Summary

The article provides strategies for new Medium writers to quickly and respectfully gain 100 followers, emphasizing authentic engagement and community involvement.

Abstract

The article addresses the challenge new Medium writers face in reaching the 100 followers milestone, particularly in light of the MPP program's requirement. It suggests that instead of resorting to begging or undignified tactics, writers should focus on genuine interactions such as reading, commenting, and sharing others' work. The author recommends engaging with the '100 followers' tag, offering authentic engagement by reading and commenting on articles, networking with other writers, and leveraging social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter to increase visibility. The article also advises writing consistently and building rapport with readers and fellow writers to establish a solid foundation for a Medium writing career.

Opinions

The author criticizes the undignified methods some new writers use to gain followers, such as begging and stalking.
Engaging with others' content is seen as a crucial step in gaining followers, with the expectation that such engagement will be reciprocated.
The article emphasizes the importance of being authentic and not overpromoting oneself, suggesting that making friends within the community is more valuable than simply accumulating readers.
Networking and using social media platforms are considered effective ways to expand one's follower base beyond Medium.
Quality writing, combined with active participation in the Medium community, is presented as the key to not only gaining but also retaining followers.

How to Get Your 100 Followers Quickly

Without losing your dignity

We all have to start someplace. In fact, all those writers and influencers on Medium who you admire…they started exactly where you are right now.

Now that the MPP program has this 100 followers requirement, Medium newbie writers are doing everything from all-out begging to dang-near stalking to try and persuade 100 people to follow their Medium account. It’s a free-for-all frenzy. And somewhat undignifying.

Here’s how you can get your 100 followers quickly and do it without losing your dignity.

Finding 100 Followers Means Authentic Engagement

There’s a snarl in that subheading. For every dozen new Medium writers who ask me to follow them…please, oh please help me get to my 100 followers…I can count pretty near zero who have engaged with my own work after I agreed to follow. This is not super important to me, however, you might stir up some negativity by follow-for-follow and “gimme gimme” types here on Medium.

So, the first rule of thumb is this: If you ask people to follow you and help you out in this regard — go and read, comment, highlight, engage, and share a piece of theirs as a thank you. Does it take a long time to do this for your new 100 followers? Yes, yes it does. Welcome to Medium.

Here are a few tips for getting those followers more quickly — without begging. (It’s ok — we all feel you — we really do — but save your dignity and find the followers more organically…)

Check out the Tag ‘100 Followers’

Go to the search bar on your Medium page and type in “100 followers”. At the bottom of the list prompts you’ll see a few tags there, click on the tag for 100 followers. Here you’ll see a page of stories mentioning this “100 followers” thing and find a wealth of other folks who are searching for and worrying over the same thing. Follow, read, highlight, comment, and make yourself visible on these articles. Being seen = being followed. You can also follow this link right to the tag.

Offer Engagement

There’s no question, Medium is a read and be read kind of community. Most of the writers here are the readers you’ll be writing for when you post your stories. So…please your audience.

Read something that interests you.
Highlight something of the article that impresses you.
Clap, abundantly — you’re trying to make a good impression on what may turn out to be a new writer friend!
Leave a heartfelt comment. Tell them what you liked about their work. Mention that you are new here and would love to keep in touch. Sometimes this is plenty enough for people to notice you — and think hey, this person reads and comments! I’ll follow!
You can also comment on articles that are in the exact niches you write in…and tell in your comment that this is one of your favorite topics to write about. Other commenters may take notice and follow you. DO NOT link drop without invitation.
BE AUTHENTIC and do NOT overpromote yourself. Be generous with your time for others and you will find followers who turn into writer friends. This will be the FOUNDATION of your work here on Medium. MAKE FRIENDS not readers — at first — then write, a lot, and the readers will come.

Ask a Medium friend to feature you

I recently featured a friend of mine and asked my followers to take a look at her account and follow if they were interested.

This resulted in her 100 followers within about 30 hours.

Ask a friend who has a larger following than you to tag you in a post or to reach out to their followers, especially if you write on similar topics.

Write something

Write.

It’s really the best way to introduce who you are and what you write about to potential followers. Engage with anyone who comments on your work. Build rapport.

Share your stories to LinkedIn

LinkedIn is where the professionals hang out. Share your stories to the newsfeed on LinkedIn and while you build your Medium followers you can be working on developing your professional writing community on LinkedIn.

Be sure to use relevant hashtags!

Find the tags on Twitter: #Medium, etc.

The same goes for Twitter. There are Twitter communities for Medium writers, for publications on Medium, and for Medium genre writers. Find your crew on Twitter and start engaging. Regularly share your stories to Twitter and take the time to share other Twitter posts for stories you’ve read.

There you have it. The quick and easy plan to get your 100 followers so you can hurry up and start earning a little for your work. I’d like to point out that this method is great for getting followers — but your behavior, interactions, and YES the quality of your writing will be what keeps these followers and inspires them to read. Best of luck on your writing journey.

Follow this author for more writing tips. Or, purchase a poetry journal to write down your inspirations.