, reads, claps, and revenue, you should focus on finding Matchers and Givers.

In fact, I devote a significant portion of my time to interacting with these types of writers (Matchers and Givers) and offering more engagement.

Identifying Matchers and Givers is relatively straightforward, but there are some preliminary steps to undertake before we can spot and interact with them effectively.

Step 1. Pre-works: Profile Design and Story Settings

There are some pre-works to be done before you start identifying your followers to maximize your chance of getting followed back.

1.1. Give Multiple Clues to Other Users That You Are the Follow-Back User

People normally click on our profile before they choose to follow you. Give full hints that you are following back readers who follows you.

From my profile page, I am giving numerous hints that I always follow back through the below signs.

1. On the top right, I have shared that I always follow back in my Bio [🌟 100% Follow-Back 🌟] (Please feel free to re-use my words). Also shared my niche and what I write about.
2. I have pinned my story about ‘Why I am following back’ on the top 2 sections of my stories in my profile. This is another clue for users who view my profile. If you have no such stories, you can consider submitting one to Follower Booster Hub — Medium publication. This will be highlighted in later points. This is a new publication that accepts any Matchers/Givers to boost your followers.
3. I am a ‘Friend of Medium’ which provides more motivation to follow me. According to Medium, Become a Friend of Medium — Medium Help Center, one of the benefits is that “When you spend time reading member-only stories, you’ll generate four times more earnings for those writers compared to a regular membership.”
4. I have proven that I am following back with the number of Followers/Followings in my profile which shows that I am a Matcher.

Also, I have updated my profile ‘About’ page with the above comments that I follow back for good reason.

1.2. Design and Beautify Your Profile

Don’t just leave your header image blank like most Medium users. Instead, make it look special. There is a famous quote “Don’t judge a book by its cover” but people may not even choose to open your book if you don’t have special covers.

Design your Header and your Name. You can put any images that represent your profile and highlight what self or brand image you would like to give to users. Even your name displayed can be designed with a mixture of images and text, just like mine.

You can put any images that represent your profile and highlight what image you would like to give to users. Even your name displayed can be designed with a mixture of images and text, just like mine.

Also, update your profile “About” Section with who you are and what you write about. Probably it’s also a good idea to share your best articles there too which may lead users to read and follow you as well.

1.3. Pinterest Your Proflie: Pin Your Best Story on The Top of Your Profile

Write at least a few articles about your interests so that people can read and know more about you and your writings. This is important as many people may not follow you back if you haven’t really written anything, thinking that you are a reader rather than a writer.

Use the Medium stats Google add-ons that I shared in an earlier article to identify your best-performing article and tag it to the top of your stories.

Just like how I highlighted titles and introductions play the role of ‘looks’, your first story posted on the top is your first image as a writer.

Impress as much as possible with the best story you have so that you can ensure that your stories can add value to their life.

1.4. Create a List of Your Stories

If you have a sufficient number of stories, try to create a list. I normally create the list based on the category I wrote. This will ensure that your old articles will have a longer life span and people who liked your article can visit other stories as well which may convince them to follow you.

Also, don’t forget to reorder the list. Your best-performing or best article should be re-ordered to be on the top of your list so that it will attract the reader’s attention. Chances are that they may skip the rest of your articles if your first item on the list is not satisfactory to their needs.

Step 2. Find Your Niche Topics

Once you are done with your hair and make-up, and tidy down your profile, the first step is to use Medium topics and publications to find like-minded people.

I have already shared about publications on earlier stories so I will share shortly about Medium topics that most of you may be familiar with.

• Link to all Medium Topics

Generally, people tend to agree to the similar ideas or interests that they have and are more likely to follow or interact with you if you have similar interests.

Explore your topics from the Medium Topic List and start following topics of your niche.

Step 3. Find Your Matchers/Givers

Once you find your niche and topics you follow in medium topics and publications, it’s time to find the right people who have the highest chance of following you back.

Here are some of the matrices I use to access and identify if someone is the Giver/Matcher/Taker.

1. Follow-back Rate

Does he/she follow back others? How many percent of people does he follow back? How many followers does he/she have compared to following?

Some Rough Figures for You

I believe more than 60~80% is a pretty good follow-up rate (e.g. having 1000 followers and 600 following is a 60% follow-up rate.)

If you observe someone with less than a 10% follow-up rate, meaning that that person would most likely not follow you back unless you have provided him/her great value through your articles.

If he/she has more followers or a similar number of followers, it’s a good sign that they will have a higher chance to follow you back.

Disclaimer: I am not saying this is not possible for people with lesser follow-up rates to follow you back. I am saying that it is just harder to gain follow-up in general.

2. Check out the Reaction Return Rate

Does he/she return you back with follow-up claps, highlights, and comments to you? That’s a very positive sign that they may follow back as well!

3. Check out the Availability of User

Is he/she an active medium member? When was his/her last post? You don’t want to spend time with a hibernate or ghost account that might have been inactive for a long time which you will most likely won’t get back any response.

Step 4. Focus Your Precious Time on 20% of Your Article & Interact with the Right People

Follow the Pareto Principle to focus on your Key articles and keep interacting with the Matchers/Givers identified.

The Pareto Principle² is a cool way to look at success. It indicates that most of your great success or results (like 80% of people reading or engaging with your articles) come from just a small bit of your effort (like 20% of the articles you write).

Here’s how to use this idea:

1. Focus on Your Popular Articles: Look at which of your articles are getting the most read or responses. Spend more time writing similar stuff.
2. Engage with Your Top Readers: Some readers are more active than others. They comment, clap, and engage more. Make sure you connect with these readers.
3. Use What Works: If certain topics or styles get more attention, stick with those. It means your audience loves that kind of content.
4. Listen to Feedback: Pay attention to what readers say in the comments. Their insights can help you write better articles.
5. Keep Re-Evaluating: Always check which articles or topics are hitting the mark. Put more effort into these areas.

Additionally, recognizing the types of users who engage most with your content or product is crucial.

Matchers and Givers, who actively engage with your brand by highlighting, viewing, reading, following, subscribing, and commenting, are your true supporters.

Spend more time interacting with them. Their support can really help your Medium writing take off and you will likely see a more significant impact in terms of community building and loyalty.

2. 10x Your Actions to Boost Yourself

Don’t wait for Medium to Boost your story. Instead, take more actions that will Self-Boost your stories.

Have you read Grant Cardone’s book “The 10x Rule”? The idea is to 10 times more actions than usual to create better results.² How can we do this on Medium?

2.1. Aim to Write 10 Times Better

Improving your writing in a short period of time can be tough. Normally your writing gets better the more you write and it improves over time. However, as Warren Buffett says,

“It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes.”

To quickly enhance your writing, learn from your experiences and also from what others have learned.

Check out how others have gained followers and pick a mentor or model in your niche. Study how they start their pieces, their word choice, and their use of examples and quotes.

Identify the gap between their work and yours and work on bridging it, starting with small steps and gradually improving. You’ll get better over time, and people will notice your growth.

2.2. Interact 10 Times More Than Usual

Test this yourself

How much do you interact with articles through claps, highlights, and comments? Multiply your current effort by 10 times and see the difference in result.

• If you clapped 500 times and got a single follower last week? Good. Try clapping 5,000 times and see the differences in results.
• Highlighted 3 articles last week? Then, aim for 30 highlights per week now.
• Commented on 2 articles? Go for 20 comments!

Focus especially on those who are Matchers or Givers in your topic area.

But, where to Find the Time?

You might wonder how to find time for these actions. The answer is simple: use your “spare time” wisely. Think about the little breaks you have — waiting for buses, meetings, or friends. These small moments can add up. Just 10 minutes used well daily can add up to an extra hour over a year, or more than two days for self-improvement.

Instead of scrolling through your phone, you could be learning or growing.

If your goal is to get 100 followers ASAP, use the Medium Mobile App during these spare moments. These small actions can lead to big changes and success.

3. Build a Lasting Relationship with Your Followers

You may have already learned this when you were in Kindergarten.

“When you receive something, say ‘Thank you’. Also, try to return the kindness.”

Nothing should be taken for granted.

1. Did you receive some good comments from existing followers? Reply and try to comment on his/her story as well.
2. Did you receive some claps from someone? Check out that person’s latest article and clap back.
3. Did someone highlight your story? Try to read their story and highlight the portion that you liked as well.

The key to a good relationship is to have good reciprocal communication and good reactions with each other. Don’t be assured that once they follow you, you no longer need to look after them. They can choose to unfollow you as well at any point in time.

5. Join “Follower Booster Hub” Publication

The journey to your first 100 followers can be challenging. We have launched the “Follower Booster Hub” publication to create a community of users who always follow back each other.

If you want to become a writer of this new publication, check out the new writer registration form on the “Follower Booster Hub” — a community dedicated to helping new writers grow their audience.

The site is still new and fresh. Feel free to be onboarded to enjoy the advantage as a first mover!

Note: We are going to form a community of writers who follow back for sure, assuring you that all the writers in this publication will follow you back.

Wrapping It Up

As we wrap up, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all readers and followers. Your support means the world to me. With the right strategy and dedication, it is possible to attain followers fast.

However, you have to remember that it’s more than just counting followers. It is really about making real connections and building a community of readers who enjoy what you write. Whether you’re meticulously crafting your articles and interactions or taking a more laid-back approach to quickly gain followers, the key is consistency and authenticity.

Just like the story of heaven and hell with the long chopsticks, success on Medium is about collaboration and support within the community. Focus on quality writing, engage genuinely with others, and use your time smartly. And if you’re looking for a quick boost, remember the simple trick of following others — it might just give you the initial push you need.

Medium is an awesome platform full of opportunities to expand your reach. Armed with these pointers, you’re totally ready to dive in and rock it. Just keep writing, keep talking to people, and watch your follower count climb. Cheers to your future wins and all the amazing stories you’ll tell!

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” — Helen Keller

References:

[1]: Adam Grant (2017) | Are you a giver or a taker? | Adam Grant (youtube.com)

[2]: Brett Heimann (2023) | https://marketingagency.com/featured/80-20-rule-marketing-explained-2023-02-15

[3]: Grant Cardone (2023) | Grant Cardone — 10X Your Business, 10X Your Income, 10X Your Life

🌟 Special Notes for Readers! 🌟

Let’s Help Each Other, Shall We?

For those people who have already reached more than 100 followers, share your tips in the comments! You can share the story that you have written for making your first N number of followers and your tips as well to contribute! Share your experience and pro tips!

Also, if you are keen to make the first 100 followers, do write in the comments. Don’t be shy. I will be the first one to help you to reach one step closer to your 100 followers milestone and, people who read this article may be able to help you as well!

“Loved this piece? 👏 Show some love, it means a lot! Comment ‘I made it this far’ to share your thoughts. Don’t forget to hit follow for more! 🌟”

Follower Booster Hub Publication — Your Secret to Medium Success

• Join the Largest Medium Community of “Follow-for-Follow” & “50-Claps” with this link.

Enjoyed this post? Try these next on the following topics:

[1] Writing and Follower Boost

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[3] Relationships

[4] Social Issues & Reflection