Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien SmithPerhaps you didn’t listen to me last month when I reviewed Trust Agents and recommended that you read it. It’s okay, I won’t take it (too) personally. I really think that anyone using social media should read it, so I’m offering up a chance to win a copy.

Here’s how to enter, along with a few quick rules:

  • Everyone who is subscribed to the Social Photo Talk e-newsletter gets one entry into the contest. If you’re already subscribed, you’re already entered. If you’re not yet subscribed, sign up now.
  • Everyone who leaves a comment on this blog post gets an entry into the contest. Be sure to leave your actual name and email address since that’s how I’ll contact you if you win!
  • Everyone who is a fan of Social Photo Talk on Facebook gets an entry into the contest. If you’re already a fan, you’re already entered.
  • Yes, this means that if you subscribe to the newsletter, are a fan on Facebook, and leave a comment, you get three entries in the contest. Anyone can have up to three entries. I’ll take all of the entries, put ‘em in a big list, use a random number generator, and randomly choose the winner.
  • The winner will receive a brand new copy of Trust Agents sent directly to their location. I’ll cover the shipping costs, but you need to provide a shipping address that can be serviced by Amazon.com.
  • A winner will be chosen this coming Sunday (December 20th) and announced one week from today (next Monday the 21st).

Easy, right? Leave a comment, subscribe to our newsletter, and/or become a fan on Facebook and you might win a copy of Trust Agents.

Photo by Affiliate, used under Creative Commons licensing

These other posts might be of interest to you:

  1. Trust Agents: A Must-Read Book for Photographers Doing Business

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If you’re new here, you can keep up with my latest photography information at Picture Pundit – subscribe to my newsletter for a FREE Report: A Guide to Twitter for Photographers.

Have something on your mind about social media as a photographer?

EMP SWant to talk about some great service or tool? Have you found an effective way to reach folks with your photography?

I’d love to have you write a guest post for Social Photo Talk. Your article will be seen by our audience and it’ll provide a gateway for some new people to check out your online presence as well.

Find out more about guest posting here.

These other posts might be of interest to you:

  1. Guest Posts are Win-Win for Bloggers Building Content
  2. What Part of Your Photo Business is Social Media?
  3. I Don’t Know What You Mean!

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When you first heard about Twitter, you probably wondered why the heck anyone would care about the answer to “What are you doing right now?” If you’ve used Twitter and developed some relationships, you probably realized that the connections go way beyond folks sharing what they’re having for lunch.

what confusion?!I want to hear your Twitter story in a couple sentences, of what you thought it would be like when you joined and then what you’ve found Twitter to actually be once you’ve used it for a while. I’ll select a couple commenters at random; one will win a Luma Loop camera strap (size medium – $60 value) and the other will get one year of Flickr Pro ($25 value). Winners will be announced next Monday (June 7th), so leave a comment soon!

Please share… what’s been your Twitter experience when compared with your expectations?

Photo by kl-Ga, used under Creative Commons licensing

These other posts might be of interest to you:

  1. Flickr + Twitter is Live, What about Licensing/Legalities?
  2. Flickr + Twitter: the End of Twitpic?
  3. Social Photo Podcast #1: Twitter Lists, Flickr+Getty, Twitter Revolution

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If you’re new here, you can keep up with my latest photography information at Picture Pundit – subscribe to my newsletter for a FREE Report: A Guide to Twitter for Photographers.

FacebookSocial Photo Talk now has a Facebook page. Hit that link and you can become a fan which will provide our updates in that forum, as well as the occasional links and other resources that will be shared.

In the next few days, we’ll be adding a Facebook widget to the sidebar here on the Social Photo Talk website which should provide a bit of publicity for our fans.

Contest for Facebook fans: Next Monday (October 12), I’ll be randomly selecting a fan of the Social Photo Talk Facebook page to win three free months of Flickr Pro! Any fan is eligible to win; if you already have a Flickr Pro account it will be extended by three months.

Photo by Gauldo, used under Creative Commons licensing

These other posts might be of interest to you:

  1. Social Photo Podcast #23: Facebook, Better Blogging, iPhone Marketing App, Lightroom 3 Publishing
  2. Facebook Contests and Promotions: Read the Restrictive Rules
  3. Social Media Time Management: Splitting Time Between Twitter, Facebook, and Blogging

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I’m excited to announce that I’m now offering consulting services for photographers wishing to give a boost to their social media presence. The consulting is on an hourly basis and customized for each client’s needs. If you’re new to social media and wondering where to start, I can point you in the right direction and help you get set up with the right tools. If you are already established in the online world and are ready to take it to the next level, an analysis of your current web presence can provide great feedback and tips for getting a greater return on your online ventures.

Head over to the Social Photo Talk Consulting page for all of the details.

These other posts might be of interest to you:

  1. Steps in Launching a Blog: Talking About Social Photo Talk
  2. Social Photo Podcast #14: More iPad talk, eBooks, HDR

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If you’re new here, you can keep up with my latest photography information at Picture Pundit – subscribe to my newsletter for a FREE Report: A Guide to Twitter for Photographers.

9rules LogoI’m pleased to note that Social Photo Talk was selected for inclusion in the 9rules blog network. 9rules is a hand-selected group of blogs chosen because they produce quality content covering a wide variety of topics. If you check out the site you can browse a bunch of really great material including topics such as photography and blogging.

What does the inclusion in 9rules mean for Social Photo Talk? It won’t change the fact that the site will keep providing articles covering all sorts of social media topics for photographers including blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Inclusion in 9rules should bring a few more eyeballs to the website… if you’re a new reader, welcome! I look forward to reading your comments and learning how I can help you grow your photography business (or hobby).

Read more about 9rules, or check out the 9rules homepage.

These other posts might be of interest to you:

  1. Steps in Launching a Blog: Talking About Social Photo Talk
  2. Goals Before Numbers
  3. Recommended Photo Podcasts

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Way Down in the HoleLike any sort of tools, equipment, and processes, social media and web tools can break.

It’s been a bumpy few days here for Social Photo Talk. Over the weekend, I migrated the site to a new web host. The files and database moved without too much hassle, but then I started seeing some odd behavior behind the scenes and with some of the automated processes (email notifications for comments, statistics, and so on). Things are now stable (back on the old web host), but it provided a good reminder that even with the best-laid plans, things can go awry.

How do you handle a website or technology failure? What do you do? It depends on the scenario. In our case, we posted a few updates to the @socialphototalk Twitter account as well as one short post (now gone) on the website while things were unstable.

Although the website outage was inconvenient for Social Photo Talk readers, your particular use of technology may have a more direct impact on your business. If your website for print order fulfillment is down, that might cost you some business. If you only have one method for contacting a client or lead (whether it’s email, Facebook, Twitter, etc), and that system is unavailable, that can have a business impact. Try to minimize your vulnerability by having plans in place in case of tech failure. Make sure that you have multiple ways to contact clients. Have a way to communicate status information if critical websites (ordering, proof galleries, etc) are unavailable.

On a related note, things should be back to 100% in the next several hours here at Social Photo Talk. Thanks for your patience if you’ve run into any oddness over the last few days.

Photo by Hryck., used under Creative Commons licensing

These other posts might be of interest to you:

  1. Social Media Tips Roundup for Photographers
  2. Social Media Time Management: Splitting Time Between Twitter, Facebook, and Blogging
  3. What Part of Your Photo Business is Social Media?

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If you’re new here, you can keep up with my latest photography information at Picture Pundit – subscribe to my newsletter for a FREE Report: A Guide to Twitter for Photographers.

pieces of historyAs part of the Social Photo Talk Facebook group, yesterday evening a random group member was selected to win three months of Flickr Pro. The winner is Nick Church (aka @schnik) – congratulations! I’ll be contacting you with the code for your free Flickr Pro.

Also, if you’ve been wondering about signing up for the Social Photo Talk newsletter, now would be a great time. I’ve got one queued up and ready to be sent out tomorrow with some great content… enter your email address in the form on the upper left corner of our website, or go directly to the quick signup form.

Photo by Gret@Lorenz, used under Creative Commons licensing

These other posts might be of interest to you:

  1. Starting an Email Newsletter as a Photographer
  2. Flickr + Twitter: the End of Twitpic?
  3. Facebook vs. Flickr: Where to Share?

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To-do list book.I’ve received a few submissions for the project to share the photography blogs that you read, but could use a few more. If you haven’t already sent along your list, see the information in the original post. Thanks!

Photo by koalazymonkey, used under Creative Commons licensing

These other posts might be of interest to you:

  1. Twitter Launches Lists: Here’s a Photographer-Specific Example
  2. Share Your EXIF
  3. Facebook vs. Flickr: Where to Share?

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Happy Monday Rainbow Sky (free texture) Creative CommonsAre you reading Social Photo Talk by browsing to us on the web? Wondering how to share interesting content with your friends?

Subscribing

We have a couple subscription options if you want to make sure that you don’t miss anything:

  • If you’d like to subscribe via email, hit that link and enter your information. You’ll receive a daily email message whenever we’ve posted new content.
  • If you’re using an RSS Reader, you can subscribe to our RSS feed (Don’t know how that works? Check out an explanation of RSS in Plain English).

Sharing

At the bottom of each article, you’ll see a little green icon and the words “Share This” – just hit that link and you should see a small box pop up with options to send the article via email, share it on Facebook, save it to Delicious, or a bunch of other options for passing the content along to your friends and followers.

Spread the word, and if you have a suggestion for how to make it easier to read or share Social Photo Talk, leave a comment below.

Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography, used under Creative Commons licensing

These other posts might be of interest to you:

  1. License Your Photos for Sharing; Encourage Photography Clients to Be Social
  2. Social Photo Podcast #5: Copyright and Property Releases, Stock Photography and Journalism, Photo Sharing Poll Results
  3. Flickr’s Galleries: Sharing the Work of Others

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