Social Media Marketing Strategies

5 Effective Social Media Marketing Strategies for Photographers

Few photographers want to be in the world of photography with the goal of becoming marketing experts. But the reality is that if we don’t focus on marketing and imaging, your business or future photography business won’t be able to survive for long.

Fortunately, the learning curve when it comes to marketing is quite simple. It will allow you not to take your attention away from your main objective which is “photography”. The important thing is to make as much effort as when you take your camera and you prepare to take the best shots. With this, we present you with 15 social media marketing strategies for photographers of all levels!

Social Media Marketing Strategies for Photographers

1.    Facebook

No need to mention much, but the main objective in using Facebook for marketing is to get the participation of the public that already knows you in order to retain them. If you captivate your followers and get them to be active on your page, the closest shops from them will be found easily. This is what is called Recommendation Marketing.

In other words, the mission of any brand on Facebook is for people to “like”, leave comments and share their posts. It is useless for a Fan Page to have thousands of followers if later there is no movement in it and users do not interact.

a.    Choose what type of page you are going to create

Facebook offers you six-page options: place or local business; company, organization or institution; brand or product; artist, music group or public figure; entertainment; cause or community. And within each of them, different categories. Not all page types include the same functionality: the map is only available on local business pages, and there is no email section for brands and products, for example. If you discover that the category you have selected is not the one that interests you, don’t worry: you can change it as many times as you want in the “Information” menu of the page.

b.    Post Meaningful Content

Creating quality content is vitally important for brands to connect with their audiences. However, this alone is usually not enough. Above all, after the continuous changes in Facebook’s algorithms. Although this social network continues to be successful in the marketing strategies of many brands, it is true that they must increasingly create more creative and impactful content to avoid losing reach.

If brands want to achieve greater engagement with their content, they must take into account who they are targeting and what their wants and needs are. Only then will they be able to determine what the type of content is and when is the best time to publish it.

c.    Set your posts to public

When you share an entry from your blog, DO NOT do it from your blog. Put it on the wall of your Facebook page. Create an eye-catching “photo” post. Write a lead to explain the post. Here some say that it is better not to shorten, but some would argue that it is better if it is shorter to read, at least the statistics seem to say that. After the lead, you put the link to the blog. As a photographer, the most recent projects could be from the last wedding shoot. Remember to ask for permission first! Who is the ideal reader of that post? Other ladies who are getting married, logically. Now you have to get them to see it. Always check the privacy of your posts, you want them to be visible and “shareable”. Set your posts to “Public” in the privacy settings on the Facebook app or page

Learn How to Create a Page on Facebook for Photographers 2021

2.    Instagram

In 2019, Instagram was the social network that grew the most, in June it published on its corporate blog that it exceeded 1,200 million users. In the same text, it reported that 80% of users are outside the United States, which shows that the application is used worldwide. But not only people use Instagram but the growth of corporate accounts was also reported to reach 55%. This means that in any digital strategy it is of vital importance to have this social network, which is even surpassing Twitter in the number of followers.

a.    Use analysis tools

For any digital strategy to work, it must be measured, which is why it is very important to have analysis tools. Although some data is shown in the Instagram company profile, it is not enough. There are many free and paid tools to view the metrics, among the best known are MetriCool, Seekmetrics, Gabstats, among others. This will help us to report and show the progress we have made.

b.    Use photos and videos

It seems logical as a photographer, but many brands only upload photos to social networks, and for a long time the network allows uploading videos of up to 1 minute. In the last month, Instagram created another form of presentation, and they are the galleries, the user can choose up to 10 photos and videos that when uploading them create a gallery. It is important to be attentive to the changes of Instagram, as they do them very frequently.

c.    Use Facebook to promote Instagram

Most companies have more followers on Facebook than on Instagram because it is an account that was created longer. In order to promote your Instagram account from Facebook, you can use the Woobox.com tool, which allows you to add your Instagram account in a Facebook tab for free.

3.    LinkedIn

It is the professional social network par excellence. All workers (from any sector) and companies must be on Linkedin. It is used to make yourself known, expand the network of employment contacts and exchange specialized information. There are 260 million people in the world who are part of this community. As a photographer, it will be super easy to build connections and reach more clients in a professional aspect through LinkedIn.

Linkedin allows the creation of company pages, so all businesses and brands (regardless of their size and sector) should be present in this social network to:

  • Promote the Personal Brands of its employees.
  • Have presence and visibility in your field.
  • Make your products or services known (there is a specific tab to show them).

a.    Define Your Marketing Goals on LinkedIn

Marketing on LinkedIn is no different from any other social marketing. You need to start each campaign by defining and establishing your goals. You need to ask yourself why, precisely, you are running this campaign on LinkedIn, what do you hope to achieve with it?

You want your goals to be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. In particular, you need to make sure that you can use some proper metrics to measure the success of your campaign.

b.    Perfect Your Company Page

Once a manager or employee adds your company as a workplace, LinkedIn will create a company page for you. But, if you don’t add content and fill in the details, your business page will look sloppy. An attractive and informative company page is essential for any business on LinkedIn. This will likely be the place your target audience will visit on LinkedIn. You should think of it as a virtual store, whether you sell products or just use LinkedIn to generate brand recognition.

The LinkedIn Company Page is the perfect place to tell all the positive stories about your business. You can use it to highlight your team and any awards you have won. Basically, LinkedIn is a network of people, so you should use your LinkedIn Company Page to emphasize the visible faces of your organization.

c.    Actively Participate in LinkedIn Groups

Another way to have a social presence on LinkedIn is to participate in their group discussions. This is an excellent way to connect with other professionals in companies. If you are selective when it comes to joining a group, you should focus on communicating with your target audience. You can search for the groups that are right for you in the LinkedIn search bar. You could even choose to create and moderate a group where you target your preferred audience. Of course, it will take a while to hold conversations and make people participate worthwhile.

4.    Twitter

Twitter Social Networks For a few years it has been marked as one of the most important and used networks, therefore, a good opportunity for any company. Brands like yours can use Twitter to make themselves known to many new people, expand their audience, share valuable content (their own and others), dialogue with users interested in their topic, and create debate.

As a photographer, you can use this to share your tips and techniques as well as get feedback. If Facebook is the network of close circles, Twitter is that of the widest and most unknown circles.

a.    Keep Posts Short

Since its inception in 2006, Twitter has had users’ tweets to only 140 characters. Over the years, this has led to the creation of many creative abbreviations, quick complaints, and even the creation of URL abbreviations. But in 2017, they doubled the number of characters to 280. However, only 1% of tweets used the entire character space. The trend of keeping tweets short and direct remains constant. It is also important to mention that 280 characters are still little if you think about it. Twitter is the social platform that values ​​conciseness above all else. Even with the ability to lengthen your posts, a single phrase message is much more likely to remain the Twitter standard.

b.    Use Images

It should come as a no-brainer, as a photographer’s images are your lifeblood. To begin with, you have to think about how the human mind collects and retains information. According to various studies, visual information is much easier to consume and retain than its textual counterpart. Most of the information you collect on a daily basis is visual, so your brain is programmed to absorb it 60,000 times faster. This means that using images instead of 280 characters can be more interesting and lead to more interaction than simply relying on text. According to Twitter, tweets with images receive an average of 35% more retweets.

More than half of social networks are made with pure visual elements, and more than half of internet users are willing to share images they come across. So implementing the visuals in your Twitter marketing is not only a good idea, it is necessary. It’s one of the few ways that you can jump outside the 280 character limit and say what your words can’t.

c.    Usar Hashtags Relevantes

Hashtags are a must these days. They are found on every platform and seem to be used and abused by everyone. But did you know that the hashtag originated from Twitter? It was originally proposed that the # symbol be used to help designate groups on Twitter. By indicating which group should read the message using the pound sign, users can track conversations and find similar users to interact with. Although the idea was rejected at first, the idea ended up being implemented.

Over the years, the hashtag has evolved into something much bigger, but also something more confusing. If you go to the Twitter feeds, you will notice that Twitter has a list of trending topics, and many of these use a hashtag. When you add a hashtag to a post, Twitter indexes it and makes it searchable. When someone clicks or searches for a specific hashtag, they will be sent to a results page that shows all relevant posts in real-time.

So you will typically see hashtags that revolve around a certain event or social trend that is making headlines. You’ll also see spikes in seasonal hashtag usage, like with this example from “Best Friends Day.”

5.    Pinterest

Pinterest is the photographers’ paradise! Primarily used to share photos, you shouldn’t have a problem fitting in. Pinterest Social Networks has many possibilities for companies from all sectors, especially highlighting fashion, beauty, lifestyle brands, or businesses with online sales. Don’t just use this platform to offer a catalog of your products or services. Share creative and engaging content that inspires, supports, adds value and is worth following.

a.    Post a collection of Pinterest Boards and collections

Pinterest can be an ally to Social Network to share valuable content with your audience. Through its collections of pins, you can create compilations and boards with useful content that you can integrate with your blog’s publishers to explain a topic, teach your own or other brands’ examples and disseminate valuable content.

b.    Using Pinterest to bring clients to your store

Although Pinterest does not have the same number of users as Instagram, this social network has other characteristics that make it more attractive from a commercial point of view. Pinterest boards, for which there is no limitation and which can be adorned with “pins”, are classified by subject and serve for the inspiration of themselves or other users. For this, it is essential to pay special attention to the audience: unlike Instagram, the majority of followers are unknown people.

Another big difference is the quality of the images: although photos of a private nature are not necessarily considered annoying, the main focus of Pinterest is high-quality professional images. You can use photo editing services or online background removal for photographers to achieve a good Pinterest board.

One of the measures that this platform allows is its use for commercial purposes. On the one hand, it offers tools to verify the authenticity of the profile, use widgets to relate it to its web pages, and metrics and statistics services for evaluating the results. Videos cannot be uploaded on Pinterest, although they can be linked in posts. In this way, in the same way, that you can link funny videos or tutorials, it is possible to link your website or your online store, thus generating direct traffic to the web. To achieve this, it is necessary to get an embed code or “embedded code” through the Widget Builder. Pinterest also offers paid advertising. The so-called “promoted pins” allow promoting certain pins so that they are shown to a certain group of users at a high price.

Your turn…

Living with the uncertainty of whether or not there will be a new project the next day is just one of the challenges that a photographer faces. By implementing a good marketing strategy for photographers and always learning from various photography resources, you will surely attract and retain more clients. This will secure your success in your photography business.

About Ambika Taylor

Myself Ambika Taylor. I am admin of https://hammburg.com/. For any business query, you can contact me at [email protected]