As much as social media is about fun, for many of us it is about getting work too. Here are some quick tips to help you along the way.
Who is Your Audience?
This is where a lot of us (me included) go or have gone wrong in the past. It isn't about how many followers you have. You need to make sure that your audience is engaged in your message and that they have a reason to follow you. For me, I have two audiences, which is a bit messy, but I don't really have the time to run two accounts. One is photographers; I run workshops so I need to show a bit of behind the scenes work as that engages that particular group. Then in my stories I give away free tips on how to achieve various lighting set ups and give away a few pro tips that you probably can’t find online. For the second audience, it is art buyers in ad agencies. This is where I show my actual work. It is like an online portfolio that gets checked more often than my actual website. The number of likes and follows are pretty irrelevant for my work, but who likes and follows me is very important.
Consistency
Being consistent in both making sure that you post either to your grid or stories once a day is so important. Most photographers are booked pretty last minute. So making sure that you are fresh in peoples minds is a good plan. Most of us are guilty of checking our phones on the way to work, at lunch and then again on the way home. Make sure you are always there on their feed.
Show Yourself
I am rubbish at this, but I know it would help. Making sure that you are part of your images on your grid or being in your videos in your stories is part of your brand. Remember, people buy people, not brands. Make sure that people know you and know who you are.
Engage in Your Community
Social media isn't about sitting there and waiting for the likes to role in. Even Chase Jarvis replies to his DMs. You need to be engaging with your audience and with the people you want to work with. The engagement needs to be meaningful to, simply liking posts and sending generic comments wont cut it.
How do you utilize instagram for your work?
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Good article, but hit that spellchecker.
oh no, a few gremlins have snuck in. Will get them fixed.
That's what comes from feeding your Mogwai after midnight!
I need to be more consistent with my social media but find it hard.
At least a few times a year I get to a point where I just want to say bollocks to it and delete.
haha yeah I get that feeling too.
I hated Instagram at first but I’ve grown to love it. I don’t use it for any kind of work purpose, I mean just for finding and seeing great images from great photographers.
yeah, it is kind of a more user friendly version of Pinterest for me.
I've never gotten a job -- EVER -- where they met me or even saw an image of me before hiring me. Hiring me has always been based on my work and recommendations. Buyers -- at least in this part of the world -- buy the quality of the work, and their only interest in a photographer personally is if he/she can deliver said work. Those are the only concerns. They don't care about my age, my looks or how I dress.
Did I mention that I stay pretty busy?