How to Get Your First 1,000 Followers

Getting your first 1,000 followers on the internet is a real milestone. Sometimes it gets lost in translation just how many people 1,000 is. It’s a lot. In many respects the first 1,000 is the hardest.

But getting there doesn’t need to be complicated, I always find that the answer is usually simple, the execution is the difficult bit (and not difficult because it’s complicated, difficult because it’s hard). 

That’s why talk I want to talk about the simple framework I used to hit 1,000 followers whilst working a day job. 

Step 1: Identifying what to write about 

If you work a 9–5, you’ll have endless ‘stimulus’ for your writing. 

You probably just don’t know it yet. It’s why I’m so bullish on professionals writing on the internet. It changed my life and I still work a 9–5.

I started writing about the things that interested me and taught me something. To begin with, I wrote about being a graduate, working in a big corporation, adjusting to the world of work and then I looked for signals. 

Within a few days I hit 591 views in a day, that post was about my experience as a graduate entering the world of work. 

That’s a signal that people liked that kind of stuff but that’s not the only signal you should look out for. You should ask yourself whether or not you liked writing it. Remember this is a long game, you don’t want to get trapped following the followers. 

Ask yourself:

• What professional experience do I have?
• What do other people tell me I excel at (and seek my advice on)?

Start there, look for signals, reflect purposely, and iterate. 

Step 2: Figure out how you are going to execute

One of the biggest mistakes new creators make is trying to be everywhere. 

In my early days, I was trying to write on Medium, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It was too much. For the first two years of my creator-career, I stayed exclusively on Medium. 

It took a year to hit 1,000 followers. 

It would have been easy to give up but the task was simple. Write on medium each day. Don’t stop. When the process gets more complicated (write on platform 1, platform 2, platform 3 and engage 30 minutes a day). 

The likelihood of executing diminishes. 

Growth goes slow then it goes really fast so pick a platform and stick to it. I’d highly recommend focusing on the platform that brings you the most joy. I chose Medium because I love long-form content.

Step 3: Know your why for creating 

Writing on the internet is hard. Building a business is hard. 

Knowing your ‘why’ is critical to your longevity and therefore success because it enables you to stick it out when things get really tough (and they will). 

When I started on the internet I’d hit rock-bottom. I didn’t have any great expectations about what it would become because I’d given up hope that I’d ever do anything more than the 9–5. 

Today, here’s why I write:

• Because it helps me develop my thinking around a topic. 
• Because it makes me feel like I’m doing something with my thoughts.
• Because if it helps one person develop the confidence to create, I’ve won.

I stick close to those statements. Especially when I’m feeling low. It might be simple but the practice of writing out your why will help you in your dark days.

Step 4: Understand your readers 

Writers that treat writing as a product, win. 

Why? Because they know that writing is about solving a problem for their reader. My writing took off this year when I started with that frame in mind, and documented all my thoughts into a comprehensive guide.

For me, I write with two questions in mind:

1. What problem am I solving for my reader?
2. What is the job-to-be-done?

If I can’t answer those questions, the piece gets scrapped. Remember your reader has clicked on your content because they have a problem that they want to solve. 

You must deliver on that, time and time again, in order to convert a browser to a follower to a loyal fan. For some articles, it’ll be super-obvious what the problem is and how to solve it, for others it won’t.

The key is to keep that front of mind, the start, middle and end of your writing needs to deliver on that promise you made in your headline.

Conclusion

Hitting your first 1,000 followers isn’t about playing games with the algo it's about identifying:

• What you are going to write about
• How you are going to execute 
• Why you are showing up

You must be realistic with the craft. It’ll take time to hit the milestones, and arguably your first 1,000 is the hardest of them all. But the effort in a sense makes it all worth it.

As the old adage goes, “if it were easy, everybody would do it.”