The Youth's Way of Personal Branding as Bookstagrammers

Abstract

The Bookstagrammers use Instagram to post about their life as avid readers and regard themselves as social media influencers (SMIs) for books. Creating a personal brand helps influencers differentiate themselves from other users. Similarly, Bookstagrammers have made a place for themselves as book influencers in this growing SMI market. Since Bookstagrammers have the potential to influence the publishing industry's sales, creating a personal brand plays a significant role in their career as an influencer. Some Bookstagrammers have successfully created their personal brand by posting book-related and reader-centric content on Instagram and are followed by a niche audience of readers. This study conducted content analysis on India's two most popular Bookstagrammers, and discusses their personal branding strategies. The results showcase 8 broad categories of content shared by the Bookstagrammer that are mapped to three elements of personal branding: brand identity, brand positioning, and brand image, showing how social media fuels the youth's creativity to as SMIs.