Follow- for- follow? No thank you.
Why I will never do the follow-for-follow strategy to get to followers on medium and what to do instead.
“I am new to medium and need to get to 100 followers. Please follow and I will follow back”
This has been a recurring post that I have seen from new Medium writers on Facebook groups that are dedicated to writers who are trying to make it on Medium.
And guess what? I am one of those writers who are trying to make it on here and I get it.
You want to reach 100 followers as soon as possible and start earning that cash. You want to see some return for the time and effort you put into each one of your articles.
However, as much as I want those exact same things, I will never resort to the follow-for-follow strategy.
Here is why and what you potentially can do instead:
1. More followers does not necessarily equate to more income.
This is a common misconception. Monetizing a platform does not depend upon how many followers you have.
Rather, it depends on how many people that follow you actually know, like, and trust you enough to read your articles or to invest in any product/service you put out there.
While yes, someone who followed you to get a follow could end up loving your content and become a genuine reader, the likelihood of such conversion is quite low.
Instead, the more likely scenario would be that they will be a ghost follower who is just there to get a follow back. A follower that never really reads or engages with your articles, a follower that will never contribute or convert.
So, instead of posting on Facebook groups promising to follow random writers (whose articles you might not even enjoy) just for a follow, post your article links and ask them to follow you if they found your writing to be something they would like to see more of.
This way there is no obligation for them to follow or for you to follow and those who will end up following will be the ones who actually enjoyed what you’ve put out there and this is what will help with earnings in the long run.
2. The vanity metrics cycle can be a vicious one.
If you are a content creator, you have most likely been caught up in this cycle at one point or another.
It’s the cycle you get caught up in when you start placing more emphasis on growing your following for the sake of numbers over building a genuine connection with your current readership— even if your current readership is just 10 readers.
The result? A disengaged readership with which results in low reading time, low views, and not a lot of money since Medium is a platform that pays for views and genuine readership rather than your follower count.
The irony of all it all is that many people think the problem lies within their follower count and think that more followers will fix the issue when in reality the real problem lies within a lack of connection with one’s existing followers.
Instead, take your focus away from the follower count and start focusing more on connections. Focus on building that know, like, and trust factors through creating valuable, educational, or entertaining content on a consistent basis.
If you want to take it a little further, respond to all comments and even interact with any articles your readers have published.
3. Becoming successful on Medium is a marathon, not a sprint.
Simply put, long-term success on Medium depends on the sustainability of the strategies you use.
Yes, it is possible to quickly reach 100 followers using these strategies however, what happens once you reach that milestone and all your followers are ghost followers, who have no interest in the articles you put out there?
You get stuck with low views, low engagement, and a low ROI (return of investment) for the amount of time and effort you put into your articles.
You pretty much get stuck with a bunch of followers who will have no interest in what you put out there whatsoever.
While many of us can tolerate a lack of ROI for a little while, it can definitely be a recipe for burnout in the long run.
Instead of looking for quick tactics (eg: the follow for follow strategy) and creating goals that you only have some control over (eg: gaining 100 followers in 2 weeks) focus on sustainable systems and strategies that you actually have control over.
Eg: Carving time out to write and post a minimum of 1 good article per week, submitting it to publications, and posting a link of it to a Facebook group with fellow Medium members.
While this is no guarantee to gain 100 followers, it is a system, if repeated enough times can result in the said goal of gaining 100 genuine followers.
By focusing more on the process/the system instead of the outcome you are more likely to build a genuine following and gain a high ROI all the while avoiding burning out.
And that, I believe is the recipe for success on many online platforms, including Medium.
To sum it all up, as a new writer I understand one’s rush to gain 100 followers, to become a part of the Medium Partner Program, and start earning some money for your valuable time and effort.
However, many of us seem to get caught up in this particular goal and miss the big picture altogether.
Yes, the goal is to gain 100 followers so you can start monetizing your writing, but the ultimate goal is not to gain random followers who are following you just to get a follow back, but to build a genuine readership and community that enjoys your content and will eventually trust you enough to purchase a product or service you put out there.
This is what will determine your success on this platform — not how fast you were able to get to 100 followers using follow-for-follow tactics.
*Disclaimer: The aim of this article is not necessarily to tell you what to do or what not to do — that will depend upon your goals for medium and what you believe is effective. Instead, my aim is to maybe help you see things from a different perspective that might (or might not, haha) influence your decision to go through with growth tactics such as the follow-for-follow strategy.
I’m curious to know, have you ever used this tactic to get followers? If yes, did it work? If not, why not?
