Since starting my author social media accounts, I’ve struggled to gain followers, likes, and simply views. I joined TikTok in June 2024. I started posting daily in September 2024. From then until last month, all except 56 of my posts got less than 100 views. Most of them got less than 50, a large percentage had views in single digits, and there are still some that haven’t had any views even a year later. I’d received less than 300 likes and only a handful of comments. That was with using popular BookTok and WriterTok hashtags, sounds, and trends. It felt like I was posting into the void.
Stubborn person that I am, I refused to give up. Then, starting January 30th this year, my posts started consistently getting triple digit views. One of them had over 1,000, which isn’t much compared to popular BookTokers who get millions of views, but it was a big achievement for me. In the last month, I’ve had nearly 200 likes, a couple dozen saves, and three times more comments than I’ve had in the last year and a half.
I will be honest and say I don’t know what suddenly caused the change. My types of content didn’t change, nor did my hashtags. I continue to use recommended sounds. I’ve only gained four additional followers since December, bringing my total to a still disappointing 25.
As low as my TikTok followers are, that’s still more than my Instagram followers, of which I only have 21. What makes this particularly bad is that I’ve had my author Instagram account since February 2021, meaning I have fewer followers even though I’ve been on there for over twice as long. I also haven’t had much engagement besides spam comments asking me to pay them to promote my posts. In the last two months however, my reels have been getting more views, so I will focus on making more video content.
The social media platform that has surprised me the most is Threads, which is basically Instagram’s version of X (Twitter). I didn’t set up my Threads account until January 2025, and I already have 102 followers. The speed at which I gained these followers surprised me, though the fact that I have more on Threads compared to Insta and TikTok doesn’t. I had similar success with my author Twitter account, but I stopped using it when it became X (for reasons). I’m better at making text posts than visual ones, which is something I continue to work on improving.
My current social media plan is to continue posting as I am, as well as interact more with other creators on TikTok and Instagram. Currently, I spend around twenty minutes a week scrolling through other people’s content. I have a nasty habit of getting on the sites, posting my content, then leaving. I know interacting with others’ posts is mutually beneficial, as it can help build relationships with other authors and readers and help gain followers. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to dedicate two separate hours each week to browsing TikTok and Instagram. The irony is not lost on me that many writers usually struggle to get off of social media, whereas I’m struggling to get on it. We shall see if this helps me reach more people and grow my accounts.
If you want to help me with that, you can find my accounts under the name allisonburtonwrites:
Allison Burton 