Yes, Sex Sells, So Does Frequent Engagement.

Why engaging matters and what happened to my poor Notifications the week I got sick.

It doesn’t hurt to kiss and tell if you want to make bank on Medium. But it’s not the only way. I’ve beaten the odds by engaging often. The odds say only 50% of writers here make a penny, and only 7% earn over $100 a month. Count me in on both of those metrics; for both of my first two months, I’ve earned upwards of $100 each. It’s not a huge success as big earners go, but when I see my notification icon light up, I get a thrill.

What’s the big deal about Notifications?

Notifications are linked to engagement. It tells you how you’re doing without having to go into your stats and check all the metrics. A number next to Notifications means someone has noticed me, or rather something I’ve written. On a site as big as Medium, that’s no small thing. A notification comes from a follower or a fan, and I’m grateful for every one I get.

I read early on to engage as often as you can if you want to earn fans and money, so that’s what I’ve done.

One successful author recommended commenting on twenty new author posts a day, but my plate is too full for that; Medium isn’t my only gig. I also write novels and edit for clients. However, I do what I can here. I publish articles as often as I can, daily if possible, and I reach out to other authors every day in several Facebook groups and comment on pieces that appear in my feeds. I think it’s paid off. I know that the more I engage, the more my Notification numbers go up.

By now, I count several authors as friends, and I’ve discovered many writers I admire. Judging by my notifications and earnings, people are paying attention to what I write.

I use the number of notifications that greet me each morning to gauge my success.

So far, my notifications are always in the double digits, and more notifications show up throughout the day. It’s not enough to quit my day job, but for a newbie, I’ll take it. I’ll see new followers, as well as fans clapping, highlighting, and commenting on new and older articles. I’ll get a notification when readers clap on comments I’ve made on other writer’s articles. Those writers then might find pieces of mine they like. All this engagement shows up as a numerical value in my Notifications and stats, and also adds up to a very gratifying Medium experience. My goal has been to publish daily and until the last week, I’ve met my target.

Last week I got sick, burned out, and hit the wall. It showed in my Notifications.

I had to shove Medium to the curb when an illness and some client commitments zapped my energy. At the end of the day, I could just do so much, and none of it was Medium-related. I barely read anyone’s piece, much less wrote my own new articles. It’s been a week now, and I’ve gone from publishing one or more articles a day to only one article in the last seven days.

At first, my notifications and stats didn’t change very much because I’d built up a small following.

But gradually my fans found other shiny objects, and their engagement with me has diminished. My early efforts to connect with other writers and a few viral pieces have kept my ship from sinking completely, but it’s definitely taking on water. This morning I had 9 notifications. That’s a far cry from the 35 that usually appear when I hit Medium full speed ahead.

My followers and fans are down, and I think if went another couple of weeks without writing or engaging, I’d lose all the traction my hard work has earned since I started writing in May.

So the early advice to engage often seems to hold true. Medium is no different from other social media platforms. Followers will love our new work, but it’s all about what have you done for us lately? Each day my notifications drop lower, but if I read and engage on other writers’ articles, I’ll start to see a small bump again in my own notifications.

The message is clear: if I want people to remember who I am, read my articles, and keep clapping, I have to keep engaging. At least until and if I become one of those Medium superstars who just has to drop a whiff of “new article” to have the hordes flock to me by the thousands to read my lastest and greatest.

What do I mean by engagement?

If you’re new to Medium, here’s what I mean by engagement:

Basically, don’t be a stranger. Medium grades on a curve. They pay according to how you show your love for all the writers, but they won’t tell us how they apportion the money. And seriously, if you’re any kind of a writer, you should care about nurturing the tribe anyway, claps or no claps, money or no money. Cuz everybody needs a little help from their friends. Here’s how to do it:

• Pick a story you like and read it to the end. Medium rates the percent of words read. It’s called read ratio.
• Highlight a line or two to draw attention to something you’d like other readers to notice.
• Leave a comment, something meaningful, not just “Good job.” That will improve your chances of others responding to your comment.
• Do not job your own work by leaving a link to your own article. Very poor form.

Engagement is definitely the name of the game.

Yes, it’s fun to take it all off and write a sexy post here and there to rake in the claps. But unless you do it all night long, or morning, or whatever time zone your readers live in, and on a subject that captures their attention, and give other writers the acknowledgment they deserve, you’ll wake up to a goose egg on your Notification icon. Which means, you’ll scratch your head and mutter, how quickly they forget. But that will be nothing compared to the fuming and four-letter expletives you’ll pepper your vocabulary with on Wednesday when you see what low notifications really mean: zilch on the earnings report. So take my advice and take some time out of your day to engage, engage, engage.

Here are a few other Medium tips you might enjoy.

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