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My first ever Medium story got 22.5k views in its first 3 weeks.
What I did right
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What I did right
THREAD.
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I did something cool in real life. This is important.
I had a unique journey at Amazon. I overcame my technical incompetency to achieve success.
I wanted to help people overcome similar challenges.
People read stories to apply experience to their life.
I was vulnerable. I used quantitative metrics (“80+ comments”). I showed my feelings (“face turned red”).
I provided the mindset I used to overcome struggles. Specific and actionable.
I established credibility within the first paragraph. I sprinkled credibility throughout.
I didn’t hire an editor. This damages authenticity. I used hemingwayapp [dot] com to ensure a 6th grade reading level.
Spent ~20 hours writing/editing/revising
Only 7k out of 22.5k people viewing the story actually read it. A 32% read ratio.
Too low. Could be better if the story was shorter. 7 minutes, not 10.
“Follow me on Twitter” isn’t until the end.
Gaining Twitter followers was not the primary goal, but I only gained 200. A horrible < 1% follower conversion rate.
I got 1k LinkedIn connection requests I didn’t want.
“Amazon shouldn’t have hired me. Here’s how I became an SDE2.”
First sentence is controversial. It grabs your attention. It starts with “Amazon” - a well known brand.
Second sentence tells people they’ll be able to learn from my experience.
The headline image is making the “Shh” symbol. As if I’m revealing a deep, dark secret. Goes well with the headline. Sparks curiosity.
Halfway, I used an image of myself. Shows humanity, after demonstrating humility and vulnerability in words.
I had < 500 connections/followers on every social. Views breakdown:
LinkedIn - 11k views
FB/IG - 850 views
Other - 6k views
Surprisingly there were 4.6k views from email/IM. I hadn’t emailed it to anybody.
I am a n00b to niche platforms like HackerNews, Reddit and Hashnode. Posting there would increase exposure and read ratio.
Side note: I need to learn how to effectively deal with trolls on these sites.
I wasn’t sure about this decision. It turned out to be a good one (I’m not monetizing).
I didn’t get curated. But this allowed more people access to the story.
I’m incredibly happy I shared my story.
Hundreds of people messaged me across different platforms about how much I had inspired them.
Can’t wait to write again!
From Amazon impostor to leader, my story: https://medium.com/@curtiseinsmann/amazon-shouldnt-have-hired-me-here-s-how-i-became-an-sde2-e310d0d264a8">https://medium.com/@curtisei...
