Summary

The article outlines strategies for safely gaining 100 followers on Medium by building a genuine community through shared interests, engaging with content, and contributing to publications.

Abstract

The article discusses the journey of a new Medium writer aiming to reach 100 followers. Initially, the author used the follow-for-follow strategy but found that it did not result in meaningful engagement. Shifting focus, the author began connecting with individuals who shared similar interests, leading to a more engaged follower base. The author also highlights the benefits of writing for Medium publications to reach a broader audience and connect with like-minded individuals. Taking a break from daily writing to engage with new people and explore new publications sparked more story ideas. The article concludes that the safest approach to gaining followers is to cultivate a supportive community rather than quickly accumulating followers who may not engage with the content.

Opinions

The follow-for-follow strategy is initially appealing but often leads to a lack of engagement with one's content.
Engaging with people who share your interests is crucial for building a loyal and interactive community.
Writing for publications can significantly increase your visibility and help you connect with a targeted audience.
Taking breaks can be beneficial for creativity and productivity, leading to better content and more follower engagement.
Quality of content and meaningful interactions are more important for long-term growth than the quantity of followers.
Constructive feedback, both positive and negative, is valuable for personal and writing development.
Continuous learning and improvement are essential for achieving personal goals and maintaining reader interest.

The Safest Way to Get 100 Followers

Sometimes, it is good to take the safest path. Do not expect sand castles to last.

The majority of new Medium writers want to achieve the goal of 100 followers. And it is natural for humans to want to feel valuable as individuals and in monetary terms.

Like most beginners, I want to reach the 100 followers milestone, and I began as most others do by using the follow-for-follow strategy. It worked better for me the first day when I got 20 followers, but I soon realized that the majority of them didn’t engage with my content; in fact, they didn’t even click on it.

Engage with people who share your interests

As a result, I decided to set new priorities, to build a safe community, and I began looking for people who shared my interests, engaging with them, leaving honest comments, clapping, and following them, and in 97% of cases, all of this came back to me.

Currently, approximately 65% of my followers are sharing my interests. I only partially continued to use the follow-for-follow strategy with writers who are writing stories on other topics than I am interested because I want to achieve at least basic knowledge in as many fields as possible. This fact will add value to my overall knowledge.

Become a writer for a publication

Later, I found out I could write for a publication, which will give me access to a wider audience and allow me to connect with more people who share my interests, in order to get more followers.

There are multiple publications on Medium that accept stories from new writers who are not yet members of the Medium Partner Program.

To publish there, you must follow Medium’s guidelines (no violence, hate, porn, or plagiarism), but depending on the publication, special requirements may apply, such as using the publication name as a tag, so read the publication’s guidelines carefully.

Concluding, when I first started, I planned to write every day, but this wasn’t the most inspired decision in my case, so I decided to take a day break, during which time I was looking for new publications, applying to become a writer, and engaging with more new people. And that day, I had far more ideas for new stories than I had in the previous four days combined. This week was one of the most educational I ever had.

In my opinion, the safest way to get 100 followers is to build a community that will support you in the future and will not unfollow you with the first opportunity, even if it takes a little longer to achieve this goal.

Finally, here are a few tips that I believe will help you grow on Medium:

1. Write about something you’re passionate about, on a topic you’re familiar with, and on which you’re a knowledgeable.

2. Be open to both positive and negative feedback; both can help you grow and improve your writing skills.

3. Never stop learning, even if you want to improve your writing skills or have other personal goals you want to achieve.

4. If you feel you can’t keep going, take a break; being exhausted won’t help you. Working when you’re exhausted may result in low-quality content creation, which will not help you to get more followers or readers, and may even cause some people to unfollow you.

This was Andreia. Thank you for staying with me till the end. Please follow, clap, and comment if you enjoy my content and would like to see more posts on the same topic. Any constructive advice will be appreciated.

See you at the top!

P.S. I currently have 68 followers as I write this story, but I’m confident I’ll reach 100 soon.