Medium is a great way to blog about whatever you want and make a little extra cash. But in order to get more eyes on your work, you will need to grow your following. Here, we will show you how to do just that.
1. Aim to Get Your Writing Curated/Distributed
Medium has a group of people (or possibly machines), that read the articles that writers submit and decide if they are curated. When an article is curated, it means they are put higher in the algorithm on Medium in specific categories. For example, if you write about self-help, your article may be curated in Self, Relationships, or Health.
Curation on Medium used to be a lot more important than it is now. Since Medium updated its policies in late 2020, curation is now referred to as Distribution, and it seems to be more automated and less discriminatory.
While it isn't as impactful as it once was, we still recommend writing to be curated. This means following Medium's preferred formatting guide, avoiding swear words, and writing with good sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation.
2. Write for Publications
The best way to get your Medium articles noticed is to get them into publications that have a lot of followers. The more followers the publication has, the more exposure your article will get.
We suggest honing your formatting skills and learning about how Medium works before submitting to publications. Most Medium publications have a specific formatting style that it prefers.
If you submit an article without crediting your featured image and don't format the article correctly, a reputable publication will automatically reject it.
The publications that have a good follower base and accept new writers are:
- The Startup: Business, marketing, and writing
- The Ascent: Feel-good self-improvement
- P.S. I Love You: All about relationships with others and yourself (it accepts poetry)
- Better Marketing: Marketing, writing, and work-related content
- Towards Data Science: Software, coding, and tech-related topics
- Better Humans: Personal stories with advice and statistic-backed research
To submit to any Medium publication, look it up on Medium by typing its name in the search box on the upper-right corner, and take a look at its submission guidelines to see what it is looking for.
Then, you can start crafting an article to suit the requirements. Many publications will ask you to fill out an electronic form with your email address and Medium profile link.
Getting your work into notable Medium publications is one of the best ways to get more eyes on your articles and gain a following of people who will enjoy reading your content.
3. Niche Down
This one is a personal choice. Picking one niche and sticking to it tends to draw a dedicated follower base, but it's not essential to growing your following.
For example, if you write all about software development, you're not going to gain a following from people who read articles about social issues or relationships. However, there are a lot of people who love to read about specific topics—and only those topics.
In my case, I enjoy writing about many different topics so I haven't niched down, and probably won't. However, I still have a good following of people because of how active I am on the platform.
4. Interacting With Other Readers and Writers
This brings us to the next way to build your Medium following: interacting with your readers and other writers. In this photo, you can see your options for interaction: clapping and responding.
Clapping
You can show appreciation for an article by "clapping" for it at any point during your reading session. You can clap up to 50 times by tapping or holding the Clap button down.
The author of the article will receive a notification and will see that you clapped for their piece. This could gain you a follower as well as a new friend!
Keep in mind that the amount of times you clap is important. People tend to be sensitive to this type of thing, as many of the people on Medium are professional writers who have been doing this for a long time.
If you clap, go for the full 50 claps. Some people get offended if you only clap once for an article they spent a lot of time on.
Responses
Responses are comments that are visible at the bottom of all Medium articles. We suggest only using these spaces for compliments or questions about the article, as opposed to a space to argue or "troll." Medium may seem like a huge platform, but many of the writers know each other and talk on social media, so word travels fast if you harass your fellow writers.
To respond to an article on Medium:
- Click on the thought-bubble icon.
- Type your comment.
- Hit Enter.
Craft your comments thoughtfully. Keep in mind that these articles sometimes take days to perfect, and the written word is a writer's art. So, be kind when commenting on other people's work.
Also, when replying to comments on your own work, be mindful. The way you treat your readers could make or break you.
If you get a negative comment, it may not be worth the fight to reply. If you choose to reply, you can simply write: "Thank you for your feedback and for reading my article." This is a good way to acknowledge their comment without engaging in conversation with a negative person.
Highlighting
Highlighting is when you select a passage that resonates with you in a Medium article, and then highlight it so it shows up on your profile.
In the photo above, you can see the highlighted portions of this article show up darker than the rest of the print, and the name of the person who highlighted it is shown.
To highlight an article on Medium:
- Click and drag across text (on a computer), or select text (on a smartphone or tablet).
-
Tap on the pencil icon to highlight.
Highlighting an article is a great way to show appreciation for a great word, sentence, or paragraph, as well as to save any information you find useful. It is also a great way to introduce yourself to another writer and gain a follower through meaningful interaction.
5. Reading Articles Across Medium
Reading another writer's work goes hand-in-hand with interacting using the tools above. When you read your fellow Medium writers' articles, and then clap and highlight their work, you are guaranteed to pique the interest of other writers who will visit your profile to read your work. If they like what they see, you may gain some new followers.
When you are reading articles by a respected writer on Medium, take note of how they format their articles, what publications their articles are in, and how they interact with their readers. This is the best way to learn about the platform.
6. Strategically Using Mentions
A mention on Medium is when you write an article and mention another writer in the article.
Mentions are a great way to show appreciation for another writer's work, thank them for support, or point your audience towards a passage or piece that relates to your article.
When you mention someone in an article, it shows up on their profile so their followers can see it. In the article, the mentioned writer's name will show up in green font.
To mention someone in your article:
- Type the @ symbol.
- Enter the name of the person you want to tag.
- Hit Enter.
Mentions should be used sparingly, as the writer you mention will get a notification. If the writer you are mentioning is a top writer, this could be seen as "clout-chasing," or as a way to gain followers using someone's name. We recommend avoiding tagging a top writer unless it really adds to your story.
Gain an Authentic Following the Right Way
Some people who are new to Medium will try a technique called "follow-for-follow," which is essentially following people with reckless abandon with the hope that they will follow you back. Medium doesn't work like this, as people generally only follow you if they enjoy reading your work.
Also, if you follow a bunch of random writers, you will end up with content showing up on your homepage that you aren't interested in. By having meaningful interactions with your peers, you are guaranteed to meet like-minded people and gain an authentic following of people who really enjoy your work.