Protect small top pair

[bigradiodork]

Newbie here. Be gentle. In general with a medium pocket pair and smaller cards after the flop, what is the minimum u have to bet to protect from people chasing? It seems in a small pot, many people will call a pot sized bet chasing. Is there a rule of thumb bet to protect top pair when 3 smaller cards come out after the flop? Obviously if somebody hit a set or 2 pair they are probably going to call most any bet. But what do u bet to in the long run defeat chasers? (I hope this question doesn't suck!) Thanks

[Inevitable]

There is no minimum bet, because each person reacts differently. If you are firing off pot-sized bets and you are getting callers who are chasing flushes/open-ended or gutshot straight draws, then they will inevitably lose money, because they are not getting correct pot-odds.