Standing Out

I Want Medium Readers Pissing on My Face

How to Get Your Followers to Notice You

I read a lot of articles on Medium. For every one I read, I scroll past many others. Most of them look fairly similar. Many of them have titles like these:

- “Why I Don’t Like Being in Large Public Gatherings”

- “I’m Choosing Not To Have Children”

- “I Am Not a Fan of Selena Gomez”

- “How I Became Spiritual Instead of Religious”

I see headlines on Medium articles like this constantly. The first thing I think of when I read them:

“Why do I give a shit?”

I don’t think this to be a dick or to be mean to each person whose titles I scroll past when looking for something interesting to read. I’ve been a Medium writer for two years, now. It’s just second nature to wonder how some struggle to get 100 claps on an article and others routinely receive 3000 to 5000 of them.

What’s the secret of the writer who’s succeeding versus the ones who are floundering, writing their hearts out, and getting almost no action or income? There’s a simple answer to this:

“Why Should Your Readers Give a Damn About You?”

I think about this topic and it reminds me of the many years I spent on social media. I purposely built a large following as quickly as I could so that more people would follow me back. I wanted to make more connections for business referrals.

The downside to having so many followers? Having to scroll by and read so many boring, uninteresting, and sometimes completely ignorant posts. Mainly by people who I didn’t know anything about, personally.

Eventually, I learned who was interesting and whose social media posts I truly enjoyed. They were the ones who posted funny status updates and memes. Perhaps people who traveled a lot and posted interesting pictures. I’d also follow closely the ones with cute, adorable pets.

These people gave me a reason to care about what they posted. They were funny, interesting, and a pleasure to keep up with. You should aim to do the same here on Medium. You need to give your followers a reason to give a damn about your writing.

Great writing gets noticed. If it’s enjoyable, interesting, and humorous, you’re going to do better than most of the people here on our platform. However, this won’t guarantee you success. There has to be more than just a great article published a couple of times a week.

People like to connect with interesting people. Even if you’re the world’s most talented niche writer, we can only enjoy so many articles about business, yoga, politics, physics, whatever. If you don’t put any of your own personality into the equation, you’re unlikely to build a big following.

Robin Wilding 💎 is no stranger to standing out. Robin has a mustache that makes her avatar and background stand out right away. She’s not shy about using a few curse words here and there in her humor writing. Oh, and did I mention that she’s hilarious?

Claire Franky is another of my favorite humor writers. She might even be snarkier than I am. She has increased the use of the word fuckery on Medium by 1000% since she joined our platform. Hell, I named my humor pub Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Fuckery because of it.

They both give me a reason to give a damn about what they think. It’s helpful to build a persona, a character if you will, as a writer here on Medium. With the insanely high number of users posting content daily, the Average Peter is not going to stand out only with his thoughts and opinions about every little thing.

When your Medium audience recognizes your face on the urinal cakes like Tevin mentions in the clip above, you become known. You metaphorically want them pissing on your face. The more they see your face on this platform, the more they will start to enjoy your writing. Then things change.

You’ll be one of the few dropping a big golden shower on your audience rather than pissing into the wind like most Medium writers. Making an impression comes from standing out, being authentic, and coming real with it every time. You’ll rise to the top of the platform.

When I joined Medium in January of 2022, I took a lucky selfie. BOOM! An author’s photo was born. I seriously want to write a book if only to feature this picture on the book jacket:

Nothing says, “Hobo Chic” more than this photo. People know me and recognize me because of this hairdo. It’s one of my calling cards.

The other also came about accidentally. A Medium friend called me her “Fairy Godfather of Medium”, and after a proper edit, “The Godfather of Medium” nickname was born. I play up my Italian side and my love of all mob-related movies and TV shows. Hence, the Godfather of Medium.

I then created this secondary teaching profile, and the persona of “The Professor of Medium” was born. Standing out as a character is certainly not bad for business. A few people may find it childish and cheesy, but that’s ok. I really don’t give a fuck. I play to my fans, not my critics.

Because I’m open about my hatred of racism and bigotry, and I’m not scared to use curse words when I’m irritated and emotional when writing, I stand out. Never let it be said that The Godfather of Medium was bland, boring, and unnoticeable in a crowd of many other writers. Or that the Professor wasn’t helpful.

I enjoy helping writers on this platform succeed. I’ve found a number of ways to build a following and boost my earnings quickly on Medium. I don’t hold my cards close to me. I show everyone who’s willing to look and learn how to do things more effectively.

I mean what I say in my writing. I don’t say things just to get attention. If attention comes from it, cool. If you’re not interested, also cool. I get a fair amount of people who block me for being opinionated and bold at times.

Fine with me. What I’m doing here on Medium is working. I’m glad to share those tips and strategies with anyone who is interested on this Professor of Medium profile. I appreciate everyone who is enjoying my writing.

I’ve written over 975 articles in just over two years. With over 55,000 followers and subscribers, I feel that I’m doing my best to stand out with my writing. I will always do my best to give you a reason to give a damn about me.

© 2024 Jason Provencio. All rights reserved.