Social media 101 for bookstores

But that’s not the only social media trend bookstores should note. Reading communities have sprung up across social media on Goodreads, Instagram-friendly celebrity book clubs like Reese Witherspoon’s and Kaia Gerber’s, or Reddit’s active r/books community. 

Social media-based reading communities offer a huge opportunity for bookstores to connect with a new generation of readers. The habit of reading books is booming among celebrities and is a great way to build community in an increasingly screen-heavy world. With a little social media savvy, bookstores can leverage social media to participate in active online communities of book lovers and boost sales. 

Tap into online communities

One of the first steps in crafting your social media strategy is to go where the people are. Start by following book communities on Reddit, TikTok, and Instagram–listen in on online conversations and learn what books are popular. Take note of who is participating: what are their demographics, likes and dislikes, and favorite topics to discuss? 

These social media insights should help inform your marketing strategy. Once you start to understand who is most actively discussing books online, you can start to generate content that speaks to their interests. For example, a recent discussion on Reddit posed the question, “What are your reading seasons— types of books that you read during certain times of the year?” This conversation could inspire an Instagram carousel showcasing book recommendations for each season and inviting others to recommend their seasonal favorites.  

READ: How to create effective social media marketing content

Another place to look for customer insights is your own sales data. Clover’s point-of-sale reporting makes it easy to pull data weekly or monthly to identify customer habits, including top-selling books, busiest days, and number of repeat customers. 

Promote events offline

Events are a great way to drive foot traffic to your bookstore and bring these online communities offline. A simple way to do this is to host a gathering from an existing, online book club in your bookshop. For instance, you could invite social media followers to meet for TeaTime Book Club, Dakota Johnson’s book club, and have a tea party to accompany her theme. Use your social media channels to promote the event and recruit signups. 

There are dozens of unique events that bookstores can host to increase sales. Check out this post for more event ideas.

READ: Bookstore promotion ideas to drive foot traffic and sales

Host discussions online

Marketing on social media is all about engagement. As much as you share, you should also make space for book lovers to share their own reviews, opinions, and questions. 

For instance, although a few years back, one local library hosted a bi-weekly recommendation event through Facebook, in which participants were invited to share the last three books they read in the comments. Librarians would answer each comment with a title the reader might like next. 

Hosting an online event like this regularly on Instagram Live, Facebook Live, X (Twitter), or even on Zoom can make it easy to boost engagement, promote your inventory, and gather social media insights. 

Share staff picks

Regularly sharing some of your staff’s favorite books can help achieve a few different marketing objectives. First, it positions your team as literary experts, showing that your team is well-read and knows your inventory. Second, it helps introduce new books to potential shoppers, broadening their reading horizons. Finally, staff picks are shareable content–and perfect for sharing on your store’s social media accounts. Your team can even reshare posts about their favorite books with their own followers, thereby extending the reach of your marketing on social media. 

READ: Local bookstores on harnessing the power of community

Make visually appealing content

Avid readers might disagree with the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. But, when it comes to marketing on social media, visuals matter. Spend some time developing a color palette, lighting set-up, and formatting strategy that makes your images and video look professional. 

As for what to share, book covers are a great option—publishing houses are already doing the heavy lifting of making their books stand out. Treat your social media the way you treat your window display: what books are going to draw followers in to explore more? Interesting book covers are a good start but also share videos from events, staff book reviews, or author readings. 

Host contests and giveaways

An easy marketing strategy for bookstores is to host contests or giveaways for book-related prizes. Giveaways can be a highly effective way to recruit new followers: An Instagram contest or giveaway can help you grow your followers 70% faster in three months than if you didn’t host a contest. They’re also a great way to introduce new authors, sell books, and get user-generated content. 

Giveaways and contests can take many forms. Some local bookstores host summer reading contests, inviting customers to see how many books they can read between Memorial Day and Labor Day for a chance to win prizes. Others simply host giveaways for new releases, asking customers to share their information for a chance to win. Both options offer a way to foster customer loyalty, increase sales, and ask users to spread the word about your small business. 

These ideas for social media marketing for small businesses provide a good starting point for your bookstore to grow. Remember, the best social media marketing strategy for bookstores relies on being authentic. Take these ideas and make them your own to create a presence that feels personal to your community. 

Clover POS solutions can help bookstore owners accept almost any kind of payment and run their bookstore more efficiently. Learn how a Clover POS system designed with bookstores in mind can help your business. Contact a Clover Consultant today.

Editorial Team

Insights, Marketing, Retail, Social media, Strategy

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