How to Start Your Own Poetry Instagram

Creating a poetry Instagram account can help you gain confidence as a poet, build a readership, and connect with other writers. If you wish to share your work on the popular platform but you’re feeling intimidated or overwhelmed with the process, consider these tips.

Choose a handle

First and foremost, choose your username. If you’re comfortable using your full name on Instagram, consider yourname.poetry, yourname_poetry, or yournamepoetry. If you want to create an alias to write under, on the other hand, choose a creative name that represents your poetic voice, like Wilder Poetry, for example.

Content choices

Next, take some time to reflect on what types of content you want to create. Although simply sharing posts of your poetry can help you build your account, you might want to diversify your content, which will allow you to stay in a creative space, develop new skills, and reach more followers. As a poet, you could also: share poetry tips on your grid or via stories, create spoken word reels, post everyday life content to help your readers connect with you on a personal level, or even share sources of inspiration. 

Aesthetic choices

Now that you’ve decided what types of content you’ll start creating, consider your account’s aesthetic. If you want to share graphics with poetry text, or ones accompanied by simplistic illustrations, consider a font that best communicates your unique voice. Or, maybe you want to share photos with poetry text in your handwriting. Then, choose your color scheme, such as black and white or more whimsical tones. If you’re not a design pro, use Canva to create your posts.

Create a content calendar

Now you’ve made the necessary creative choices for starting an Instagram account, but you might still feel unorganized. To make this process easier, consider creating a content calendar—batch creating your content makes it easier to stay consistent, which is important when growing your account. If you choose the “business account” option in your settings, you’ll be able to schedule your posts. Also, decide what you’ll create/do on which days. For example, maybe every Saturday you create two reels for the week, or every Sunday you plan three static posts for the week. Each Monday and Wednesday you might share/comment on others’ posts and each Friday you’ll answer direct messages. See what works with your schedule, then go from there!

Build a community

Although being on social media can often feel disconnected or artificial, building a community through your account can allow you to create genuine connections with other poets and poetry enthusiasts. As you start posting on Instagram, follow and interact with accounts whose work you admire. Share others’ poetry you connect with—all creatives need encouragement! Also, in addition to following poets, don’t forget to follow literary journals and magazines, particularly publications you’re interested in submitting to. 

As you begin sharing your work on Instagram, remember to enjoy the creative process, and avoid comparison!