How to Grow Your Bookstagram Account and Following

When I created my Bookstagram, I had no idea what I was doing or any tips on how to grow your Bookstagram account. Now, with over 20k followers and a lot of mistakes and growth, I’m happy with the success I’ve had so far. This guide includes my tips for how to gain more followers on Bookstagram, how to increase your Instagram engagement rate, and how to find success on Bookstagram.

RELATED BLOG POST: Bookstagram QOTD ideas!

Here are some Bookstagram tips and tricks that helped me grow my page.

Tip #1: Engage, engage, engage

And then engage some more. To show the Instagram algorithm that you’re involved with their app, you need to invest some time in it. This is one of the basic Bookstagram tips, but it works.

Like and comment on posts, react to people’s stories, and share the love. Save posts that inspire you. Comment and answer someone’s question of the day. If you’re up for it, block out some time in your day to like & comment on the posts in your home feed.

Engagement before and after posting your photos is also really important. I once read that you can increase post visibility by engaging on Instagram 15 minutes before and after you post. There’s no science behind that exact number, but the logic is sound.

After you post a picture, don’t just close the app and go onto doing something else. I always respond to comments on my previous post right after I post my latest one.

Tip #2: Ask open-ended questions

Most Bookstagrammers include a “question of the day” in their captions. While it’s definitely a fun activity for both you and your followers, it’s also a great strategy to increase engagement.

It gives people a reason to comment on your photos and interact with you. Here’s my spin: focus on asking open-ended questions. What does that mean? Instead of asking your followers, “Do you like fantasy books?” rephrase it to something like “What is your favorite genre?” so they don’t just answer yes or no. Here’s an example:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAxx0TbADSM/?igshid=164i9h23lqrna

If you’re looking for Bookstagram QOTD and caption ideas, check out my list of 70+ Bookstagram QOTDs!

Open-ended questions are great not only because people will spend more time on your post, but also because people love to talk about themselves. This Psychology Today article tells us that, “talking about oneself activates the same areas of the brain that light up when eating good food, taking drugs and even having sex.” So while people might not feel that good when answering your QOTD, it gives them a buzz. It’s also great for your engagement rate.

Tip #3: Don’t be scared of hashtags

This is probably one of the most discussed topics regarding social media strategy. Do hashtags work? Should you put hashtags in the caption or in a comment? Should you use 5, 10, or 30 hashtags? Here’s what works for me.

You should absolutely use hashtags. Hashtags allow people who aren’t following you to see your posts, and that’s a crucial way to increase engagement + gain followers. For example, here are some insights from one of my recent posts:

If you look in the discovery section of this post’s insights, you’ll see that 14,668 people saw my post from hashtags alone. 78% of the accounts reached with this post weren’t following me, pushing the reach to 19,893—almost double my follower count at the time.

So now that you know about the importance of hashtags, how do you use them? I’ve played around with my hashtag strategy, and it definitely takes some research. My next tip is to avoid using hashtags with millions of posts. When you click on a hashtag, you’ll be able to see how many posts are already there (e.g. as of right now, #booklover has 17,631,213).

While it’s tempting to solely use popular hashtags like #bookstagram or #books, it’s important to recognize that you’re underutilizing your potential reach.

Unless you get very lucky or already have a huge following, your post won’t show up in the “top posts” and will get lost in the “recent posts” in seconds. Here’s the sweet spot: 100k-700k posts. These are hashtags that people definitely use and visit, but it’s not as oversaturated as some of the more commonly used tags.

So how many hashtags should you use? For me, I use the max. Instagram allows you to use 30 hashtags, so I use every single one of them.

Finally, switch up your hashtags! That includes having a mixture of tags with 100k posts and 700k posts, and you can certainly throw one or two uber-popular hashtags in there (just don’t make it all 1M+ tags).

This also means not using the same hashtags for every post. I have hundreds of potential hashtags on my notes app, and I always grab different ones from there. Instagram is more likely to flag you as a bot if you’re constantly using the same hashtags in the same order. Hashtags are so important and this is probably one of my best Bookstagram tips that help me grow.

Tip #4: Utilize Instagram stories

While Instagram stories may not have the same reach as feed posts do, they are so important for your IG strategy and you absolutely should be using them. There are a lot of opportunities for customization with stories, and I recommend posting at least 1-4 stories per day. Here are some ways you use Instagram stories as a tool for increased engagement:

• Create polls for your followers using the poll feature
  • I use polls for my monthly reading wrap-ups to ask my followers if they’ve also read that book. When I post those stories, I see 2x+ more viewers than normal.
• Ask a question and collect answers using the question sticker
  • This tool is SUPER versatile. You can ask followers to recommend books, do a Q&A, get suggestions for a blog post, and more. This tool goes back to the QOTD/people-focused Bookstagram tips 😉
• Use the emoji slider tool
  • You can choose any emoji and allow users to slide that emoji along a scale. It’s a fun way to get followers to engage without doing much.

Tip #5: Post consistently

If you can’t post daily, avoid having anything more than a 3-day gap between posts. While you don’t want to overwhelm your followers with too much content, you also don’t want to be off the grid. Posting helps keep your content fresh in people’s minds.

Also, people can be ruthless with unfollowing. There are apps that show you how long it’s been since someone’s posted, and can unfollow them for you. If you go for a few days or a week without posting, you’ll definitely lose some followers.

More posts means new opportunities for interaction, engagement, and followers. Switch up your content so your feed looks balanced, and definitely don’t force a post if it means posting a picture you’re not happy with.

I usually post 5-7x a week, but if I don’t have anything scheduled, I just won’t post. On days that I don’t post, I go heavy with the engagement, taking time to interact with my followers. I’ll also post more IG stories on those days, and create some content there. I love posting what I’m currently reading, drinking or eating onto my stories, and the photos definitely do not need to be great quality, which means less pressure!

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At the end of the day, Bookstagram is a welcoming community. You shouldn’t feel pressured to post this or read that. Use Instagram as a tool to express yourself, and if you want to increase your following, these are just some tips to get you started. Let me know what your favorite Bookstagram tips and tricks are!