My Instagram Journey

 


My Instagram Journey - Podcast

A few blogs ago I wrote about positivity around aspects of writing I found…difficult, I suppose, and one of those was marketing. 

I made positive cards to hang on my writing hut wall, one being ‘I love marketing. It expands my readership and my financial success. 


I look at this everyday I am focusing on marketing, and I am examining my marketing techniques one at a time, determined to understand and improve.

Today it’s all about my Instagram journey.

It’s not an explosive one, in fact in many people’s eyes it would be deemed a failure, but for me it is a step in the right direction. 

I’ve just looked at my first post on Instagram and it was December 2020. I can’t believe I’m still getting to grips with this social media platform although it is so simple. 

Take a photo or video, post it. 

Well, that’s what I thought, and of course it is more than this. 

I wasn’t aware of how important hashtags were and my first seven posts have no likes or interactions at all. I am going to add hashtags to these and see what happens. A fun little experiment. 

I tend to try something and then give up if it doesn’t work quickly, but I persevered with this social media platform, I liked the visual aspect of it, and began getting a view or a like every few posts. 

I posted a video of a snowy landscape near our home, and it had three views. I was so pleased. Another video and three more views.

Then photos were getting a like or two, but videos were definitely more popular.

After a few months, I was using more hashtags and following other people, but the growth in followers and interactions was very low. 

I still wasn’t sure if it was worth the time.

So why was I trying Instagram?

I was trying to find a wider audience for my books, and many blogs and podcasts said Instagram was great for authors. It can link authors with new readers and other indie authors. Great. 

I continued to post a few photos and videos each month throughout 2021 but it wasn’t until early 2022 that my husband mentioned Reels. He was making reels to share and promote his cycling website and it was gaining interactions and followers. He was excited about this, which was weird because he doesn’t get excited about social media and when I had mentioned using Instagram in 2020, he just shook his head. 

I had no idea what these Reels he was talking about were, but his enthusiasm was catching.

Reels are fun, they combine video with music, a few words, a longer post below, tons of hashtags, and after a few tries they became easier to create. In fact, the hardest part is finding the right piece of music. 

My first reels were still only getting four or five views, then five hundred and I was so shocked when a video of the view from my writing hut zoomed up to 2400 views in a few weeks. Fantastic.

But, my followers did not grow. 

What was I doing wrong?

It was the social side, no surprise there. I was not interacting with people. It’s a social media site which means I need to be social. Not the most natural state of being for me, but hey ho, I can learn and for an introvert, social media sites are fantastic, we don’t have to do small talk and be in a crowd, we can just throw what interests us out there in the world. 

So I began commenting on other people’s photos, videos, and reels and for a while my followers increased, until I realised they were not real followers but people trawling for follow backs who had nothing in common with me, and many were middle aged men who called me ‘Hey pretty’. Yuck. I removed many followers from my list which dropped it back to a measly 85. But these followers do have something in common with me, although most are artists as I do like their paintings, and I was really not sure how to link with readers.

I’ve learnt to use more hashtags, interact with others, remove false followers, and make reels. Not bad for a fifty something, socially inept, technology challenged writer, and I am continuing to learn.

I read recently that it’s good to make a reel on a regular basis and for an author to make reels about books they are reading, their writing, and other hobbies so people can discover what motivates the writing and see that the author is a human. You may laugh at that comment but AI’s writing for authors is a sure thing in the future. 

I thought about what authors and books I was linking with on Instagram, and ones whose posts consisted of the author holding their book, reading their book, their book on a shelf etc I wasn’t following or finding out more about. 

I follow authors who are honest, talk about their process, the reason they wrote the book, art connected to their stories, and something about their life. 

I like variety, I write in several genres, I read several different genres, and this is what I need to show potential readers so that if they go to my website they are not confused when the first book they see isn’t what they expected. 

I also liked the idea of having more focus to my reels, and not throwing my books in people’s faces all the time.

I am trying this -

On Monday’s I do a book review. 

As I read at least one book a week this is working out well and I am getting some more views but still no comments or interactions, or followers. It’s early days, Jenni, you’ve only done this for a few weeks. Patience. 

On Wednesday’s I do a reel about my writing.

This is not me shouting ‘buy my book,’ but more about how it feels to be an author, what emotions are behind the stories, why I wrote them, and this week’s reel which was prompted by a stranger’s comment, has already had 137 views. What? That’s it? Yes, but for me that is good. It’s only been out there for a couple of days. (I’m writing this on Saturday morning.)

On Friday’s I make a reel about one of my other hobbies, painting, cycling, garden, nature. 

These are hit and miss re views, and the paintings get more views than gardening or nature. Although the highest viewed reel is one of a deer eating grass at the side of the road when I was cycling. I’ve not done many on cycling, but I don’t video much when cycling as I leave this to my husband. I made a reel about my gorgeous bicycle Lily, who features in cycling adventure stories on my website and on 

https://www.velotouring.fun/  I am pleased to announce that it received 249 views in one day. 

What to do next?

I am getting to grips with reels and have linked my FB to Instagram so any photo posts on FB are posted on Instagram too. A two for one is always good. 

But there is a place for stories on Instagram and FB too, which link somehow, and I think I need more photo posts. 

I am sure I will connect with more like-minded people and link up with new readers as long as I don’t give up. 

If you are on Instagram, please pop over to see what I am creating and give me feedback. 

I am jenniclarke64, come and find me. 


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