How to Get Posts Seen on Bluesky

Getting your content seen on Bluesky feels a bit different than on other social networks, and that's by design. Instead of trying to please a single, mysterious algorithm, success on Bluesky is all about understanding its unique ecosystem of custom feeds. This guide will walk you through actionable strategies to find your audience, boost engagement, and get your posts noticed on this fast-growing platform.

The Bluesky Difference: It’s All About Custom Feeds

If you're coming from X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, or TikTok, you’re used to a single "For You" page controlled by a powerful, proprietary algorithm. You create content and hope the algorithm gods smile upon you and show it to people. Bluesky flips this model on its head with a feature called custom feeds.

What Are Custom Feeds?

Think of custom feeds as user-created timelines focused on specific topics, niches, or vibes. Anyone can create one. There are feeds for cat pictures ("Cat Pics"), feeds for good news ("Good News!"), feeds for artists sharing their work ("Art"), and feeds for almost any professional or personal interest you can imagine - from programming and marketing to gardening and baking.

This system gives you, the user, immense control over what you see. But more importantly, it gives you a direct path to getting your content in front of a relevant audience. Instead of shouting into a single, crowded timeline, you can find the exact communities interested in what you have to say. Visibility isn't a game of luck, it's about finding and participating in the right feeds.

Creating Content That Connects on Bluesky

Before you learn how to get your content into feeds, you need to make sure the content itself is worth seeing. The general vibe on Bluesky is more relaxed, conversational, and less performative than other platforms. Here’s what tends to work well:

• Text-First Content: While images and links have their place, Bluesky feels like a return to the golden era of text-based social media. Thoughtful insights, funny observations, helpful threads (sometimes called "skeets" or "sky-threads"), and engaging questions form the backbone of the platform.
• Show Your Personality: Polished, corporate-speak content often falls flat. People connect with authentic voices. Share what you're genuinely passionate about, make jokes, ask for opinions, and don’t be afraid to be a real person.
• Create Valuable Threads: If you have expertise in a subject, break it down into an informative thread. Whether you're explaining a complex marketing concept or sharing your process for baking the perfect sourdough, valuable threads are regularly shared and discovered. Start your introductory post, then add subsequent posts as replies to yourself to create the thread structure.
• Use Images Thoughtfully: An image should add something to your post. Share behind-the-scenes looks at your work, a beautiful photo you took, or a witty meme that complements your text. Avoid using sterile stock photos that feel generic. Remember to add alt text to your images to make them accessible to everyone.

The Art of the Reply Game

On many platforms, just posting and leaving is a viable (though not recommended) strategy. On Bluesky, your replies are one of the most powerful tools for visibility you have. The platform's culture is deeply conversational. Your profile and posts are often discovered not through a "For You" page, but because someone saw your insightful or funny reply in a thread they were following.

Don't just reply with "Great post!" or a simple emoji. Add a follow-up question, share a related experience, or offer a new perspective. Engaging replies can draw people to your profile, where they might discover your original content and give you a follow.

Find popular users in your niche whose content sparks discussion. Spend 15 minutes a day genuinely participating in conversations they're having. This approach builds community, demonstrates your expertise, and puts your name in front of hundreds, if not thousands, of engaged users - often far more effectively than sending out a solo post into the ether.

A Practical Guide to Using Custom Feeds for Visibility

Okay, this is where the real strategy comes into play. If custom feeds are the key to discovery, you need a plan to get inside them. It’s less "gaming the algorithm" and more understanding how each feed works.

1. Find Your Niche Feeds

Your first step is to locate the feeds where your target audience hangs out. You can do this in a few ways:

• The Discovery Tab: On the left-hand navigation menu (on desktop) or bottom menu (on mobile), click on "Feeds." This section will show you popular and trending feeds. Spend some time browsing here to get a feel for what’s active.
• User Profiles: When you find someone who posts content similar to yours or who is a leader in your industry, check their profile. Many users "pin" their favorite feeds to their profile, which is a great way to discover high-quality, relevant timelines.
• Search: You can search for feeds by keyword. For example, searching "marketing" will bring up several feeds dedicated to marketing professionals and topics.

Subscribe to a handful of feeds that seem like a good fit for your content. Add them to your home screen for easy access.

2. Analyze What Works in Each Feed

Each custom feed operates on its own simple algorithm, usually based on keywords or regular expressions. The feed creator sets the rules. A feed called "What's Cookin'?" might be set up to pull in any post that contains words like "recipe," "cooking," "baking," "dinner," or "food."

Spend a day simply observing the posts that show up in your target feeds. What words or phrases are common? What is the tone of the posts? Are they asking questions? Sharing photos? Posting links?

The "About" section of a feed often tells you exactly what its logic is looking for. For example, a popular art feed might say, "Includes posts with #art, #mastoart, or the artist emoji 🧑‍🎨." These are your clues.

3. Tailor Your Posts to Get Picked Up

Once you understand the "rules" of a feed, you can create content specifically designed to appear there. Unlike hashtag stuffing on Instagram or X, this is a much more organic process.

Example Scenario: You're a Graphic Designer

Let's say you've found a "Design" custom feed that seems to pick up posts with words like "design," "logo," "Figma," "branding," and "portfolio."

Instead of posting a picture with the text, "Check out my new project," you might write:

"Had a lot of fun working on the branding for this new coffee shop. We created the primary logo in Illustrator and mocked up the entire website flow in Figma. So happy with how this part of my portfolio turned out!"

By naturally including those words, you give your post a very high chance of being automatically pulled into that custom feed, instantly putting it in front of an audience of other designers and potential clients.

What to Avoid: Common Mistakes on Bluesky

As you work to get seen, it's also helpful to know what not to do. The community values authenticity, so some common social media tactics don't translate well.

• Over-using Hashtags: Unlike Instagram or LinkedIn, dense blocks of hashtags aren't really a thing on Bluesky. While some feeds do use a specific hashtag to identify content (e.g., #ScreenshotSaturday for game devs), most rely on plain-text keywords. Stuffing your post with hashtags looks out of place.
• Cross-posting Without Context: Don't just automatically share the exact same post from your other social media channels. A post that worked well on LinkedIn will likely need to be rephrased to fit the conversational tone of Bluesky. Take a moment to adapt your message.
• Being Only Promotional: If your entire feed is just a series of links pointing to your blog, product, or services, people will tune out. Stick to the 80/20 rule: provide value and participate in the community 80% of the time, and promote what you do 20% of the time.

Final Thoughts

Getting your posts seen on Bluesky comes down to a simple, rewarding loop: create valuable content, find the right custom feeds where that content belongs, and engage with others as a genuine member of the community. It’s a platform that favors connection over clicks and conversation over shouting, which can be an incredibly refreshing change of pace.

Juggling the nuances of what to post on different custom feeds, on top of managing your broader social media strategy across platforms like Instagram and TikTok, can get complicated. At Postbase, we built our visual content calendar to help you get a clear overview of your entire content plan at a glance. You can plan what you'll post for each platform, spot gaps in your schedule, and keep everything organized in one place, freeing you up to focus on creating great content and building your community.