501 – socialphototalk.com

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One of the first articles on Social Photo Talk was a look at What Should a Photographer Blog About. In that article, I mentioned that it’s important to identify the audience for your blog. Another important aspect of blogging as a photographer is to decide how your blog fits into your business. Is it just another page on your website, or is your blog a core marketing medium? Are you merely providing more information on your existing services, or are you using the blog to reach others in the industry or as a revenue-generating service?

If you’re serious about your blog for your photography services, it should be treated as any other marketing/advertising activity, meaning that you’ll want to spend some time and money to become as proficient as possible. Reading Social Photo Talk falls into this category. It also might mean purchasing some books (either paper or E-books), listening to some photography podcasts, or attending blogging or social media related events.

Last weekend, I was in Seattle to present at WordCamp Seattle, a conference about blogging and the WordPress blogging platform. While some of the attendees definitely fit into the geek/techie crowd, a large portion of the audience were people with businesses unrelated to tech that are using blogging as part of their business strategy. While I was there, I recorded a few brief videos with these people; I’ll be posting the videos in the coming weeks as testimonials of the benefit of attending social media events even when social media isn’t your core business.

How do you learn about blogging and social media?

Photo by Randy Stewart, used under Creative Commons licensing

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When it comes to talented photographers who “get it” with social media, Kris Krüg‘s name is often near the top of that list. Kris will be speaking at WebVisions in Portland on May 19th and presenting a three hour workshop titled “Photography Tips from the New School.” In addition to the morning workshop, there will be an afternoon photowalk around Portland. What will he be speaking about?
WebVisions logo

Kris will discuss creating your own style through photo manipulation, publishing on multiple online channels, the changing faces of photography equipment and software, in addition to setting up the composition of a shoot and lighting techniques. In a few hours, photographers of all levels will have the knowledge to navigate the online world with confidence!

The event’s organizers have extended a special offer to Social Photo Talk readers: attend the photo workshop (and the rest of the conference) for only $350, which is a $75 savings off of the usual price.

Register for the workshop on the WebVisions site using this link to receive the special discount.

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Yesterday I returned from Austin, Texas where I spent five days attending and exploring the activities surrounding the SXSW (South by Southwest) Interactive Festival. The conference drew over 10,000 web, technology, and creative types for a variety of formal sessions as well as parties and other social gatherings. It was interesting being a photographer at a conference not specifically focused on photography; I made some interesting observations on conference behavior and the ways to make the most of such an experience.

At a large conference with multiple sessions, tracks, and panels, odds are that you’ll be really interested in some of them, and only casually intrigued by others. Don’t go to sessions that don’t excite you; use that time to connect with people.

Hang out in the hallways. If there’s a social lounge, grab a seat. Chat with a neighbor. The most important things I got out of SXSW were the personal connections made while not in one of the conference sessions. I was able to enjoy a dinner with Leah Jones, who I’ve “known” via Twitter for three years but never met in person. I was able to chat briefly with Darren Rowse from Digital Photography School. I spent a while chatting with Trey Ratcliff as we walked in downtown Austin. I found the one empty chair in the crowded blogger’s lounge yesterday at lunchtime and discovered that I was sitting next to none other than Gary Vaynerchuk (if you haven’t read Crush It!, order it now). Monday afternoon, I had coffee with Jack Hollingsworth to share thoughts on social media for photographers and talk about some plans that we may or may not hatch in the future

Apologies for that last paragraph sounding like a bit of namedropping or fanboy-ism, but I wanted to note that these are the types of connections that can be made, and many of those incidental connections wouldn’t have happened if I spent all day inside of convention center conference rooms.

How do you find value in conferences? Are the panels and classes most important, or is it the personal connections?

Photo by jdn, used under Creative Commons licensing

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We’re all set with episode 17 of the Social Photo Podcast. Hosts Aaron Hockley and Lyza Danger Gardner recap SXSW Interactive, talk about copyright infringement by a major newspaper, and more. This episode is about sixteen minutes long.

Links to Things We Mention

Aaron’s SXSW recap talking about personal connections
Lyza’s post about a photo used by the Oregonian without permission

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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 17 mp3 file directly.

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

Photo by kirrus, used under Creative Commons licensing

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You’re probably a photographer. You may or may not consider yourself a techie. What’s the value in attending social media related events if social media isn’t your core competency? It’s a great opportunity to brush up on some supplementary marketing skills that will help you grow your business.

I recently attended WordCamp Seattle, a one-day and very affordable ($25) conference for bloggers in the Seattle area. While there, I recorded a few interviews with attendees who were from non-tech industries. I wanted to get their thoughts on the value of attending a blogging conference when their business didn’t revolve around tech.

Here’s a quick message from Laurie Lamoureux, the Chief Box Opener for Out of the Box, a company which assists folks in unpacking after a move:

It’s 2009, and social media isn’t only for geeks anymore… or is it? What do you think?

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Social Media Marketing for Photographers // Photography + Community

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