2:31 AM
Most photographers appear to be aware of the potential of social media for their photography business but most don't know where to begin, so they either skip it completely or try to do too much and get it all wrong. The end result is either a missed opportunity, or too much time wasted on it with no real return for their efforts.
Most social media promoting is about engaging with your present customers so it is smart to pick just 1 or 2 services and target those. I'd suggest a Blog for longer planned posts and a micro-blogging platform like Facebook for short updates on an improvised basis.
Whatever platforms you agree on, give yourself a schedule and allot a certain amount of time to post updates... And stick to it. For most photographys selling photography online, a weekly update is plenty so allow 15-30 minutes once every week to post to your blog, and 5 minutes a day to test your Wall, respond to any comments and post your own update.
Keep a list beside your personal computer for post-ideas, long and short, and add to it continually. Never go to your Blog or your Facebook page without a clear idea of what you're going to write about! Turn off e-mail alerts when visitors post to your Wall and don't fall into the trap of checking it consistently like email! Instead allocate time each day to respond to all visitor comments fro mthe last 24 hours. You'll soon work out when the busy period is and time your visit after that.
Some platforms do have potential for 'prospecting ' for leads so you can work smart and use tools like Posterous to republish your blog and social content across multiple platforms hands-free, as long as you only spend time on your selected platforms.
Facebook appears to be the platform of choice for most people but there seems to be a growing interest in Google And among photographers. The huge difference so far is that Google states the copyright of any photographs you submit remains with you, while Facebook reserves the inalienable right to use anything you publish as they wish!
At this time Google Plus doesn't have anything resembling Facebook's business pages, but they're reportedly on the way... So that's sure to shake things up a bit for photographers.
If you're just starting out with Social Media Marketing the main thing is to decide which platform you're going to use and stick it. Then work out who your audience will be & what type of conversation they would like to have with you? After that it's just a matter of telling all your business contacts and posting frequently till your Clients turn up and join in! Keep it business-like but inject a little bit of 'you ' as well. Talk of the work your doing, but also why you're doing it and what it implies to you. Don't try and sell here!
Always remember the goal is to make your social page a center where your photo-buyer Clients can connect to you and with each other, so you have got to keep encouraging them to go there and keep urging them to join the conversation!
Most social media promoting is about engaging with your present customers so it is smart to pick just 1 or 2 services and target those. I'd suggest a Blog for longer planned posts and a micro-blogging platform like Facebook for short updates on an improvised basis.
Whatever platforms you agree on, give yourself a schedule and allot a certain amount of time to post updates... And stick to it. For most photographys selling photography online, a weekly update is plenty so allow 15-30 minutes once every week to post to your blog, and 5 minutes a day to test your Wall, respond to any comments and post your own update.
Keep a list beside your personal computer for post-ideas, long and short, and add to it continually. Never go to your Blog or your Facebook page without a clear idea of what you're going to write about! Turn off e-mail alerts when visitors post to your Wall and don't fall into the trap of checking it consistently like email! Instead allocate time each day to respond to all visitor comments fro mthe last 24 hours. You'll soon work out when the busy period is and time your visit after that.
Some platforms do have potential for 'prospecting ' for leads so you can work smart and use tools like Posterous to republish your blog and social content across multiple platforms hands-free, as long as you only spend time on your selected platforms.
Facebook appears to be the platform of choice for most people but there seems to be a growing interest in Google And among photographers. The huge difference so far is that Google states the copyright of any photographs you submit remains with you, while Facebook reserves the inalienable right to use anything you publish as they wish!
At this time Google Plus doesn't have anything resembling Facebook's business pages, but they're reportedly on the way... So that's sure to shake things up a bit for photographers.
If you're just starting out with Social Media Marketing the main thing is to decide which platform you're going to use and stick it. Then work out who your audience will be & what type of conversation they would like to have with you? After that it's just a matter of telling all your business contacts and posting frequently till your Clients turn up and join in! Keep it business-like but inject a little bit of 'you ' as well. Talk of the work your doing, but also why you're doing it and what it implies to you. Don't try and sell here!
Always remember the goal is to make your social page a center where your photo-buyer Clients can connect to you and with each other, so you have got to keep encouraging them to go there and keep urging them to join the conversation!
About the Author:
Matt Brading is a photographer & write4 who sells digital stock photography on the GlobalEye stock library and does self publishing in Kindle.
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