Social media is quickly becoming an effective tool to promote books. Authors are quickly learning how to best utilize it to blast their face, message, and name to their prospective audience. Instagram in particular is increasingly becoming more and more popular for authors to do so, as strangely as it sounds. Authors are finding clever ways to tie in related images of their work to this visual medium and finding success.

An extremely simple way some authors use Instagram is to provide a first person look into their lives. By running your Instagram this way, you give followers a personal look into your life. You may feel like it’s pointless and that no one will care about what you post sometimes but you have to remember you are making your audience become invested in you.

If you feel this approach is too personal for you and you don’t wish to divulge your life onto your Instagram, there is still hope for you. Many authors find success by running their Instagrams as mini blogs for their books. Instead of posting about their day, these kinds of Instagrams post helpful tips other authors, allows you to show off your expertise and knowledge, and still gives your followers an opportunity to connect with you.

Since Instagram is still a fairly new platform, there is no one “right” way to use it. Feel free to try out your own ideas and experiment while testing the waters with your own Instagram account. You may find that something that doesn’t work for someone else is massively successful for you.

Read more tips about using Instagram to your advantage as an author at The Creative Penn where Jose Lopez, author of the bestselling book Instagram Marketing that Sells, divulges exact details on using it successfully.