100 and Under
How to get 100 Followers on Medium Quick
I talked to a millionaire writer prodigy from NY
After a discouraging rejection for my writing today, I looked through Medium articles for advice on how to improve. However, I found my feed swarmed with the same article over and over.
How to get 100 Followers
Why you need 100 Followers
5 Reasons the new Medium rule is good/bad
I will follow you
[…]
They are all about the 100 Follower threshold. A lot of them made great points about how such a system is good or bad. The problematic part is, that these articles sell like hotcakes.
More often than not they are the bar far most popular article an author has published — sometimes even the only one with a substantial amount of clicks, claps, and clubs, I mean subs.
The Catch
If there is one thing I’ve learned as a marketer, then that the greater a product or brand, the less it needs to be promoted, but that’s a naive perspective.
Elon got his fair share of heat for dissolving his PR team. Shooting a car into space worked wonders, the Facebook and Instagram page Tesla didn’t. Does that mean he is right? These social media pages didn’t make the cars better. However, a well-balanced marketing campaign will definitely push and help the brand. It’s all about dosage and strategy after all.
Let’s Ask A Millionaire Best-Seller
So on I went to ask a professional for advice instead, hoping the trinkets and snacks I gave them prior would work as bribes, and make up for the time I was about to steal.
Here is the conversation that made me write this piece:
This is ridiculous. I’m basically writing this article for free, spent so much time working on it, and now the client askes me to try again or let it be! They probably want that ol’ academic case-study writing style don’t they? The real dry kind. Should I offer to write in that style for 5x more payment or directly send a polite rejection?
“Not a chance they’ll pay more when they are disappointed.”
You don’t reckon it would work to argue that writing in a different style would be a lot more effort — requiring more time, and thus — requiring more pay?
“Valerias sells an apple for $1. The Apple is rotten, and the buyer demands a new one. Valerias says that costs extra and demands $5.”
Are you saying my writing is that bad?
“Valerias is an apple farmer. He forgets to water the trees for a week, then harvests two weeks too late. He then wonders why the apples are rotten.”
You are just making fun of me at this point. Does this analogy even make any sense?
“I’m not making fun of you. Your ego is just hurt. You need to learn and practice more consistently and deeply. By the way, thank you for the trinket.”
They were not just any writer. They had proven their worth and skills time and time again. Clearly, I was in the wrong. I was looking down on other writers and writing itself. It looked so easy when they were doing it.
I was wrong.
Writing is a skill that needs to be learned. This involves being willing to look at content that works, to think about why it works, and to use what you learn. That is not to say that algorithms and trends aren’t a thing.
However, when an author complains about a 100 follower threshold, and how writing 80+ pieces only got them a dozen fans, the issue doesn’t lie with the platform. Good articles are read. They are bookmarked, revisited, shared, and curated. They lead to followers. That’s the core truth and the mark.
Don’t click on that purchase-followers button. Click on backspace. Read, learn, study, adapt, succeed.
