How I Reached 3,000 *Organic* Followers In 7 Months

Working on the foundation

3,000 followers: the tip of the iceberg

When I started writing on Medium in September 2022, the idea of reaching 1,000 followers was inconceivable. Even though I wrote daily, many articles went unread, and many claps were never heard. I wanted to give up, but I didn’t.

Once I hit the coveted 100 followers threshold, I pressed the momentum button and left the turbo on. I continued writing, sometimes twice daily. In December 2022, I wrote a total of over 6o articles.

The theory of the iceberg says that when people see success, they only see the top of it, the beautiful glowing peak on the surface. They miss seeing all the foundation, the building blocks, and the heavy lifting that happens underneath to support that beautiful structure you see at the top.

I want to show you what my iceberg looks like: 383 stories published in 7 months, or 1.8 articles per day.

Organic following versus vanity metrics

I emphasize the word organic in the title because this matters to me. I joined Medium not because of the money, not because of the follower count, but because my dream is to become an author and make a living out of it. I just published my first book on Amazon, The Lemon Tree Mindset, and I’m working on my second one.

Of course, that means I need to build an audience and a community, and that’s measured by numbers, but I only want quality metrics.

If you want followers, I will give you a hack that works: you can just comment 10 times a day in random articles writing “Follow for Follow” or any lousy variation. You can also follow the maximum number of writers allowed daily (I don’t know the cap, but let’s say 100). I estimate that 20% will follow you back out of reciprocity or unconscious bias (we tend to follow back someone who gave our ego a little boost).

The fundamental problem behind this strategy is that a larger number of followers doesn’t equal a larger number of reads. In fact, it might even decrease your reads. Who do you think the algorithm is going to show you articles first? Bingo, your followers. And what happens when those followers don’t even click to open it? Ooops, it’s the tragic end of your promising article.

To prove my point, check out the followers / followings ratio of bigger creators on Medium, like Tim Denning (314K followers vs. 2.4K following), Justin Cox (93K followers vs. 37 following), or Zulie Rane (85K followers vs. 42 following). Coincidence? I don’t think so.

It’s called organic growth.

How to grow organically?

These are the tips from my experience.

Focus on value

Value can come in multiple currencies: entertainment, inspiration, information, education, and more. Adding value is about putting something on your readers’ plates that will make them healthier, smarter, better... the equation must be positive.

What is your value-add?

Find your voice

Genuine followers follow you because your writing and perspective are unique. Whatever you will write about has most likely been said before, but not with your tone and your writer’s voice. Refine it, be unique in your words. Be recognizable, like a trademark.

Diversify

I’m a big fan of diversifying my portfolio in life. I invest in different stocks and real estate, leverage different platforms for content creation, and publish through various publications. I recently started writing for 2 additional ones (Globetrotters and The Writing Cooperative), and the results were strong as I tapped into a new audience.

Build a community

Readers on Medium are most likely writers as well, allowing you to build your own tribe. Spend some time to comment, read other people’s articles, and support. I founded my own publication, A Smiling World, to build my own community, where I spend time supporting my contributing writers.

Become your best ambassador

I market Medium outside the platform, particularly on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. This allows me to create synergies so that connections from other social media follow me on Medium and sometimes join through my referral link. Since early 2023, Medium is becoming more mainstream and attracting writers from different communities, so this is a great area of opportunity.

Keep it up

Medium is a rollercoaster, and no magic number will guarantee your success. March was a very slow month for me, and April is the same, in spite of my growing number of followers. It’s easy to lose motivation when the result doesn’t equate to effort. I change my mindset, and rather than focusing on the results, I focus on the building blocks, the foundation of my iceberg that will help it grow stronger.

Don’t obsess over the tip of the iceberg. It’s the foundation you should be obsessed with, and relentlessly work on every article and comment to make it stronger. It’s just a matter of time until you can see the top.

“I write to the right” — Veronica Llorca-Smith

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