Book of the Month: Brand Practices
Book of the Month was started in 1926 as a book club to promote books to the general public who might not have access to books as those in the city. It started as a mail-order bookstore where the reader would choose between the “best” titles of the month. Keeping with its original purpose, Book of the Month has grown to having one million followers on Instagram, about 384 thousand likes on Facebook, 15.3 thousand followers on Twitter and just over nine thousand followers on TikTok.
To uphold the Book of the Month’s online success, here are some practices that should be followed.
General Practices
1. Post at least a day, alternating between an infographic or text-based post and user-generated content. Be aware of when you post; the best times to post is usually around midday or after 7PM.
a. At the beginning of the month, create posts showcasing the books available to choose from for the current month.
2. User-generated content is key to showing how well the subscription works to introduce readers to new authors and books.
3. Collaborate with influencers and authors to showcase current books available through the subscription box.
4. Make sure when using photos of the books, they are presented in an appealing way to make the audience want to know about the book.
a. Make sure the quality of the images are high quality
b. Make sure text-based posts are not too cluttered
5. Host quarterly giveaways. Choose a book offered for the month of the giveaway (preferably a debut book/author).
Brand Voice and Tone
Book of the Month is fun, informative and relatable. Their purpose is to bring the best new books to book readers. Not only if the subscription affordable, but they offer books at a discounted rate and brings new authors to the attention of avid readers.
Brand Examples
Usual posts vary in characters.
Monthly posts introducing the books available to subscribers are usually 140 characters to 175 characters. Usually, they would use the description available on the website. Text-based posts have few characters, ranging from 30–60 characters. Though they don’t use any hashtags in the caption, there is still plenty of engagement on the posts.
User-generated Content
When it comes to user-generated content, they tend to keep the caption used in the original post. If the content used includes a short review of the book there would be more than 175 characters in the caption. While this may put some people off, those looking for a book review in the moment there will still be plenty of engagement.
You will also find more than just book reviews from their book readers. Book of the Month looks through the hashtags #bookofthemonth to find real reader reviews as well as any image that they find apealing.
Responding to readers
They try to make sure and at least like the comments on each post and interact with as many readers as possible. Each response is appropriate and answer any question that may be brought. They stick to the tone and voice of the brand.
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