Picture it: Using Instagram for blog promotion

by Donna Huber


Instagram to boost traffic to my blog or some other sort of promotion. While I like taking pictures, it isn't a natural inclination. But I'm trying to get better about using Instagram for promotion.
It seems every other day I get a post from the social media "gurus"about using

During Armchair BEA, I participated in the Instagram challenges and I also checked out other bloggers feeds to see if I could get some ideas. Let me tell you, some bloggers are very creative, but I did have fun with the #SpinePoetry.

Are you in the same boat as me and needing ideas of what to put on instagram? Here are some possibilities:

1. Quotes - quotes from your favorite author, quotes from your favorite book or characters. There are quote making apps and sites that allow you to make cool looking quotes to post to Instagram.
2. Book Hauls - did you pick up a stack of books from your library this week? What about books in the mail? Perhaps you went to a charity sale and got a bag full. Snap a pic and show it off on Instagram.
3. Teasers - take a picture of the page you are currently reading. Freda has expanded her Friday 56 meme to include instagram. All you have to do is take a quote from page 56 (or 56% on your ereader). I do it the easy way and take a picture of the page. I've also used #TeaserTuesdays a few times. 
4. Images that promote your current read - I've been doing a little bit of this for my read along. Mostly the cover or a page from that week. But you can get creative. I've taken pictures of fancy olives because they remind me of Maggie from JB Lynn's Neurotic Hitwoman series. What do you see around you that reminds you of characters or books you are reading?
5. General pictures - give your readers a look at the person behind the blog. And no, I don't necessarily mean take a selfie, perhaps a shelfie. A few selfies though wouldn't hurt, but if you don't want to do that then take pictures of your life. I take pictures of my pets, places I go, something from my day, things that catch my eye, etc.

However, the bigger question really is - Does Instagram drive traffic to my blog?

My answer: I don't know. I don't get a lot of likes and rarely a comment. Using Instagram does have benefits. I share to Twitter and Facebook and those do get a good number of shares and likes. Also I love that I can embed the image in my blog posts, making my posts a bit more interesting. Also there is potential from Pinterest cross promotion. I think it is good for name recognition.

Instagram is something that I'll continue to play with, but more for the fun of it than its ability to drive traffic.

And if you want to follow me: https://instagram.com/girl_who_reads/

Are you on Instagram? If want more followers, leave a link in the comments. Also, are you using Instagram for blog promotion? If so, what do you post and is it helping your blog? 


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