How to Bookstagram + the one hashtag to NEVER use
This post on bookstagram may contain affiliate/referral links. It is a way for this site to earn advertising fees by advertising or linking to certain products and/or services
I’ve spent a lot of time this year really focusing on Instagram and trying to figure out how to better photograph my books and grow my presence on this social platform. It’s taken a lot of time and effort to get as far as I have, which still isn’t even 1k, but I have gotten more than 50 new followers in the past 3 weeks, which is pretty spectacular..
If you are an author, blogger, bookish shop owner, etc. and you want to grow this platform, I highly recommend you have a business account. If you don’t please switch to one. If you have a Facebook page, then you can have a business account. The analytics you will get with the business account are amazing and extremely beneficial to growing your account!
The number one thing that I have learned that helps grow your Instagram account is to actually BE SOCIAL! If you aren’t responding to comments. If you’re not commenting on other accounts you will not grow. You can sit there and double tap all day long and you still won’t see that much growth. The more time I spend talking, forming relationships and building my bookstagram tribe, the more success I see. These women are truly amazing and I am having a blast learning from them.
PROTIP: Go search the book you posted that day and go interact with other bookstagrammers that are talking about that book, you already know that you have something talk about right there.
HASHTAGS
I’m going to be honest with you here. I used to think that hashtags were the be all end all to growing your Instagram, but since discovering that I can see how people find my post, the majority of people find my image from their home feed. I am not being discovered through ‘book specific’ hashtags. If I use a hashtag geared toward lifestyle blogger, then I get a lot more visibility.
There are many, many, many hashtags, some HUGE, like #bookstagram that has over 19M pictures! To much smaller ones, like #rockstarromance that only has been used around 5k times.
The actual bookstagram itself can be set up so many different ways, you will find minimal book scenes with a ton of white space and then you will have some that have so, so much going on that every time you look you will see something new and you just know that person took at least an hour to set up that one shot! You just need to find a style that is true to you, and often times you can find everything you need to take a beautiful shot at home.
One of my favorite styles is the bird’s eye view pictures and I just bought a selfie stick on Amazon to help me get some of these myself, because having my son stand above trying to get the picture just didn’t work out quite like I wanted it to lol. Another tip for you, is that people are not really taking pictures on their hardwood floor. I tried this and it never looks right, and that’s because they are using a backdrop, I LOVE this one, but I’m sure there are cheaper if you aren’t ready to invest that much into it. I haven’t bought a backdrop for my pictures, I use a simple white foam board that I bought at Dollar Tree for $1.00. EASY. And it gives me a great area to work with. Now let’s say that you get your flat-lay set up but something just isn’t quite right. At this point you will probably want to add in some texture or layers. The more depth you can add, the better off you will be.
Are you following me on Instagram?
Want more tips? Or have bookstagram questions? Email or comment and I will do my best to help you!
Did you know that you can now schedule your Instagram posts? If you have a business account you can! I *highly* recommend doing this, especially if you take all of your pictures in batches. You will be able to schedule out and arrange your pictures actually see what your feed will look like! I started using Planoly and it has saved me hours of work!! And you know what I really love?? I love that you can have spaces and not use lines or periods! You can grab it and get started today, but don’t forget you need a business account.
3 Comments