How To Grow a Following on Medium
First launched back in 2012, Medium is an online publishing platform where professional and amateur journalists and writers can publish content for free. The site also works as a kind of social media, allowing contributors to communicate and share content. However, it differs from other social media sites in that it promotes long-form content over brief thoughts or videos.
Medium is an excellent place for young writers and other creators to build a reputation and portfolio. Furthermore, once a writer has gained 100 followers on the platform, they become eligible to start making some money there.
However, Medium has many nuances, and new creators may struggle to find an audience, let alone 100 followers. So, here are some sure-fire ways to grow a following on Medium.
Create The Right Type of Content
The joy of writing on Medium is that you're essentially free to write about anything you choose. First, however, take a look at the kind of articles that trend throughout the platform.
You'll probably start to see a pattern emerge. Indeed, there's a good reason why Medium calls their content 'stories' and not 'articles.' That's because Medium is the place where personal insight is king.
You don't have to open up about your every personal demon and secret on Medium to find an audience. Still, it can be helpful to add a unique and human touch to everything you write there. Listicles, generic how-to's, and such don't generally do well on the platform. Meanwhile, a little vulnerability and personal insight will likely take you far.
Submit Your Work to Publications
Medium publications are shared spaces for stories written around a particular idea or theme.
Each publication has its own submission requirements, and some are harder to join than others. However, one mistake many beginner creators make is thinking that their small following means they can't write for the more prominent publications. Thankfully, this is rarely the case.
Getting your story published in a publication is often the best course of action for beginner writers to start getting some eyes on their stories. So, before you begin writing for Medium, browse around and see if your ideas would be a good fit for any of the publications there.
Engage & Follow People
You'll probably want to follow other users when you first open a Medium account. Chances are, some of these users will follow you back.
However, your odds of a follow-back significantly improve when you show a genuine interest in other people's content. Clapping (the Medium equivalent of liking) other people's content is a start but commenting on other people's articles is even better. Also, be sure to reply to comments people leave under your articles.
One of Medium's great features is that it allows you to highlight and comment on specific parts of other users' articles. Doing this can help discuss what exactly it is about the article that inspired you.
Of course, these features can be limited because you can only read so many articles on Medium for free each day. So, if you're serious about building a following on Medium, it can be worth paying the small fee to become a premium member.
Pick a Niche to Ace
While having a niche isn't essential to gaining a following on Medium, it can certainly help.
For starters, specializing in a niche gives you readers an idea of what to expect from you. Doing this will, over time, mark you out as a specialist in your chosen field (and by continuously writing on a specific subject, you probably will be).
Whenever you complete an article on Medium, you can set five corresponding 'tags' to help people discover it. Creating multiple pieces that use the same tags will improve your chances of becoming a Top Writer on the platform.
Top Writers are writers Medium singles out for being specialists in their field. Becoming a Top Writer means that when Medium users search for certain subjects, they're more likely to come across your articles.
For example, suppose you chose to write about jazz music and constantly tagged your articles under music or jazz. In that case, Medium might award you the 'top writer' status in these areas (if your stories generated enough views).
Promote Your Work Elsewhere
Have a following somewhere else on the web? Then why not tell your followers there about your new Medium account?
Of course, it can also be helpful to promote individual stories through your other social media platforms as well.
Promoting your content elsewhere might seem obvious to some, but it's something many Medium creators forget to do.
Be Consistent
Growing a following on Medium can take time. Indeed, you might feel like you are talking into the void for the first couple of weeks after joining the platform. However, if you consistently write good content and get it to the right publications, you'll soon develop a following. The trick is to stick at it and not go too long without posting, as you might even lose some followers if you don't keep producing.
To learn more about Medium got to https://medium.com/.
