How to Gain 100 True Followers

I published my first Medium article on July 1st 2022, and after rapidly accumulating 100 followers I was accepted into the partner program.

Which is great. Except, I now realize how pointless it was. My followers are mainly fake, they don’t actually read my articles, they fake clap.

To avoid falling into this trap here are some tips for building a real audience:

Create unique bio

Your stories are your loudest voice. Most readers will follow you because they’ve read a story you’ve published. Some may stumble onto your profile in the comment section. To ensure they click the follow button and read your work make your bio interesting and compelling.

Here’s mine as an example:

It’s to the point, whilst leaving potential readers curious as to what I can offer them.

Write for the reader

The reader is the leader. Every time they are scrolling through Medium, they hold the power. Your title needs to make them curious enough to click the article. Within a few words, they need to know what they can learn.

The title of your piece needs to clearly communicate what they will learn. Then you need to provide an article that fulfils the promises of the titles.

Writing routines win

Many new writers are inconsistent. Truthfully, you won’t gain 100 followers by randomly publishing or publishing hardly anything.

You’ll have to publish consistently to build a reliable following. To stay relevant it’s essential to create a writing routine. It needs to be ambitious whilst also being realistic. Aim to write as many days as you can. Consistency is key. But also be aware that life happens. Don’t burn yourself out to earn a few cents.

Tag recommendations

Tags are your best friend when trying to build a following. If you use your tags correctly you may entire a few new members to your articles. When readers join Medium they select a few topics that interest them. If your story was tagged correctly it has a higher chance of being pushed on these readers.

Avoid following the same path as me

It can be tempting to do follow for follow or spam the feed with articles begging for followers. Instead of applying these fruitless techniques that will essentially get you into the program. But won’t earn you any money for your work. You want to slowly build your following to make sure you’ll have a group of true followers when you’re accepted.

TLDR: It’s pointless doing F4F when the followers don’t read your stories.