I just wanted to provide an update on my social media platforms. Over a year ago, I started my social media pages to talk about books and try to gain a following to find readers who may enjoy my poetry collection, Fostered. I had no idea about algorithms, Reels, or editing, and I have learned so much.

Algorithms:

If you want to have a successful social media presence, you need to understand the algorithm. TikTok uses it like a search engine, so make sure your first line in the caption is something a user would search for, e.g. “books with sad endings.” The more specific, the better for example, “romance books with sad endings.”

Hashtags:

I have found these have started to become redundant, and although many platforms allow up to five hashtags, for some reason three seems to be the sweet spot. I use one for FYP, one for the topic, and one for the emotion I want to tap into, e.g. #fyp #romancebooks #sad.

Community:

I mostly use TikTok for community purposes. I have found people will buy my poetry if they feel connected to me. I don’t recommend making posts that look like adverts. People hate that. They want storytimes with a little plug at the end. They feel less coerced that way.

I hope this helps anyone who wants to know more about growing their social media presence.