How to Grow Your Writing Platform on Instagram

I've had my writing account on instagram for over a year, and it has been the best decision I've ever made for myself as a writer and my writing. There's something about the instagram community that other social medias don't have. Maybe it's because a lot of people on instagram are young dreams just like us, and a lot of them are young creators--artists, designers, photographers, writers, bloggers, entrepreneurs, singers, etc.

So many people on instagram have dreams that they are turning into businesses, and therefore getting paid to create content that has their passion at the very core of it.

Isn't that living the dream right there? Instagram is a huge opportunity for writers, and if you don't have an author account on instagram MAKE ONE! Instagram is one of the biggest social platform with more than 500 million daily users! Now that you know why you should use instagram. Here are some tips that I've learned on how to use it, and more importantly how to get the most out of it.

1. Post Often

A lot of people on instagram post 1-4 times a week, but if you want to grow quicker and give people more chances to come across your work, you should aim for 6-7 times a week, or about everyday.

Now I know we're all busy, and it's hard to come out with that much quality content. Lucky for us Instagram has a feature where you can make drafts of your posts and save them to post later. So maybe pick out one or two days of the week where you spend an hour or two creating content for your account for the week. This will save you the stress of not having the content or the time to post, but still help you to grow your platform.

2. Follow and Interact with Other Writers

One of the biggest advantages about social media is that it gives us a much wider and diverse audience than we'd have if we were just to try to tell people about our work in person. Instagram allows us to communicate with people from all across the world. We get to share our work and find others who have the same passions and goals as us, and we get to help each other and encourage each other as we work towards those goals.

I've had my Instagram friends read my books and give me feedback on them, and I've done the same for their books! You may have joined Instagram to share your story, but as you go through it you'll meet so many amazing people, and that's the real gift. They aren't fans or supporters or followers, they're friends and writers just like you. Some are new to writing and some have multiple books published, but the best thing you can do is to get into this community.

3. Don't be Afraid to Share Your Writing

Sometimes writers are scared to share their actually writing on instagram. When I'm not sharing poems or quotes or teasers from my books, I'm usually sharing pictures of my bookshelf or desk or of myself. I think it's important to remember if you're labeling yourself as a writer than people are going to want to see a sneak peek of what kind of writing you're working on. Share a poem or a scene from your novel. Don't worry about the reaction people have to it. Be proud that you're sharing it, and taking that first step towards sharing your work. Think of it as practice for publishing a book. I've never seen a hate comment on mine or any of my friend's posts. This is the most sheltered and safe place your work is going to be exposed to. If you plan on publishing you need to work on putting your story in the spot light, and being confident enough to do that. You also need to allow others to read your story. They don't need to read it right away, but when you finish the second or third draft is a good time to get some feedback.

4. Use 30 Hashtags

I don't know why but this point makes me kind of angry because I don't know why people wouldn't do this. On instagram there are hashtags. I don't think many people know what hashtags actually do. I had no idea what they did when I first started my account, and only knew them from people saying, "#relationshipgoals" and other cheesy stuff like that.

Hashtags are used more on instagram than other social platforms. I don't know why this is or why other platforms don't use them as much.

If you have a public account on instagram and you use a hashtag your post could end up on the hashtag's page. Say I post a picture of a book and use the hashtag #bookworm. If I get a good amount of engagement on that post then my post is going to become more relevant on the hashtag's page, and therefore more people are going to see it.

The reason I say to use thirty hashtags is because you can't use more than thirty per post. So many times I see people using 5-10 or not using any at all! Hashtags are going to expose your content to people who don't follow you. Each time you use a hashtag is a chance for someone to discover your account. So make the odds in your favorite. 30 chances is better than 10. This doesn't mean your post is going to do great on every hashtag, but may the odds be ever in your favor, (Effie Trinket would be proud) and increase your chances.

If you use #writer which is a hashtag that has over 12 million posts on it then you have the opportunity for people to come across your work.

Another thing about hashtags is that when you are adding them to your posts, next to the hashtag is a number and that's the number showing how many posts have been used with that hashtag. I use a mix of a bunch of different hashtags--some have 120,000 posts and other have millions. I think using a mix of them is good because it gives your content more chances to be featured on the smaller hashtags because there's less competition, but if you post is in the top of one of the bigger hashtags than that could also be very beneficial.

I could talk about hashtags literally all day long, but we have to keep moving on.

5. Set up a Business Account

When creating your instagram, you have the choice to make your account a business account which means you get access to analytics, promotions, and so many more cool features to help your platform grow that you wouldn't have with a regular account. Even if you already have an account, you can turn it into a business account. This has helped me so much with figuring out what kind of posts my followers prefer, and it makes your account look more professional as well.

6. The Instagram Algorithm

Instagram's algorithm is how the app shows people posts. It shows you posts based on what accounts you like. It also shows you posts related to your interests, so I see a lot of book/writer posts. For a lot of people, myself included, the algorithm is confusing and frustrating. You could post something one day and it'd do really well and than the next day your post would flunk. You're constantly changing up your content based on what your audience likes and what you want to post more of. Your posts may reach 150 people one day and 400 the next. People have tried to figure out the algorithm, but it's always changing. There is no set of guidelines or rules that are guaranteed to make your post have 100 likes or 20 comments. It just happens.

One of the popular things I've heard about the algorithm is that if you use hashtags and have a higher amount of engagement, specifically comments, then you're more likely to get featured higher up on the hashtag page. That's why so many people ask questions in their captions. They are trying to entice their audience to start a conversation in the comments, and it's very smart.

It Takes Time to Build Your Writing Platform

I'm a year into having a writing platform on instagram, and let me tell you there are good days and there are bad ones. Try not to let followers, likes, and comments bother you. Refrain from smashing your phone because instagram changed their algorithm again. Instead focus on producing content you're proud of. Make tweaks and get feedback on you posts. Meet other writers and connect with people. It's not just about business or marketing. It's about marketing yourself and putting yourself out there too. So good luck trying to make it on a platform of millions. I'll see you there.

Instagram and social media, marketing and building an online platform are all things I'm very interested in, and would love to do more posts on. This post just scratches the surface of using instagram to build your writing platform. If you want to see more posts like this, let me know in the comments, and if you have any specific ideas or topics, leave them down there too!

It's been a pleasure writing for you, and until next time--stay weird and stay writing. - Lexi