Book Promotion on Instagram

Connect with your readers

Instagram is a vibrant social media platform, and very handy for connecting with readers. This guide includes some tips of how best to navigate the Instagram landscape, to put you and your books in the strongest position to connect in a positive way with your target readership.

Profile

Firstly, like all other profiles, it’s important to have a good quality profile pic. Nothing overly dramatic, and it’s also important to maintain the same profile image across all platforms. It’s also worth making sure you own the rights to your profile pic too, as if your book suddenly becomes a best-seller, you may find that the photographer of that profile pic may come calling wanting to be paid.

Your bio should be short and compelling, no more than 100 words, and stick to the point. No need to include your whole education or job history, just what is relevant to your journey as an author. Make sure to include the word author in the bio, and also try and get your book titles or titles in there too. Again, maintain uniformity across all platforms with your bio. Also include a link to your website in the bio too.

Content

It pays to have a theme when it comes to your content. For a personal Instagram page it isn’t so important, but if the purpose of your page is to represent yourself as an author, and try to build up a following to promote and sell your books, the focus is a little different.

Having a brand consistency can be useful for your profile. A color scheme that is consistent is a big plus, and creates a more professional feel. You can also incorporate the color scheme from your latest book, to help tie your posts in with that, creating a subconscious connection for potential readers. This color scheme can always change later on to incorporate your next release.

Some examples of content to include on your page to engage would-be readers are, behind the scenes snippits of your writing experiences, especially if you can make them concise, engaging, and also possibly witty too. Quotes from your book, or upcoming book are a great way to engage readers. Fan art created around your books can be another favorite. It’s also a subtle way of showing just how popular you have already become. Reader reviews, or reviews from other media sources are a great way to showcase appreciation your books are receiving. Other examples of content types can be cover reveals. Handy to maintain reader engagement building up towards a new release. Teasers, short excepts from chapters you are particularly happy with are equally useful in this way. Author Q&A sessions can be very popular. You can accept questions from readers and reply on a post by post basis, and then combine the most popular questions in a graphical post to capture the most attention. Collaborations with other authors, ideally in the same genre that you write, are a great way to increase exposure and followers for you both. Interviewing each other can be a very useful way to capture new reader attention, and you can even build up a network of friendly authors willing to lend a hand to raise the profiles of each other in this way.

It’s also worth mixing it up regarding your content type. Photos, videos, reels, and stories are all great for connecting with readers, so by all means experiment with those different types of post to see how creative you can be, and also to see which ones get the most engagement from readers.

Posting Frequency

This isn’t a hard and fast rule, so if you aren’t a big social media user then don’t let this put you off from engaging in the Instagram platform, but a good frequency of posts are between three or four times a week. For some people that may seem no challenge at all, but I understand that for others this could sound horrifying, having to think up content, and put so much time aside to engage in this way. If it is natural for you to engage on that level, then go for it, but as I say don’t be put off is this doesn’t chime with your social media usage. I would suggest that the very minimum should be one post a month though, with increased post frequency in times of increased book activity. With the build-up to a new release, for example.

Other Engagement Strategies

Here are some further ways to maintain engagement with your followers, as well as increase your reach through gaining more followers:
Responding to comments can be helpful by making readers feel appreciated. Even a brief comment can make them feel special, and more likely to recommend your books to friends, as well as increasing the likelihood they’ll leave you a positive review.

Liking and commenting on other authors’ posts is also very useful. Especially in helping build a friendly circle of authors from within the same genre, as the reader interest is far more likely to spread between you all. Kind words of support and encouragement as well as funny comments are a great way to do this.

Hosting giveaways is also very popular with readers. You can create simple challenges, or perhaps a mandate that resharing a specific post gets them sharers included in the pot for your giveaway. This helps your reach expand greatly, and you can send direct shoutouts to readers who are particularly helpful in spreading the word.

Hashtags

I understand this can sound like a scary word for someone who isn’t remotely tech-savvy, but it really isn’t as complicated as it may sound. Here are thirty examples of Hashtags you can use for posts on Instagram. There are of course many more than can include the genre of book a post could relate to, but these are more generalised and have wider usage.

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #AuthorLife #IndieAuthor #BookLover #WritersOfInstagram #Bookstagram #Bookworm #AmReading #WritersLife #Bookish #BookNerd #WritingTips #Author #BookAddict #NovelWriting #CreativeWriting #SelfPublishing #BookCommunity #BookReview #BookClub #Fiction #NonFiction #BookBlogger #ReadMoreBooks #WritingInspiration #Authorsofinstagram #BookRecommendations #BooksOfInstagram #Bibliophile

The ideal number of Hashtags to use on a post is between nine and eleven. While Instagram does allow up to thirty Hashtags, having too many can make a post appear spammy, and have a negative effect on your overall exposure. Although this is another thing you can experiment with, and find a dynamic that works best for you.

Analytics and Insights

You can periodically check with Instagram Insights as to your posts’ performance, and get a more detailed idea of the success of your overall posting, with a view to maybe changing your strategy from time to time. This is a slightly more technical aspect, so don’t worry if it sounds too much for you, it certainly isn’t essential. The main thing is to have fun with all of this. Don’t take it too seriously, and allow the ability to express yourself on this platform.

Promoted Posts

Consider investing in Instagram ads to reach a broader audience if you really want to give your posts a boost and expand your audience. Again this isn’t essential at all, so only something to consider if you find that your content really isn’t attracting the attention of your existing followers, and drawing in new ones. I would suggest before paying to promote your posts to go through all of the points in this tutorial again first though, and see if you can find a slightly different strategy to engage.

Cross-Posting

It’s also worth remembering that any time and effort put into your posts on Instagram, you can also copy paste onto other sites too. You certainly don’t need to think up posts for each social media platform you are on, and you can even determine your ideal platform based on the kind of interaction, and the frequency of interaction you get on each of them.

Final Tips

While having fun with your posting, it’s also worth remembering to also be authentic. Anything that doesn’t ring true with readers, or that may seem a little disingenuous can creative a potential negative vibe, so while playing around with your author persona is perfectly fine, I’d caution not to make that author persona too far from the reality of who you are on a daily basis.

This is a BeBookSharp Guide to help our authors get the most out of the Instagram platform. Don’t forget, we have many promotional packages to help you and your books succeed, so do get in touch and let us know if you’re interested in seeing what else we can offer. 

Warmest regards,

Kathy K.

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