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.
TopIntroduction
Personal Branding
Although “branding” has traditionally been associated with businesses, practically everyone nowadays may claim to have a personal brand. The focus of a person's personal brand is the distinction they may make in their field through their distinctive qualities, experiences, and modes of presentation. Because they convey their enthusiasm for what they do in a way pertinent to the audience, they aim to reach “people with strong personal brands” to stand out from the crowd (PETRUCĂ, 2016). Self-branding is also known as personal branding. It is the process through which people create a distinctive public identity for the monetary benefit and cultural capital (Khamis et al., 2017). The art of marketing oneself to the public is called personal branding. An individual's personal brand is a representation of their abilities, skills, and way of life. Creating a personal brand is an ongoing process that involves in-person and online interaction and engagement (Johnson, 2017). Personal branding focuses on establishing a person's reputation and image to influence others, expand their horizons, and pursue social mobility (VITELAR, 2013). In the past, politicians or celebrities were closely associated with their personal branding. Yet now that social networks have emerged and technology has advanced, everyone may experience the phenomenon of personal branding (Vasconcelos & Rua, 2021). Each person has a unique brand they may not know, acknowledge, embrace, or manage (Kucharska & Mikołajczak, 2018). In the last decade, the relevance of the personal brand has been a recurrent theme in academic and public discourse under the names of personal branding, human branding, personal marketing, self-branding, and self-marketing. It is the method a person employs to grow and advertise oneself to others (Jacobson, 2020).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Influencer Marketing: Influencer marketing is a marketing communication strategy in which a firm selects and incentivizes specific online influencers to engage their followers on social media to promote the firm’s products and services.
Bookstagrammers: The individual who runs a Bookstagram account is known as a Bookstagrammer. They create reader-centric content like aesthetic book pictures, book reviews, videos revolving around books, etc.
Bookstagram: Bookstagram is an Instagram community of book readers and those who post book reviews. It initially started as a trendy hashtag and later grew into a vast community of readers online.
Instagram: Instagram is a social media application that was launched in October 2010. Instagram users can create content in the form of pictures and videos that other Instagram users can view. Instagram users can post content to their feeds and stories for others to engage with it by liking, commenting, saving, and sharing the post. One of its highlight features is beautifying the content using various filters to make it look more attractive.
Social Media Influencers: They are social media users who have gained popularity for their content on social media platforms. They have built a reputation and image for their expertise and knowledge on a specific topic. They regularly post pictures and videos on their preferred social media platform to generate a large following on their social media handles and have the power to influence those who follow their content.
Social media: Social media is an Internet-based form of communication. It consists of various user-driven platforms that facilitate sharing appealing content, dialogue creation, and communication to a large audience using a social media platform. It is a digital space created by and for people, providing a conducive environment for interactions and networking at different levels. Users of these platforms can have conversations, share information and create web content. Social media includes platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Social Media Marketing: Social media marketing comprises of marketing activity targeted at gaining traffic or attention via online communities, social networks, or other platforms. Marketers leverage the power of social media platforms to persuade customers that a marketer's products or services are valuable.
Book Reviewers: Those who read and review books on various online and offline platforms are known as book reviewers.
Personal Branding: Personal branding is also known as self-branding; It focuses on establishing a person's reputation and image to influence others, expand their horizons, and pursue social mobility. Personal branding activities help a person create a desired image for themselves.