Last week I had the pleasure of doing a one-hour video call with a Bay Area documentary photographer, Lisa Winner, who I met through the Oakland Rising Tide Society. She is an admin for a Facebook group of Documentary Family Photographers, which allows photographers from all over the world to connect, learn, and grow in their profession.
Once a month, Lisa hosts a video chat called Wine Down Wednesday, in which she does a Q&A with an expert in their field. She asked me to come on for the February video chat to answer photography social media questions—and let me tell you…
The questions we received were GOOD! Photography social media is definitely an area that photography entrepreneurs want to know more about. Most of the time, they are solo small business owners, which means that they are in charge of marketing their business, taking the pictures, sales, editing, and running the back end of their business with invoicing, accounting, and everything in between. I know firsthand from being a small business owner myself that marketing is often one of the last things on your mind. There's always something else to do when it comes to working with clients (my next blog post will be about making sure to create habits for marketing when you are running your business).
The one-hour video chat definitely didn't give us enough time to answer all of the questions, but as I said, they were good! So, I wanted to address all of the photography social media questions from the group, and since there were so many of them, I am splitting them up into a few different blog posts.
Photography Social Media Questions: Getting Started
1 Where do you start? How should you use Instagram vs. Facebook? Different content? Organic vs. paid? Pinterest?! Wtaf?
Whether you are starting a new business or haven't posted to Instagram in six months, thinking about how many things you have to do to market on social media is overwhelming.
But really, where you start (and where I started nine years ago on Instagram and 15 years ago on Facebook) is with your current connections. Connect with the people you know, even if they are not in your industry. You can also start with your current email list or personal Facebook page and let customers and friends know that you are on Instagram.
Second, just start posting. Yup. In the beginning, simply share and don't worry about being perfect. If you share enough, you will soon get the hang of the cohesive look you want to capture.
Also, when getting started, I always recommend spending more time engaging with other people than actually planning your own content. Connections matter most.
In terms of paid content, I am all for adding a little extra money to an Instagram or Facebook post if it has a specific promotion, or if it's already doing really well and people are engaging with it. Start off slow and see if it’s working—just $20 for a few days.
To be honest, I share the exact same things to Facebook and Instagram, because even if someone's following both accounts, they're not going to see your content on both (because of the differences in algorithms)—unless they're a super fan, in which case, seeing the post twice is great! I had a singer-songwriter mention to me that she was concerned about overwhelming her audience with content, and I told her not to worry about that. In all honesty, your audience is being bombarded with content from everywhere; they're probably not hanging on to your every word.
Engaging and showing up—that is what they will remember.
When talking about Pinterest, I want you to think of it as being just like Google. It is a search engine, first and foremost. A pretty one, but it is a search engine for people looking for wedding inspiration, venues, photography, cake decorations, etc. I definitely recommend spending some time devising a Pinterest strategy that incorporates dynamic pins (here are some tips for how to create dynamic pins) using a simple site like Canva, sending people to your website through Pinterest.
With one winery I worked with, we created an eCookBook of recipes that paired with their wines. We then made a Pinterest ad sending people to a landing page where they could sign up to get this free cookbook. It did remarkably well because Pinterest ads can be targeted specifically at people who are in your niche.
2. How important actually is social media in the scheme of things? Make or break? Essential? Or just another tool in the box?
I love this question because there is definitely no simple answer. Every business is different, and if you're only going to half-ass your marketing efforts in general, you're going to get half-assed results right back. I challenge you to take a look at what marketing efforts of yours have worked in the past.
Go back and ask former clients how they heard about you to begin with and what made them decide to choose you over a competitor.
Take a look at what content is working on social—you will usually start to see trends (which you will likely also see from the first bullet point). My suggestion is to double down on whatever is working for you.
For me, the majority of my clients have come from Word of Mouth. Granted, some marketing clients found me on social media or through a simple Google Search for “Sonoma County Social Media” (or now, “East Bay Social Media”)—but usually, someone they know suggested me, or they saw me at an event, looked into me online, and decided that I was the person they wanted to work with.
Which, for me, means: networking is an important part of my marketing efforts. Now that I’ve moved, I am doubling down on my networking with new East Bay small business owners.
Obviously social media is important to my business because I want to make sure that I walk the walk, but social media is also the best way for me to further the in-person connections that I make through networking.
Honestly, if I shared a picture once a week and made it a goal to go to networking events and reached out to people afterward, then I would say that social media was a success for me. Yes, you can connect through email or phone calls, too, but social media may feel more personal (and when it's more personal, people trust you more).
I can't say that social media is the most important marketing tool for every small business owner. SEO, Google reviews, email marketing, or simple in-person marketing may be better for you. But social media is one piece of the puzzle, and it’s a much more economical way to market your business than getting a booth at every single relevant conference in your area.
3. What are some of the best starter practices and strategies for a business to grow a LOCAL audience on Instagram? I don't want lots of followers, I only want LOCAL followers.
This is an important distinction to make, because many of the businesses I work with are catering to a local audience. And we all know that getting a ton of “likes” on Instagram is great for your ego, but it does NOTHING to move your business forward if the likes are from people who are far away. So, if you are looking to connect with people on social media in your area, your best bet is to focus on networking, connecting with people using regional hashtags (follow and leave a comment on their posts), and finding like-minded brands in your neighborhood to see with whom they are interacting.
For example, search for “frame stores” in your area and check out their Instagram page. Start leaving comments for the people you’d like to get in touch with.
I also go to networking events, and when I'm talking with someone I genuinely connect with, I usually say, “Hey, what's your Instagram account? I want to follow you.” Then I make sure to follow up with them and say that it was great meeting them.
4. I feel like the engagement I get on Instagram outside of my regular followers is from other photographers. I know I need to do better when it comes to engaging with my ideal clients and their communities—not just my own. Outside of changing my habits to make the effort to find and engage with them, what else can I do?
I get this question a lot from wineries because sometimes it does feel like all of the people commenting on a winery’s Instagram account are the people who work at other wineries.
I tell any marketer who mentions this to me, “You know what? People don’t want to drink wine where they work.” Just because somebody works at another winery doesn’t mean that they aren’t a potential customer of yours.
And the same goes for photographers. By engaging with this community online, you're opening up opportunities—you could potentially be a second shooter at an event for someone, or if somebody isn’t available for something, they may refer to you because you have a similar vibe. Or, if they know that the style a potential client is looking for doesn’t match their own style, but it does yours, they could recommend you. And hey, sometimes photographers need other photographers to take pictures of their own family.
In short, I understand the frustration. But don't feel like it's such a bad thing.
5. When starting a business Instagram page, what's the suggested number of times I should post in order to grow a following?
If you're just launching your Instagram page, focus on stories more than the feed. Share on your feed a few times a week, but try to show up in Instagram stories every day or every other day. This is an easy way to test out content, have fun with your community, and connect with them through features like questions, polls, and DMs.
Also, when you are just starting out, I want to remind you to put your energy into interacting with people through their own content and stories just as much as your own. At the end of the day, engaging with a community is how you grow real relationships on Instagram.