Many poets turn to Instagram to as a creative outlet. If you want to grow your audience on social media and on Instagram specifically, there are a few practices you should keep in mind.
Why “Grow” Your Poetry Account?
Sharing your work on a platform and steadily growing your poetry Instagram account are two different things.
Consider working to grow your poetry account if:
- You want to become a published poet
- You plan to submit a manuscript (poetry or otherwise to agents and publishers)
- If you have a poetry “side hustle” – maybe as a typewriter poetry (like our editor) or otherwise
Having an active and growing poetry account shows agents and publishers that you are invested in your writing.
6 Ways to Grow Your Poetry Account on Instagram
If you want to grow your poetry account, follow these five tips. These are best practices, and you can adopt them as you see fit. For the best results, follow all of the tips below.
Post Poetry Regularly
Posting regularly is critical. Accounts are rewarded by the “algorithm” if they are active. If you are just starting out, we recommend posting every day.
Once you get more “insights” from Instagram regarding the most active times of day for your followers, post at that time for more engagement.
Use Poetry Hashtags
Using hashtags on Instagram is a great way to engage with specific communities and get your poetry in front of new audiences. Here are a few hashtags we love:
- #poetrycommunity
- #writingcommunity
- #poetsofinstagram
- #poetrylovers
- #instawriters
- #instapoets
- #poetrysociety
- #poetryisnotdead
We also recommend tagging other relevant hashtags. For example, if you write a poem about a forest, use nature-focused hashtags.
Incorporate Reels
Instagram Reels are a new video format offered by the platform. You can showcase your poetry via video, which Instagram’s algorithm (for now) seems to favorite. Videos are also highly shareable, which will encourage your readers and followers to share it with their audiences as well.
You can also use hashtags in Reel captions!
Find Prompt Accounts
Engaging in poetry communities on Instagram will help you grow your community. There are numerous poetry prompt accounts on Instagram that release prompts daily, weekly, or monthly. Responding to these prompts with a poem is a way to interact with new folks.
Prompt account are also a great place to find other creatives to support as well!
Network With Other Poets
It takes a village to grow a poetry account on Instagram. If you support other poets on the platform, they will support you! Commenting on poems (thoughtfully, not with just an emoji) and sharing other’s work on your stories can help you network.
Sometimes, poets will even create DM groups to help boost one another. Additionally, you can “go live” with other poets and do readings for your followers.
Find Quality Poetry Feature Accounts
Quality is the key phrase here. There are free and paid poetry feature accounts on Instagram.
Vetting quality for free accounts is less important because you aren’t paying to get in front of new readers.
How do you figure out of a paid poetry feature is worth it?
Ask accounts to see the insights for their latest post. This will show you how many people saw, liked, commented on, saved, and shared the post with someone else. If the saved and shared amount is higher, in general, the account is probably better quality.
If a post received 5,000 likes, and only had 1-5 saves or shares, avoid it – this is a sign the account could be buying likes or has followers that aren’t very engaged with the content. In this case, it’s not worth the financial investment.
Who Would Invest in a Paid Poetry Feature?
We get it. Maybe paying for a feature on Instagram was not on your radar whatsoever.
If you’re lucky enough to have a budget for something like this, and find a feature account, paying for a poetry feature can get you more followers.
This leads to a few questions: What is a follower actually worth? What are your ultimate goals?
If you just want followers, it’s probably a good time to re-evaluate. Followers don’t necessarily equal success, more engagement with the poems you post, or a book deal. Keep yourself grounded and stay realistic.
Growing Your Poetry Account FAQs
What are the best poetry hashtags for Instagram in 2024?
The best poetry hashtags for Instagram in 2024 are: #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #poetsofinstagram #poetrylovers #instawriters #instapoets #poetrysociety #poetryisnotdead #poetryrise #poemsforher #poemsforhim
We also recommend searching for topical hashtags. For example, if your poem is about the sun, add sun-related hashtags to your post.
What is the best time to post poetry on Instagram?
The best time to post poetry on your Instagram account depends on two things:
- Where you live
- Where your followers live
Explore your account insights to see when your followers are most active on the platform and post your poetry at those times.
Ready to Grow Your Poetry Account?
Growing your poetry Instagram account is a long-game. You won’t see results in a week or even a month, but following our five tips will help get your started.
Ready to submit your poetry to a magazine? Submit to From Whispers to Roars.
I have so many poems posted on FB..how can I get them to show on Instagram without writing them all over again?
It depends. Are they posted on Facebook as text or in images?
If it is text, you could screenshot them and then post to Instagram. If they’re in images, you can right-click and download the images files to repost them to Instagram.
Happy writing 🙂