Social Media Marketing for Photographers // Photography + Community

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.

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

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.

Businesses have focused on customer retention after the sale for quite a while… but what about building a relationship before the sale? I’ve found this to be a very effective technique for my photography business. Using social media (Twitter and blogging on locally-focused sites), I’ve established relationships with a variety of people in my area and established credibility as a photographer.

In practical terms, here’s what I did that helped me develop relationships before the sale. I live near Portland, Oregon and there is an active online community – businesses and individuals from a variety of backgrounds and industries are on Twitter. The mayor of Portland routinely posts information for citizens on his Twitter account. I jumped into Twitter full-force, and started following a lot of local people. I interacted with those people, learning about them and sharing my life, including my photography, on Twitter.

Over time, by talking about my photography and sharing links to my work, I established myself as a photographer and my Twitter followers. People started contacting me directly about potential photography jobs. Better yet, when others would bring up the subject of photography, my Twitter followers would refer business to me, letting people know that they’d seen my work.

Studies have shown that people will buy from people they trust; Twitter is a great way to build up relationships (and trust) with a large group of people. By developing those relationships and trust over time, when people think about needing a photographer, they’ll think about that photographer whose work they keep seeing on Twitter.

photo by Aaron Hockley

These other posts might be of interest to you:

1. It’s the Relationships, Damnit
2. Use Social Media to become the One to Call
3. Build Your Network by Leaving Blog Comments

Tagged as:
relationships,
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

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.

When personal computers still cost multiple thousands of dollars and the internet was somewhere that only technical geeks would be found, the term IRL came to mean “in real life” as opposed to an online interaction.

Here’s a reality check for those using the internet in 2009: online life and offline life are one and the same. In order to be authentic and in order to be trustworthy, your clients, colleagues, and other associates are going to expect that you are one person. As you build offline client relationships, those clients are going to expect you’ll treat them in a similar manner online. As you meet and get to know people online, your first offline encounter will be a continuation of the trust and relationship that has developed.

We’ve moved beyond the point where we think of online and offline as separate worlds. Your Facebook site is you. Twitter is real life.

Photo by JoshuaDavisPhotography. COM, used under Creative Commons licensing

These other posts might be of interest to you:

1. Social Media Connections of the Offline Variety
2. Build Relationships Before the Sale
3. Use Social Media to become the One to Call

Tagged as:
authenticity,
facebook,
relationships,
trust,
Twitter