"Do You Get Views From Instagram?"
Here's the answer to why I have been beefing up my social media...
As a writer, I realized that I don’t just have to write. Writing is literally about a third of my job. The other two-thirds? It’s marketing and networking. Selling content used to be mostly about content creation, but that’s not the case anymore.
Everyone and their grandma is a content creator. To make a living off this, you have to market yourself and make your stuff discoverable. It sucks, but it’s true. And that’s why I’ve taken the time (and money) to beef up my Instagram and TikTok.
At first glance, it seems like a fool’s errand, but is it? Well, not quite.
Instagram’s traffic has improved my reader following.
It seems really strange to people to go to visual platforms like Insta and TikTok to market a book or a Substack. Neither tend to be particularly visual, but here they are, being major conduits for business.
Hell, a friend of mine actually launched her poetry career through Instagram. So, I can’t argue with what works. If it worked for her, it should work for me, right? That’s my rationale.
The numbers are there. I’m not even on Facebook, but hey, it’s proof. Meta is a good choice for my work. Right now, I got six free subs and a paid subscription. So, clearly, people are engaging on there. It makes sense for me to keep advertising on it.
Moreover, I’ve been noticing something. TikTok is one of the places to be if you’re a writer. #Booktok is a hash tag that has the ability to make or break your writing career. And frankly? I’m willing to give it a go.
There’s another side to this that I will openly admit to as well.
I’ll be real. I kinda want to be an influencer, if only because I need a break from constantly typing up stuff. I want to expand my modeling portfolio and also just get a little bit more recognition for my views, my modeling work, and just all the crazy things I’ve done.
Instagram and TikTok give me an opportunity to monetize that. And that would make it easier for me to do special writing projects and also help others become influencers too.
Here’s what I’m doing…
I hired two AI-based marketing services to help me boost my followers on Insta and TikTok. My goal is to get more followers, spread my influence, and hopefully make more money off it.
Here’s what I’m using:
High Social for TikTok. Yep. It’s the one with ads all over my #fyp feed.
Upgrowth for Instagram. Yep. I feel like these are probably sister businesses because they are so similar.
Both of them cost me roughly $100 per month and promise to get me 1,000 followers per month. After 1,000 followers on TikTok, I can start officially monetizing by working with artists. After 10,000, I get paid directly.
My goal is to make a call to action that brings people to my Substack. So, wish me luck. Let’s see how this goes.
I really detest Instagram -- it bores me to tears and seems like nothing but fluff. I have never enjoyed myself on that app. I have avoided TikToxic because it seems horrible in the same way but more so.