How To Get To Your First 1K On Instagram

As you may or may not know, I have an Instagram account. Specifically, it’s a bookstagram account: an Instagram dedicated to my love of books. I’ve had this account for over one and a half years, and have loved every second of it. Here‘s a link to my account.

The bookstagram/ blogging community on Instagram is an amazing place to be, and Instagram is a GREAT place to promote your blog, especially if you love taking pictures of books. Put the link to your blog in your bio, promote your posts with matching pictures… If you build up a following, you can easily direct people to your blog.

I am in no way a bookstagram expert, but I have been doing it a while, and have over 8,000 followers. (I’m not bragging, just stating a fact.) Here is a screenshot of my account:

I’m proud of it! I’ve worked hard on it to get to where I am today.

If you already have over 1,000 followers or literally just started an account, this post can help you improve your account.

My Tips For Bookstagram:

Pick a creative name.

No one wants to have their unique name copied! Let your account name speak for YOU. Don’t just add on to someone else’s. I’d also recommend you pick a username without adding a bunch of underscores and numbers to it- you want your account to be memorable, and that starts with the name.

Follow other bookstagrammers.

Just by following accounts, you might get followers! Especially if you have friends you’ve made through blogging that also have Instagram- if they know you, they’ll probably follow you back. Besides the follower aspect of it, you can see gorgeous pictures of books. I made a list of my favorite accounts a while ago, you can check it out here!

Let people know about your account!

Promote it on Twitter, your blog, anywhere! You want people to know that you have an account. How are they going to follow you if they have no clue?

Remember that it’s not all about followers.

The reason I made my account was to connect with book lovers. Don’t do it to become “famous”. It takes a lot of work, and time, and believe me, if you do it for that reason, you will get burned out. I’ve made real friends through bookstagram, and I count THAT to be my real success.

Take quality photos.

Right away, you may be thinking: “Oh no I don’t have a fancy camera I can’t do this.” This is so not true. There are really popular Instagram accounts who take photos with their phones! I started my account by taking pictures with my Ipod. There is no need for fancy equipment AT ALL.

All I mean by this is put effort into your photos. Make them unique, make them YOU. If your photos are really low quality and blurry, most likely you won’t get very far.

Post consistently.

By consistently, I don’t mean every day. If you can do that, great! Do it! I don’t have the time to take enough photos to take every day. It doesn’t work for me. So say you post every other day, twice a week, anything. Taking hiatuses is okay: I know I’ve done it. But try to announce them, to make sure your followers will know you’ll be gone! Otherwise you may get lots of unfollowers.

Don’t comment “S4S” or “F4F” on photos.

Shoutout for Shoutout? Follow for Follow? No thanks. It’s annoying and it could get you blocked. You’re more likely to gain followers if you comment nice things to start up a conversation, without even mentioning a follow back.

To theme or not to theme?

A theme is in no way related to the success of an account. I don’t have a theme, and so many other bookstagram accounts don’t. On the flip side, a lot of accounts do have themes, so it really doesn’t affect your follower count. You do you.

Do you have a bookstagram? If so, what tips would you give to people to get their first 1K? Leave a link below, and I’ll check it out! If not, are you thinking about creating one? Also, if you have any more questions regarding bookstagram, leave them below!

Thanks for reading!

Ava