The proliferation of platforms and formats like short-videos have changed the influencer marketing game for marketers, brands and creators. In this fast-evolving space, keep up with the big trends and hot topics that matter in Storyboard18’s Weekly Shorts in collaboration with affable.ai, an end-to-end AI-powered influencer marketing platform. Track how creators, communities and brands are engaging with users and disrupting marketing to get a sharp and fast insight into present and future trends.
With over 60M viewers in 2022, the #Bookstagram community has caught the attention of publishers and marketers in India. Publishing companies and non-book/publishing brands as well are actively collaborating with Instagram book influencers to promote interesting reads and product placements. With World Book Day approaching in April, book marketers and brands can leverage this community to engage with the readers.
Bookstagram on Instagram has become a go-to place for book lovers in India to talk about their favourite books, as the BookTok community is inaccessible because of a TikTok ban in the country. #Bookstagram has over 89.11 million followers worldwide, while there are 560k readers on #Bookstagramindia. The massive following on the hashtags shows that the book influencers are creating noise in the book publishing industry by connecting with readers over aesthetic content.
In the last three years, content created under #Bookstagram has increased by 48.57 percent. The shared love for books has brought readers to the Bookstagram community, causing its popularity to increase by 168 percent from 2020-2022, according to affable.ai data.
Bookstagram: Writers’ favourite hangout spot
The Bookstagram hashtag relies heavily on visually stunning photos of books and bookshelves, which attract active engagement from readers worldwide. A majority of Bookstagram content revolves around book reviews and aesthetic images of books with flowers, coffee mugs, and glasses in backgrounds, making it a haven for writers and readers. The Bookstagram community provides a place for readers to share honest reviews about their current reads.
With Bookstagram gaining momentum in the last few years, authors and publishing companies leverage the community to understand and connect with their audience — avid readers. The writers get insights into the reader’s mind and the type of books they like.
Four ways to market books through Bookstagram
Book influencer marketing is not a new concept. Publishers have been collaborating with book bloggers to promote their books for a long time. However, promoting a book through traditional advertising methods like press releases, author signing events, and library readings, can be exhausting and time-consuming. Plus, readers are not really hanging out in a library these days. They search social media to find books they can add to their to-be-read list.
Marketers leverage Instagram to find interested Gen Z and millennial book influencers and build audience relationships through their content.
Here’s a step-by-step guide marketers and authors can follow to leverage the trust and engagement built by book influencers to reach the untapped audience — book Instagrammers.
1. Join the community
For marketing a book on Bookstagram, it is essential to become a part of the community to really understand the audience’s mindset. Creating a Bookstagram page can help build authentic connections with the community. Additionally, finding interested readers ready to promote the product becomes a lot easier.
2. Connect with Bookstagrammers
Finding book influencers that align with the product’s niche is essential to churn compelling content. Once a list of potential influencers is in place, marketers can reach out to them through email or DMs to let the creators know about the proposal and ask them to collaborate for a campaign. Influencer marketing tools like affable.ai can help speed up the process by providing features to find relevant influencers, and A/B test the emails to establish effective communication with the influencers.
3. Send out free copies of the books
Sending free book samples is similar to influencer gifting or product seeding that product-based brands use to allow creators to get familiar with the product, become fans, and talk about it with their followers. Sending a free book to influencers will encourage them to read it and write a review on their social page. It can sound counterintuitive to share free copies, but it ensures honest reviews from readers, boosting the book’s credibility.
4. Evaluate performance and measure ROI
The success of a book influencer marketing campaign can be determined by the increase in book sales. While product-based brands evaluate performance in terms of leads, queries, engagement and more, publishing companies and authors measure the campaign’s progress by the number of books sold by the influencer. Marketers can also share promo codes and affiliate links with the influencers to track their overall performance and calculate the ROI.
Five ways non-book or publishing brands can make use of #Bookstagram:
Bookstagram influencers, who are avid readers and enthusiasts of books, share book-related content, including book reviews, book hauls, and bookshelf displays, to engage with their followers. While #bookstagram influencers and content creators primarily focus on books, non-book brands can still make use of #bookstagram influencer marketing to effectively reach and engage with their target audience.
Product placement: Non-book brands can collaborate with bookstagram influencers to showcase their products alongside books. For instance, if you sell lifestyle products like candles, stationery, or home decor, you can work with bookstagram influencers to feature your products in their bookstagram posts or stories. This way, you can tap into the bookstagram audience’s love for books and create visually appealing content that aligns with their interests.
Theme-based collaborations: If you sell fitness gear or healthy snacks, you can collaborate with bookstagram influencers to create content around fitness-related books or books on healthy living. This allows you to tap into the bookstagram community’s specific interests and leverage the influencers’ expertise to create relevant and engaging content.
Giveaways and contests: Bookstagram influencers often host giveaways and contests where they collaborate with non-book brands to offer prizes to their followers. This can be an effective way for non-book brands to gain exposure, generate buzz, and attract new followers. For example, if you sell beauty products, you can collaborate with bookstagram influencers to host a giveaway where followers can win your products along with a popular book or a book-related item.
Customised discount codes: This can incentivize bookstagram users to try out the non-book brand’s products and make a purchase. The influencers can share the discount codes in their posts, stories, or in their bio, and the followers can use them while making a purchase on the non-book brand’s website.
Events and collaborations: Non-book brands can also collaborate with bookstagram influencers to host events, workshops, or virtual meetups that revolve around books and their products. For example, if you sell gourmet snacks, you can collaborate with a food-loving bookstagram influencer to host a virtual book club event where participants can discuss a book while enjoying your snacks. This can create a unique and interactive experience for bookstagram users and provide exposure for your non-book brand.
This week’s Weekly Shorts is written by the editorial team of affable.ai.