When you think of a writing platform where you can broadcast your inner most thoughts, you probably think of Facebook or Twitter or maybe just your lonely old Blog. You would think that's the best place for one great chunk of writing would be a place you usually post pictures of selfies and what you eat for dinner. But with this great program called TextGram, (and others of it's sort that aren't free) you can promote your books, write a daily serial, or just engage an audience of other writers doing the same thing!
HOW TO DO IT
First, download the program. Then think about what you want to do. Do you want to create an audience? Do you want to hone your craft? Do you want to simply meet other writers to inspire and be inspired by? The first step is to create your content. You can continue to post pics of your beach trips, the cute stuff you bought for your beach trip, and the stuff you ate while on your beach trip. People still want to see that, I promise. But you can also regale your audience with your quotes, insights, and writing excerpts.
WHY TO DO IT
What's the point right? It's fast, it's easy, and it's free. Do you need more reasons? Oh. Well, alright. It's a great way to build an audience. The best thing about Instagram is that the tagging feature brings the audience to you. Some great hashtags to use when starting out: #writersofinstagram, #writingforinstagram #textgram, #bookpromotion, etc. Some of these hashtags will get you an immediate response, so feel free to dig for more. You will have at least thirty followers/heart-likes in the first five minutes.
WHEN TO DO IT
You might have noticed that you get more likes on Facebook, depending on what time of day you post. The same is true for Instagram, although, I've noticed that because it's an international site, people are reading and checking all day long. They also will continue to check tags and go back over your page and read your stuff long after you've posted it. So really, any time of day is a good time. The best thing to do is to post frequently such as I do on mine. I usually pic a topic and write on that for 30 days straight. When I finish the 30 days I start a new topic. My audience usually waits for the next installment and follows me to the next one.
AND WHY I DO IT
I have lots of fun engaging with my readers. They leave me comments and I can immediately respond. I can ask them for ideas and inspiration when I'm stuck. I also feel this exciting new platform boosts my creativity. Daily new audiences also means meeting all kinds of new and interesting people everyday, writers and readers alike. There is also a sense of community being fostered among writers and they are easy to become apart of.
#writingforinstagramcommunity is a hashtag I almost forgot ;)
CHECK ME OUT @AYEMTEA