I must be getting old. This year I will turn 32 and as each day of my life passes I care about social media sites less and less. I can remember when a Facebook "like" used to excite me. Those days are long gone, I simply do not care anymore, and my business is struggling because of it.
I always liked Facebook. It was an easy way to stay connected and see what my friends and family were up to. Now my news feed is filled with viral content from sites like buzzfeed or Huffington post. It used to be thrilling to see how many people commented or "liked" a post of mine, but that has worn off. I haven't completely stopped posting but I usually have to force myself to do it.
All my photography buddies have been hassling me for years to get on Instagram. I forced myself to Instagram for the first time a few months ago and I really don't get it. I hate being forced into a square crop. I hate the fact that the images are ultra low res. I hate that I can't upload from a computer. And I have no interested in seeing anyone else's square, low-res, cell phone pictures. I especially don't want to see square images of what you are eating or drinking.
Twitter has never interested me and so I never set up an account. I don't understand why I would want to read a sentence from anyone, and I especially don't understand why anyone would want to read a sentence from me. I have noticed that Twitter can be an excellent source of up-to-the-second news but that hasn't been enough to get me to sign up.
Vine is interesting and I do find many of the Vine compilation videos to be entertaining, but I don't understand why we need a dedicated website just for short videos. You can upload short videos to YouTube or Facebook or even Instagram already. I've never once considered signing up for Vine.
Snapchat's success is totally shocking to me. I would have never guessed that people would want to share content that would then be deleted. The main reason why I still use Facebook at all is because it's the best digital photo album of my life. If my stuff got deleted I would never use Facebook again. Obviously I never signed up for Snapchat either.
Then there are even more websites like Google Plus, LinkedIn, and Ello. Who has time to be a part of all of these sites? Do you simple choose a few to focus on or do you literally post the content on all of them?
Why social media is so important
So I'm getting older, and I don't like sharing every detail about my life online anymore. Who cares? Well, my clients do. Sadly it's an important part of business today. I'm a photographer, I also own this Fstoppers photography website. As a photographer I get paid by clients who find me and hire me. I've never been hired for a job because of social media because I rarely share my work. Some of my income comes from readers like you who visit Fstoppers, support our site by buying the premium tutorials we have produced, or attend our live workshops. My photography clients and the readers of Fstoppers.com hang out on these social media sites. Even if you enjoy reading Fstoppers, you might forget to visit our site, but chances are, you won't forget to visit Facebook. Having a giant following on any of these platforms will get you a steady stream of eyes, clicks, and customers.
I've met so many people recently who have literally built a career because of the followers they have on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vine, and Snapchat. They may not be particularly good at what they do but because they have a lot of followers they are able to book jobs and charge a premium for their work. In just the last month I met a girl who has been given over $2000 in free snow skiing gear just because of her social media following (she isn't a pro skier), and another friend who is being paid to travel the world just to post images on a travel company's Instagram feed. I know over 20 close friends who have been offered incredible opportunities simply because they have an impressive social media audience. I'm missing out on all of this.
One of my close friends who has an incredible social media following was giving me a hard time the other day for not being a major player in these sites. I told him that I understand the value in it; I see the potential. It's just not fun anymore. I don't want to pull out my phone every time I'm doing something relatively interesting. I don't want to brag about my latest trip or purchase. I don't want to let the world know what I'm doing at any given moment. Perhaps I simply do not want to become that guy who appears to be so infatuated with his life that he feels he has to share every second of it with the world.
Does anyone else feel the same way?
Have I become the old cynical guy? Does anyone else feel the same way or are each of you on 10 social media sites at once every single day? If so, do you actually enjoy it or are you simply doing it for your business? I understand that gaining followers, likes, and comments can be fun for a while but it has to wear off. What keeps you going when it's no longer fun?
In the comments below I'd love to hear your options of social media sites AND the benefits of them. With a little inspiration I might be able to jump back on the social media bandwagon and simply think of it as another annoying but integral part of my business.
Now let me push this on Facebook so this post actually gets some views.
Lee, you are dead on. I only used Facebook for my business to post content. Our society waste to much productive time on al this silly social media crap. The other web site I use a lot is YouTube for learning. The rest is just a waste of time.
Amen, Lee. You wrote my thoughts exactly.
You're way ahead of me Lee... you at least have the following already. I'm in the early stages of my photography business and I have zero interest in social media, so it is that one task that I keep procrastinating on. Clearly, I need to force myself to develop a social media habit, but I'm not looking forward to it.
Lee,
I'm with you on this. You're only 32. I'm 49 and know that I have more years behind me than I do ahead of me (how's that for depressing) and I'm not going to take the last 30 years of my life trying to build up a social media following. My legacy is going to be my photography, not the amount of followers I was able to gain on a social media platform that will not even be around 10 years from now. While social media isn't going away, the various sites used will come and go and life is too short to spend chasing it.
For those who are frustrated with social media and want to understand why it isn't the end all and be all of your life, there is an excellent book - "Social Media is Bullshit" - http://www.socialmediaisbullshit.com/ that I recommend reading. It's a short book that you will get through in less than a day.
I would also agree with you Lee, it is very hard for me to take the time to add new content to social media especially Facebook. FB is a pain and at time a waste of time because you don't reach hardly any of our followers so I have slowly drifted away from FB and moved more to Twitter. On Twitter if I ask someone a question (like a pro) am almost guaranteed to get a reply. I have an Instgram but only because you can't upload videos to Twitter. I have a Vine but it was because it was bleeding edge and I had it to watch videos which I don't do anymore. SnapChat = No. LinkedIn, Yes I use it for my professional IT career also to connect with Companies, Art Directors, Media people...etc hoping to get some photo gigs. Like you said I have to force myself to post to these sites and it doesn't seem fun anymore. And like others said, Social Media is not going away so I guess we will continue to use it.
I use Facebook, twitter, and Instagram.
I hate Facebook and if it wasn't the site were most of the people I want to reach were I'd quit it. I hate the spam l, the game requests, and the lack of "reach" over the last few months. I like the fact I can load more content that people can interact with and share with people in their friend group that they think will enjoy it. But I am switching to rely on my blog and then only use FB as a platform to only lead back to my website.
I love twitter. I mostly use it for local happenings and interacting with people I have worked with or want to work with. Also great for getting a quick tech support response for actively engaging companies like Blackrapid or Thinktank
I'm still getting the hang of Instagram. Mostly sharing shots from events I photograph and from my portrait work as it is relivant. Started using it as a challenge to just use my phone to take creative shots of food (mostly coffee) that is branded to gain attention from the brands seen or place I am in. Example:
I use Facebook for my family. All the other stuff you mentioned is bleh to me. I will start posting more to the other social media things once my website is up and running and my business is officially started, but if it gets too boring I will probably give up. Word of mouth gets me more jobs than anything right now already so I don't know that it will do me any real good or if it will just be a waste of my time and energy to jump into it.
I'm right there with you Lee. I wish social media wasn't such an integral part of business, ESPECIALLY photography. Competing with "click-bait", selfies, and cellphone photos is exhausting. I find myself feeling as if my photos aren't enough without a title that entices an interaction. And trying to redirect that traffic to a website seems like more of a challenge. I too am losing interest in 'likes' and comments. If you like my photos, buy one and hang it on your wall. I find great joy in that. But what is the motivation when people have a cache of life stored on social media? I'm still looking for that magic number of followers or virality where social media is actually beneficial to business.
I guess for me I use them all to find out which community I fit in with. I still haven't found my home to share my work.
I'm very much like you - I have to force myself to post on Facebook and it's not near as often as I should. I just recently made a Instagram account and feel the same way about it as you. I'm signed up to nothing else. It hurts me and I know it, buuuuut it's nearly a full time job just to keep up with all this social media. I enjoy what's in front of me on my daily grind, I stay away from my phone/monitor as much as possible.
I use social media like Twitter for news and info from a specific sources, but I hate Instagram because people take photo of their food or coffee or other things which I consider not interesting or important. I lost my interest in social media from realizing that our communication as a human is transforming into digital and I miss the old days of physical contact or the physical visuals. I wouldn't be here in Fstoppers Dear Lee if it wasn't for you, when you did the video for the Nikon Df video. I prefer websites social more than any other social media.
I just recently started instagram and love it. I follow some product pages that post bts pics which are always interesting. Hashtags are easier to search things. And cropped photos? INSTASIZE APP! Boom...you're all welcome. Now go follow me:)
Great article Lee. Social media appears to be a necessary evil these days. But I'm over it as much as you. Sometimes, it can be great to totally disconnect for an extended period of time. Travelling to a spot where there's no internet is welcome change sometimes. Stepping away and taking a break from it all (that includes checking in every 10 minutes) can often times be just what the doctor ordered.
I view social media as a doubled edge sword. The perfect example of this is Jasmine Star. It was a great asset for her workshops, weddings and her business but it also wreck her reputation.
One of my quotes about "Facebook is like cancer, it's the rust accumulating underneath a car. It eats away at life and kills creativity slowly. " from "Eight Tips I Wish Someone Told Me Early in My Career" https://fstoppers.com/business/eight-tips-i-wish-someone-told-me-early-m...
For me it comes down to who is your target market, if it is families, weddings and grads Facebook makes sense. If your target market is corporations, editorial, and commercial Facebook can be a liability.
Also part of the issue is people don't have a so;id line dividing personal from business, If you use social for business then use it for business not for family and friends.
I have one of the most boring Facebook all I use for is family friends and people in the industry. I don't use it for business.
The last question is are using social media to get work or is it really more for the fun of it.
There are only two networks I focus my efforts on: Facebook and Instagram.
As much as I dislike Facebook, and particularly its management of pages, I can't deny the amount of clients that have found me through it. My frustrations with the network are due to their constantly changing algorithms, and their absolutely appalling ad system. Veritasuim did a great video on the failings of Facebook's ad system, which I highly recommend exploring.
Then of course there is the fiasco of uploading photographs in high quality - a process I would be lost at if it weren't for Nino Batista's wonderful article on the topic. Once that is accomplished, there is still the very clunky nature of tagging and properly mentioning credits, a task that involves the use of both your personal account, and your pages account. You can only tag personal accounts on your personal profile, and must then log into the pages profile to tag pages - it's just a mess.
Instagram on the other hand, really is quite simple and easy to use. With apps like Squareready, you can have control in combating the square crop. There aren't hoops to jump through for quality checking, and tagging is much easier. The challenges for Instagram are obvious when it comes to it being mostly a smartphone platform, and hashtags can make it difficult to find what you want on a local basis. Instagram has been invaluable to me when it comes to networking, allowing me to contact people within the fashion industry in a manner that doesn't appear invasive, and that somehow still has a more personal feel to it.
My strategy when it comes to Social Media is to post content. Any content. I would love to post quality content exclusively, but I tend to second guess things if I'm too picky, and my interactions suffer for it. It's another reason why I much prefer Instagram, because I can post content quickly, and I don't feel as much pressure for it to be polished - BTS shots and scouting photos get as much traction as editorial tears.
That's my two cents on the topic!
You became the old cynical guy after 30. Welcome in the club ;)
...while there is some people who built their careers with help or existence of social media sites majority did not, and it's not just photographers any business, and those who succeeded probably invested most of their available time in to it, obviously social media is there not to entertain but to sell one way or another, but the core of business is still the same if we have something that others need at the price they willing to pay "proper" marketing is going to work...just my view
I'm using, FB, Insta, Twitter, Linkedin and honestly all these platforms gave me maybe 5-10% of my clients. I've also been obsessed with likes showing below my posts, but watching your likes and follower count is really pointless because it's not really a good measurement of your content. Sure it's nice to have many likes, but you are guaranteed that an image of cat in the cardboard box posted by one of your friends will get ten times as many likes than your elaborate, beautifully lit
photograph. I'm getting more and more cynical about social media, but I'm also a hypocrite, cos I will be posting more and more content just to get this extra 5% client base. I remember this short film made by Zack Arias about noise, and agree with him, we should focus more on mastering light and creative side of photography and not be focused on counting likes on FB.
I think it depends on your demographic. Most of my wedding clients find me through facebook and the people I'm friends with are usually in my age range so they like seeing photos of my kids and family, so I get all of my family portrait business there.
A majority of my instagram followers are teens...I would say 90% of my Senior and modeling work is found on instagram.
Twitter I use to follow other photographers and sorta keep a finger on the pulse of the teens that follow me on instagram.
I use the social media to feed my websites so it keeps my them looking busy without a whole lot of work. It's all part of my marketing strategy...which is be everywhere and never stop putting out content.
I check facebook for personal and occasionally do instagram, if I need support I've found a lot of companies are the quickest on twitter.
I monitor/update facebook, instagram, pinterest and twitter for a company too which then makes it a hassle to do personally so I guess I'm with you at just getting old and not caring as much.
I was with you on your Instagram thoughts until recently. I have actually found an easy way to load to Instagram... I load images to my Facebook Page (my business page, with images I want clients to see), then, on my phone I go to those images on Facebook, and click on my menu button (on phone), and click "share", and you will have an option to share to Instagram, However, if you don't like the square crop, find an app called SquareDriod (assuming android phone, but I'm sure iPhones have a similar app), and share to squaredroid.... two birds with one stone.
I agree with everyone regarding Facebooks limited reach, and Instagram reaching a far wider audience. For instance, I shoot a lot of action sports, and I loaded a pic of a top athlete on Instagram, hashtagged him, and the first person to "like" the photo was him. That NEVER would have happened with Facebook.
I used to have quite a large following on Twitter when I was doing it for the Romney campaign. It has not been useful for my photography. I enjoy Instagram a bit and use Facebook, but that's about it. I would much rather be doing stuff IRL.
See, that's one of the benefits of having basically no following on social media (except for my mom and my teachers from junior high...I...was a very polite and studious 13 year old).
I have no anxiety because there's nothing expected of me, mwaha.
*sigh*
OK (I write this love Lee, I really do!). First what's all this whining about being old at '32'!!! There is a good chance you'll live to be over a hundred & will have to work for a long time. If you are already feeling 'old' you are in for a rough ride dude! So spank your inner moppet and get on!
Second, Social Media, isn't going away but it is still very new. Make some decisions; is Social Media about you, or your work, or going to be a mix? Whatever it is understand that decision.
Thirdly give yourself a focus on Social Media. Instagram is gr because it lends itself well to projects etc.
And finally, maybe spend sometime on Social Media, giving back, find questions to answer, people to help etc. Share less about you and about what you care about.
Good luck with the next 70 years or so!! ;)
You don't have to share or brag about your life. If you're focused about the content you provide and make it relevant to your clients, then you shouldn't feel this way. You're right though, bragging is bad. Sharing on the other hand is different. That said, there are many things F-Book is doing that is frustrating. I-gram is a great way to provide reach. (F-book so far isn't messing with business's reach on there, surprisingly, yet.)
Facebook is pretty good, but the spam and random viral post kinda bugs me. Overall I still enjoy it. I really like Instagram I mostly like to search hashtags. I follow some pretty good photographers on there. Vine was really cool when it first came out because it was doing the short videos before Instagram adopted the feature. I still like it I always find pretty funny videos on there.
I agree. When things become to much of a job or a chore, it just kills it for me. Facebook is becoming less and less relevant, eaten up by advertising and spammy posts. LinkedIn is great, a whole different venue though, it's like a connected resume. I have one of the highest viewed profiles on LinkedIn, which in turn led to me writing a book about it. I rarely update my profile on there, but I Still get royalties from book sales. Cool beans.
Anyways, I'm with you, I feel in general like I could care less who likes or +1's me or whatever, I don't even bother watermarking anymore.