According to Facebook’s estimates, over 2.7 billion people worldwide use their platform. With an estimated global population of 7.5 billion people, that’s over one-third of all people in the entire world that are linked and accessible, at least in theory, via this one online destination. While you might not have known those numbers exactly, at least intuitively, the first thought for most authors is that Facebook is the place to be to most effectively market and promote their book.
But, what if there is actually a better option – not one with more people, but one that will allow you to reach more people, more effectively? A more author-friendly platform?
There is!
As an author, you want a platform that has a robust discovery function, an active community of readers, allows you to add pictures and text with considerable flexibility on character limits and that has people who not only search hashtags, but readily follow them. Do you already know where this is going?
It’s Instagram.
Instagram has an incredibly active book reader community where people go to actively search for new books via hashtags and popular “bookstagrammers” who post a consistent stream of book-related content like reviews, new releases, bookstacks and themed posts that sometimes highlight underrepresented authors in ways that mainstream publishing often misses.
Also, unlike Twitter, Instagram isn’t conversation-based with strict character limits. You can use it flexibly, almost like a mini-blog and it incorporates the best of Twitter and Tumblr. Moreover, it’s an open platform, in contrast to Facebook, which is becoming an increasingly closed platform centering less on discovery and more on connection with people, places and things that are already familiar.
So, if you’re not already on Instagram, what are you waiting for?
If you need to get up to speed on how to best use Instagram in conjunction with Facebook and other social media platforms, consider the Book Genius complete course, which has a full and easy to understand and implement lesson on how to optimally integrate your Instagram, Facebook advertising, website and email marketing efforts to maximize your reach and your sales.
