My Progress Update to Achieving 100 Followers in 24 hours….
To read the first portion of this new year’s challenge, check out the post I made just 24 hours ago.
Yes, we move fast around here.
The year will be over before we know it so we can’t be wasting time.
Here is a brief synopsis of the plan cleverly code-named: follower-gathering
I want to make money writing. Not because I deserve it, but because when I found out I could, I became fixated on proving this could be done. I’m a money junkie if you must know.
Tin foil hat alert: I’m also kinda, a weeee bit, just a tad bit under the impression there is a massive online conspiracy of people saying they are making money online this way and that way to the point I’ve seen it so often I need to try for myself. If this is the Matrix or some sort of Truman show situation, well I guess you’ve won, you’ve got me to do what you wanted, I’m playing along.
Truthfully I’m also staying home to raise our child and would love to contribute more to our family finances, get out of debt (like we all would), and feel more financially independent. Having a few extra dollars earned this way and that way would be really helpful and certainly valued.
When I discovered the 100 follower minimum needed to join the Medium Partner Program I set out a goal to reach this quickly. I don’t have a year to post and hope people find their way to my page, I need to leave the farm and put myself out there a bit; initiate some conversation.
The strategy to gather more followers is written below as is an update on my current follower count.
Day 4 — January 4
Strategy update: I began the strategy of follower-gathering during a cold and wintery evening in the early part of 2022.
It was bleak my friends, bleak.
Yet, I was hopeful.
Would my follower count adjust to the coveted 100 in 24 hours?
Only time (because obviously, I was basing it on time duh) would tell.
Here’s how the 24 hours went:
- Set out with the plan to search ‘100follower’ tags as recommended by Noelle Beauregard’s article ‘Why I “Cheated” to Get to the 100 Follower Mark’.
- This recommended strategy involves commenting on one of these 100follower posts and liking and following all of the other commenters also in search of reaching 100 followers. One issue with this strategy that is reminiscent of the Instagram type of follow-unfollow methods, is that I want genuine relatability to whom I’m reading and vice versa. This is actually quite time-consuming.
- Luckily, and what I really liked about Noelle’s approach is a focus on real connection and sincerity. She stressed that engaging with those you do follow, by clapping if you feel so inclined and commenting on one of their posts, will enhance both of your experiences on the platform and you’ll end up overall with more engaged and genuine followers. This is actually quite time-consuming.
- At some point in the article, it mentioned you could get penalized if you comment and follow too quickly in a 24 period. The platform will freeze your commenting and follow ability for a short time to let you cool down there tiger. A safeguard against bots and spamming I suppose. Fair enough, but I thought I’d push it right to the limit and bulk follow/like/comment 20–30 people at a time, which turned out to be a lot harder than initially thought and this is quite time-consuming.
Stats overview:
- Number of People I Followed after two posts: 78
- Number of People Followed after strategy implemented: 167
- Responses Left: 35, with 13 reads. Not a single response was asking to be followed, it was because I read their post and commented.
- Claps received: 251
- Fans: 25, still not sure what all these stats mean. I need to figure this out ASAP.
- Article Views: 82
- Reads: 70
- Followers to start 6. I started with 6 followers prior to my first story being published on December 31, 2021
- Followers after two posts: 11! Welcome and thank you, friends.
- Followers after implementing the strategy outlined above: 34!
Let’s just acknowledge I’ve already failed in my first goal of 2022.
This would be more devastating if this outcome wasn’t a common occurrence in my life and I’ve learned to keep trying. I’m not letting this Road Runner get away from me.
More importantly, I’ve (hopefully) won 34 folks who don’t mind a bit of snark, a person really new to writing, and topics that are all over the place. For this, I’m super excited!
Plans for Tomorrow:
- Hooks are in the water. Slowing down to prevent burnout and will edit articles already in the chute.
- More importantly, I’m going to be doing actual work in my real life.
This whole process is quite time-consuming.
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https://medium.com/@be-real/1-week-on-medium-where-im-at-b446e6406546
