MEDIUM THINGS

This Is How You Build Up Your Followers On Medium And Keep Them Coming Back For More

This will be important with the new criteria for the Medium Partner Program kicking in soon

You most probably have heard about the recent changes that Medium announced to its Partner Program (MPP) in the last couple of works. The one where they introduced a set of criteria in order for you to qualify for the MPP.

If you’re unaware or unsure about what I’m talking about, you can read all about it from the link below.

To sum it up real quickly, come the start of 2022, all writers who want to sign up to the MPP must:

• Have a following of at least 100 people
• Written and published at least 1 article on Medium
• Written and published at least 1 article on Medium in the last 6 months (and to keep doing so at least once ever 6 months)

For those who are already part of the MPP but do not meet either one (or all) of the criteria, you will still be eligible to monetise your writing until the end of the year.

However, if you still do not fulfil the criteria by then, Medium will remove you from the MPP. But you can always reapply again once you have met all the criteria listed above.

Most people wouldn’t have a problem meeting the criteria for writing. After all, that’s what you’re doing on the platform as a writer anyway, no?

It’s the ‘followers’ part that most writers — especially new ones — struggle with. Many new writers struggle to build a large following and this is mainly due to the competition they face.

Whether you like it or not, Medium has an abundance of writers. Some big, some small, some new, some old, some consistent, some not. In one way or another, you will be in competition with another writer for audience, despite Medium boasting over a million members.

The trick is that you must stand out from the others. You must provide something that is valuable to your readers.

Only then can you gain not just followers, but followers who will stick by you for the long-run.

Although I may not boast a following like some of the bigger names on the platform, my following has been consistent and it continues to grow steadily to this day.

Do you know what that means? It means I have a genuine following, people who genuinely want to read my stuff. That’s what you need and what you should aim for.

So, let’s get down to building that following of yours so that you can keep being part of the MPP.

Write articles that people want to read and format them nicely

This goes without saying really as this is a platform where people want to read and be educated, entertained, thrilled, etc. and what better way to do that than to write articles which fulfils all of that criteria for your readers?

When I read an article that I like, I will automatically go to the writer’s page and see what other articles that he/she has written.

If I find other articles that I like, I will follow the author because I like what he/she does. And very rarely do I unfollow a writer unless I start to not like the latest articles that he/she writes.

When you write articles that people want to read, format them nicely in a way that is easy on the eyes (nice picture, nicely structured paragraphs, etc.), people will come back for one.

Do that you and will easily gain followers who will stick with you for the long run.

Read articles from other writers and leave some comments if you like them

I started out on Medium as a reader back in December 2018. It wasn’t until 8 months later, after reading hundreds of articles on the platform that I finally decided to try my hand at being a writer.

But the time I spent reading, I also left plenty of claps and comments to show my appreciate to the writers. It helps to encourage the writer to write better stuff and at the same time, it lets them know that you exist.

Chances are, they may check out your profile as well and read some of your stuff. If they like what they read, they will follow you.

Have a nice profile setup

I just don’t understand writers that do not set up their profiles nicely or properly. No profile picture, not much of a description about themselves and just plain looking.

Your profile page says quite a bit about who you are as a writer. Because your readers can’t see you in person, your profile will be the next best thing.

Put a profile picture up. Even if it’s not one of you, a nice profile picture will still be better than leaving it empty. Write a description about yourself or what you’re hoping to achieve on Medium/life.

Your profile picture will be half of the deciding factor if someone follows you or not.

Pay that $5 monthly subscription

Most readers on Medium are writers too, meaning that if they are also writing under the MPP, they would want to earn something from their readers too.

When you subscribe to Medium and pay the $5 monthly subscription fee, you are helping other writers whenever you read their work. If you’re a writer in hopes of making money here but you don’t try and give back to other writers, it says a lot about you.

People will not want to help someone who doesn’t seem interested in helping others. And the worse thing you can do if you’re not a paying member is to actually ask those who are, to follow you and read your work.

If you’re not willing to help others, it’ll be hard for others to help you.

Don’t be an asshole

Lastly, play nice on the platform. Be a nice person and write nice things. Don’t be an asshole because believe it or not, I’ve seen my fair share of assholes that led to unnecessary drama on the platform.

People have had their accounts removed and banned from the platform because they were being assholes.

Don’t be like that.

Plus, no one will want to follow and support an asshole so why be one? It’s not that hard to be a nice person on the platform and to play nice. If everyone does that, Medium will be a much better place — for readers and writers alike.

Honestly, Medium has set the bar pretty low at requesting for writers to garner a following of just 100 people. When you think about how YouTube requires you to have up to 1,000 subscribers before you can start making money from your content, this is nothing.

And when you think about how many people there are on this platform (back in 2016, that number was about 60 million a month), it’s not that hard to get just 100 if you’re really serious about your work.

At the end of the day, Medium is just trying to ensure quality content stays on their platform and that will only come from serious writers.

So, be that writer that Medium wants to keep. And when you become that writer, your followers will automatically come on its own. You just have to worry about creating quality content.

The rest will fall into place, trust me.