In case you didn’t know, Instagram has over1 billion active users. Half of them, 500 million people, are using the app every single day for various purposes.
Many authors have already started leveraging Instagram to expand their brand’s awareness and enhance their book sales performance. The reason why that happens is that after Facebook and YouTube, Instagram is the third largest social media network in the entire world.
Considering that 60% of Instagram’s users actively try to discover new products, every single author should realize that selling books on this amazing platform is not just good opportunity to start an authorship career but also an amazing way to boost your present recognition and books’ awareness.
Nevertheless, making a real impact on Instagram takes strategy, work, and work again. There are lots of mistakes that can be made, mistakes that generally cost a lot of time, money, and energy.
For that simple reason, in today’s post, I’m sharing 7 things authors should not do on Instagram. Take some notes and don’t waste your time if you don’t plan on implementing what you learn here!
Don’t Start Without a Marketing Plan
When you start promoting your names and/or your books on Instagram, you need to develop a marketing plan. For that, I would highly suggest you to start acquiring digital marketing knowledge, mostly because traffic is interconnected. The people that you’ll attract through Instagram can be “leveraged” in various ways such as through email marketing, retargeting, and so on.
You must define your Instagram strategy by establishing goals. Define the KPI (key performance indicators) that you mostly need and create specific goals around them.
For example, as an author, you will be looking to improve your brand’s awareness. The KPI for that is “Reach”, so by leveraging the Facebook Advertising Platform (which integrates Instagram’s paid advertising system), you will be able to set “Reach” targets. If you’re looking for book sales, then you’ll be looking for CR (conversion rate).
Do not start your Instagram marketing journey without learning the basics first!
Don’t Treat Your Profile Superficially
An author’s profile must look extremely professional. You should not treat it superficially by adding mediocre profile info or by posting low-quality/unprofessional profile photos.
Make sure that you keep your professional image intact no matter what by sharing only high-quality content that you’re absolutely sure that your followers will enjoy.
Don’t Target a General Audience
Most authors don’t realize that just like when they’ve planned their book (and the audience that will read it), they must do the same with Instagram marketing.
Out of a billion people, you should focus on reaching only those that fit your “target audience” characteristics. Fail to do that and your time, budget and effort will often go down the drain.
Don’t See Yourself as Just an Author
The moment you decide to “go big” as an author, you become a public person. That, and not just that.
When you decide to promote something online, you become a digital marketer. When you write blog content because you must improve your SEO and name reputation, you become a webmaster and a blogger. When you promote your content on social media, you become a marketer.
Authorship forces you to explore new boundaries. The best way to approach this journey is to carefully assess what you can do and what you can’t do. If marketing is truly not your thing, better pay for the work of an expert Instagram marketer. He won’t be struggling to design and implement an effective strategy for you. Try to be as realistic as possible and start acting as a true entrepreneur that you are!
Don’t Neglect Hashtags
Instagram users love hashtags. In fact, Instagram is one of the first social media networks that prioritized hashtags and had great success with it.
Hashtags provide a lot of additional reaches, so learn how to use them in order to boost various Instagram campaigns. Branded hashtags can improve your branding while trending hashtags can instantly boost your reach.
Normal hashtags? Well, they’re the seeds that you plant, seeds that will naturally bring traffic in the close and far future. For a more detailed hashtag education, make sure you check out this comprehensive hashtag marketing introduction guide.
Don’t Avoid Outsourcing
I used to be an outsourcing manager at Rushmyessay, probably the best essay writing services in the UK.
I’ve realized that most students who buy essays possess above-average qualities, traits, and skills such as proactivity, problem -solving, creativity.
Outsourcing doesn’t mean you’re ditching work. It means you’re investing money in order to save time. That time can be spent in a wise way, yielding higher productivity and effectiveness levels in your activities.
As an aspiring author, you should outsource the jobs you cannot handle. Those can be web development, marketing, publishing, and so on. Focus on what you do best (writing) and allow professionals to help your dream materialize.
Don’t Expect Overnight Success
Instagram marketing isn’t a magic pill that you swallow to generate overnight success. It is a process that must be treated with a lot of respect, consistency, and commitment.
As you take your first steps, you’ll realize that things aren’t that easy as you’ve thought. You’ll realize that only hard and smart work can create strong effects or a big budget that’s spent in a proper way.
Final Words
Authorship is a big deal. It is a tough, yet extremely rewarding. As you have figured, Instagram marketing is currently one of the most viable marketing and communication channels that can help you reach targeted and interested potential readers.
The better your strategies the better your results. Remember – when you start promoting yourself and your work online, you are no longer a simple author.
When you begin, you turn into an entrepreneur, author, marketer, customer support representative, and all that, up until you manage to reach your first success. That’ll allow you to outsource and set the foundations of a great team that’ll help you grow and progress in the future.
BIO
Lauren Adley is a writer and editor at https://my-assignment.help/. She is dedicated to her family, work and friends. She is keen on reading, playing the guitar and traveling. She is interested in educational, marketing and blogging issues.
