Social Media Marketing for Photographers // Photography + Community

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When someone needs to hire a photographer, how do they find one? Regardless of whether it’s for a wedding, corporate material, senior pictures, sporting event, or editorial need, they probably follow this path:

1. A photographer they have previously hired.
2. A referral from a trusted source.
3. Someone they personally know who is a photographer.
4. Someone they don’t know personally, but is known as being proficient as a photographer.
5. A cold call based on the photography results of a search (search engine, etc).
6. A cold call to a random search result.

Five years ago, your position on that list was dictated by your past clientele and your physical activities – what events and groups you’d travel to, and where you’d devote dedicated time to build your network a few people at a time.

Fast-forward to our current environment. Social media such as Twitter and Facebook can help you end up in the number two spot on that list. A few days ago at Beer and Blog, I had a conversation with a real estate professional, talking with her about using Twitter to build relationships. By following local folks on Twitter, learning a bit about them (and sharing a bit about yourself), you’ll develop some personal connections. If you’re also sharing some of your photography experiences, those people will get to know you as someone that produces great pictures.

This is the value in the casual conversations on Twitter and Facebook. While sharing about your family, your hobbies, or your feelings won’t directly sell any photography services, you’ll be laying the foundation to build relationships. When your contacts start thinking about photography, instead of picking a name based on a Google search, they’ll come to you. When others mention needing a photographer, your contacts will refer those people to you.

And then, after you’ve won the business due to the social media referral, you’ll end up at the top spot on that list. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Photo by Horia Varlan, used under Creative Commons licensing

These other posts might be of interest to you:

1. Build Relationships Before the Sale
2. How Much Time Should a Photographer Spend on Social Media?
3. Social Media Tips Roundup for Photographers

Tagged as:
facebook,
influence,
relationships,
social media,
trust,
Twitter

Subscribe via iTunes: – this link will launch iTunes for easy subscription

It’s time for episode eleven of the Social Photo Podcast, with Aaron flying solo in the hosting chair this week. He talks about the iPad, building trust, workshops, and more. This episode is about eleven minutes long. Apologies for a bit of echo on the audio… I used a slightly different software setup for recording (and won’t be using it again).

Links to Things We Mention

• Apple iPad
• iPad Commentary
• Use Social Media to become the One to Call
• Hierarchy of customer options for seeking services
• TWiP Joshua Tree Workshop
• Artists Gone Social

Distribution and Feed

We’re now on iTunes – if you use iTunes, you can subscribe using this link: Subscribe on iTunes

You can also find the podcast as an attachment to the main Social Photo Talk RSS Feed. You should see a player at the bottom of this post if you want to listen directly, or you can grab the Episode 11 mp3 file directly.

Feedback

We’d love to have your feedback – technical, content, or otherwise. Leave a comment here or send mail to [email protected] – thanks!

Photo by leoncillo sabino, used under Creative Commons licensing

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Tagged as:
apple,
apple tablet,
influence,
ipad,
podcasts,
social photo podcast,
trust,
Twitter,
workshops

Social media can be all about networking and building relationships with others in your field. Through blogs, Twitter, Flickr, and other online resources I have “met” and developed relationships with dozens if not hundreds of photographers and other professionals. One of the best ways to build these relationships over time is also one of the easiest: leave comments on blogs.

Let’s quickly talk about the mechanics of leaving a comment. Leave your name, your email address, and (assuming you have a website), your website or blog’s URL. When it asks for your name, leave your actual name. Your name is not “Boston Wedding Photographer” or “Cheap Event Photography” or “Seattle Senior Pictures.” Some less-than-helpful SEO guys will try to convince you otherwise, but at this stage in the evolution of the web, trying to stuff keywords into blog comments is just spammy.

A good blog comment will (hopefully) provide value to both the person leaving the comment as well as the blog on which the comment is left. If you’re the one leaving the comment, you’re injecting yourself onto the radar of the blogger. Every time someone leaves a comment on one of my posts, I make sure to read it thoroughly and (if the commenter left a URL) check out the person’s website. If their website is interesting, I’m going to bookmark it or subscribe to the RSS feed. In short: if you leave a comment on one of my blogs, there’s a good chance I’m going to become a regular reader of your blog.

Over time, as one leaves comments multiple times on the same blog, you’ll start to be a known quantity to the blogger. Bloggers remember the people that leave meaningful comments on their blogs. Blog comments are a great way to do some virtual networking and build up relationships with peers, vendors, and other voices.

Do you leave blog comments as often as you’d like?

Photo by Barsch28, used under Creative Commons licensing

Tagged as:
blogging,
comments,
Conversation,
influence,
networking,
relationships