The hack Instagram doesn’t tell you about.
I am constantly looking at ways of increasing my reads, from external sources. This has become even more essential in the last month.
I have written many posts on social media marketing, I will link these below.
Instagram, for many writers, remains the platform writers do the least marketing on. When it should be in your top three. However, it is not always easy to embed links on Instagram.
60% of Instagram users find a new product or service on there.
One of the areas that many people should use to advertise their products is the story feature. If you don’t know how to do this open Instagram and scroll right until you see the following screen.
At the bottom, you will see several options.
- Live — think Facebook Live, a live video wherever you are.
- Create- a blank canvas, to write on as a text message
- Normal — a normal photo shot
- Boomerang — will play a clip in reverse on loop
- Superzoom — zooms in on one point
- Handsfree — picture without holding the shutter
- Music — self-explanatory
At the top, you will see several options and this is where the hack comes in.
There are options here to save photos, change the colour and text. Have a play with it. The two that we are interested in, are in the middle, the link sign and the smiling face.
Hashtags
First, the smiling face, if you click this you get an option to add hashtags. I would add two or three to a story. In the main Instagram post, you can add up to 30 and you need to use them all. In stories three are adequate.
Try different hashtags every post. My favourites are writingcommunityofinstagram and instagramwriters
Embed Links to on Instagram
You cannot add links to stories unless you have a verified account. You can’t verify your account without 10000 followers. Many writers, myself included are well off that mark.
So how do you add an embedded link? You use a very new feature to Instagram called IGTV
IGTV
Allows you to put videos on a separate part of Instagram. The videos must be over 1 minute long.
You can access these from the front page and looks like a TV.
With these, you can link to external links such as your new book, Patreon page or email list.
Make a video of approximately 1 minute long. This could be you talking about your new book or discussing the service you offer. I made a PowerPoint presentation of my mentoring course and then turned it into a video.
Once you have done that, you can embed your link into the description on the video.
Now when you share a story post click on the embed icon and you can link it directly to your IGTV.
You can now have a swipe up option in your stories and you don’t need to have a verified account.
Although this takes some setting up it can be used on every occasion. As writers, you could embed a link to your website, Medium account. Wherever you see your priority.
Instagram takes time to advertise writing on but is a valuable resource to all.
