Are you new to Instagram? Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve used it for a year or longer, you’ll enjoy this five-part series. It will take you from novice to expert over the coming weeks.
Instagram is growing day by day. According to TechCrunch, as of nine months ago Instagram had 1 billion users worldwide.
TechCrunch noted,
While Snapchat’s daily user count grew just 2.13 percent in Q1 2018 to 191 million, and Facebook’s monthly count grew 3.14 percent to reach 2.196 billion, Instagram is growing closer to 5 percent per quarter.
According to the Pew Research Center’s March 1, 2018 report, Instagram is the sixth most used social media site, behind Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Messenger, and WeChat.
Part of Instagram’s growth might be due to the mother of all social media networks, Facebook. After Facebook purchased the app in 2014, Instagram’s user base soared by 60%.
Instagram took off with teens and Millennials. Today, according to the Pew Research Center, 35% of all internet users in the U.S. have an Instagram account. Of those, 39% are women, and 30% are men.
Also, Instagram figures among three platforms that users visit every day.
More About Instagram’s Users
The age breakdown among users trends toward the younger crowd. Most users are between the ages of 18 and 29.
However, there is a relatively large number of users between the ages of 30 and 49. The older age groups tend to be smaller with the 65-and-above crowd making up the smallest percentage of users.
What we know for sure is that for interacting with readers, Instagram is increasingly an excellent platform for engaging with them.
Readers on Instagram
If your reader demographic is between the ages of 18 and 49, Instagram can be a strategic application for you to use. Those of you who write young adult, new adult, dystopian, and teen and young adult romance and science fiction novels, will need to spend time connecting with your readers on Instagram.
But, some agents are recommending that all authors, including nonfiction writers with an older readership, also use Instagram.
However, if your audience isn’t on Instagram, does it make sense to use it? I’m a huge proponent of saving time on social media by only spending time on those networks where you’ll find your readers and your colleagues.
With Instagram’s popularity, it might make sense for you to follow Jane Friedman’s advice: grab your username anyway. After doing that, play around with Instagram and see whether it’s worthwhile for your genre and readership. If it isn’t, leave Instagram, focus your energy on other platforms, and return to it later to test it again.
The beauty of Instagram – and this is why it’s easy to test it – is that it’s effortless to incorporate it into your life. You’ll see why if you keep reading. For now, let’s leave the statistics behind and talk about how to sign up and use this tool.