7 Day Challenge: Medium
This Is Why I Like Following People on Medium as a Growth Strategy
Some people think following on Medium as a growth strategy is wrong, here’s why I think the opposite
When I first started writing more frequently on Medium 6 weeks ago, I did it purely as a goal for a new hobby in life. There were only two problems, I wasn’t used to writing outside of business and I wasn’t reading other people’s work on Medium.
I didn’t think of these as much of an issue at the beginning, as my goal was purely to write one story a week, for at least a year. I was able to do that easily enough (as most goals should be!), but I wasn’t finding much joy after seeing no one read my articles.
Struggling with views
I was mostly spamming some of my friends to get their feedback, but I could tell it was getting a bit annoying for them. I tried not sending to any of them on one article and I think I only had 1 view in 3 days! Disappointing for sure, as no matter what we tell ourselves, it’s always nice to see people consuming the content that you make.
So, I started reading strategies on how to get more views. I learned a lot from Medium writers on here like T.S. Johnson, Tim Denning, and Shaunta Grimes. I highly encourage you to check out their work if you’re still new to Medium creating!
I also started reading guides on how to get more views; tonnes and tonnes of them. I did this so much that I started to view Medium not just as an outlet for my writing and thoughts, but as a good practice venue for one of my other new hobby-goals, dropshipping.
Research is Key
In my 3 months of research into the drop shipping industry, I realized that many aspects of it are pure marketing. And unfortunately for me, not the old-school marketing that I’m fluent with. I’d have to, for the first time in my life, open Instagram accounts and attain followers and traction on there!
Then I discovered how company blogs as a marketing tool for long-term eCommerce businesses is also a major factor in success. Ding! I was already blogging on Medium now, and (to my hope) am improving my writing every week.
Build a Following by Following
I’m a massive believer in ‘practice makes perfect,’ so why not try to make my Medium account the first place to practice building a following? Makes sense to me.
Now there’s many ways to build a following from what I’ve read (and employed). The classical method, and unfortunately not so easy in the modern age, is to just write high quality posts consistently and over the long term.
That’s great and all and it should work in the ideal world. But we’re not in the ideal world, are we? (Hey Trump)
Strategy
I decided to use one of the old tried-and-true morally questionable strategies of following people in the hope that they followed back. I had read a lot of writers out there stating that this isn’t the right way to grow a following, and thus heavily advised against it.
I also found some writers that believed it was a good way to grow, and I chose to view this as more practical.
If you think about the massive amount of users on Medium, and how many new users there are each month, how can you really hope to get your writing out there in front of new eyes every day?
Medium’s Magic Methods
Ideally, Medium’s algorithms and curators would be able to solve this. I’m sure they do help to an extent, but I can’t help but think about the 1000’s of amazing content out there that have 0 views because the writers didn’t employ other strategies to gain a following. Or maybe they just gave up after writing a couple of pieces without gaining any traction.
Honestly, I’m pretty sure I’d be in that last boat after a month or two if I wasn’t able to get any views outside of my friends I’ve shared with. I’m not proud of it but it’s in my human nature to be at least a little vain. Plus there’s the potential of making money if the work is good enough.
Follow the Crowd
So I started following people. You can follow up to 150 a day using the browser (for some reason I think its only 120 on the app, as long as it’s not glitching).
Then I started realizing there are many different ways to follow and certainly different kinds of people to follow. I try to focus on adding paid members every day, definitely a greedier strategy. I do this because paid members, if they like my work and clap (until Oct 28), can lead to me having a paycheck at the end of the month.
Medium Partner Program Members
I also realized there’s another benefit of the above. In my exploration, it seems to me that on average, paid members produce better work. And that’s how the indirect effect of me following different people everyday occurred — I started reading others’ work. Tonnes of it.
Some nights if I sit down to read just one or two articles, I end up looking at my clock three hours later and realize I need to stop.
It’s also helped me find some of my favorite Medium authors on here. Ones that write consistently good work in areas that I’m interested in.
Curated Followers
Another big benefit of following new people every day is that it helps me curate my audience.
For now, I’ve mainly only written about quitting my 6-figure career, Medium as a platform, and just started writing about dropshipping & entrepreneurship.
When I sit down to follow, read, comment and highlight, I now do so for topics and areas that I am interested in. I want the base of readers that I’m trying to build to enjoy my work, so it makes sense to me to find them in related areas of my article topics.
Results
That’s it, the three main reasons I’m a big believer in following to get followers. I try my best now to write most days (it’s becoming more of an addiction than I thought it would), with the aim of improving my work and getting better.
I’m now also pretty sure that the Medium algorithms reward consistently publishing every day too.
For those curious, I think about 15–20% of the people I follow, follow me back. I’ve read from other writers that their percentages are a bit smaller, so I believe the difference is in the targeting of the audience.
I don’t want to waste a person’s time that won’t enjoy my work, we all lead busy lives after all.
As of the time of writing this on October 27, I have 623 followers. Not a huge number, but one that I’m very proud of as 500 was my goal this month.
I just try to remember as much as possible that slow and steady wins the race!
‘Rant’ over.
As part of a meaningless personal challenge, I’m spending 7 days with my Captain Douchebag Product Manager hat on and am critiquing different parts of the Medium platform.
If you feel like being cynical, here are the articles from Day 1–3:
Feel free to check out my other stuff on Medium and follow me here. — J.J. Pryor
