Ready to up your social media game? Here’s how to use EVERY top social media platform: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok!
Best Social Media for Photographers
Social media marketing is so important for photographers in today’s fast-paced digital world. It can be difficult to find the time to implement different marketing strategies in your photography business. However, there are countless marketing opportunities for photographers at every level to grow their photography businesses with social media. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest ways you can create the best social media strategy as a photographer.
Instagram for Photographers
Instagram can be a great way to generate leads for photography businesses of all kinds. For consumer photographers like wedding professionals and family photographers, it’s especially important to use Instagram as a social media tool. There is a lot of organic opportunity on Instagram for your business to thrive and gain clients.
Regardless of how big or small your follower count is on Instagram, there is lots of room for success in your photo business. If you’re looking for the best social media for photographers in terms of platforms, Instagram is right up there in the top spot.
How to Use Instagram as a Photographer
Instagram is the most popular platform for photographers to market their businesses. This is because it is a highly visual platform that puts the main emphasis on your photos. It’s easy for potential customers to engage with your brand on Instagram and see your beautiful visuals. So how can you use social media like Instagram to make an impact in your photography business?
Using Hashtags
There are three essential tools Instagram provides that can help your photo business. The first tool that can make an impact is hashtags. You should be hashtagging your images to get more exposure within your community. Using hashtags that are location-specific is great for building up a local following.
People who are searching on Instagram are going to be using specific hashtags. Instead of searching for #weddingphotographer, for example, it’s way more likely that they’re going to be looking into #brooklynweddingphotographer to see results that are more relevant to their interests.
Using Location Tags
Location tags are another great way to get exposure as a photographer on Instagram. Particularly those planning weddings and events will be searching location tags on Instagram to see how other people have used and captured their dream space in the past. Make sure to tag the locations where you’ve taken photos. That way, potential clients can see how you would capture the event or shoot of their dreams in a location you’ve already photographed before.
Tagging Collaborators
Those who are seeking photographers on Instagram will not only check the grid feeds of photographers, they will also check tagged photos. Tag your collaborators and ask them to tag you as well. It gives you free real estate in their tagged photo feeds for even more people to potentially come across you.
How to Come up with Instagram Posts as a Photographer
If you’re not sure what to post on Instagram, there are plenty of opportunities for photographers. Thankfully, creatives already come prepared with visuals that are ready to go. All you have to do is think up some captions and post! Choose short and snappy captions based on the visuals that you are posting.
Make sure to consider your audience as well – if you are a family photographer, for example, it’s not likely that you’re going to use curse words in your captions. Think about who is going to be scrolling over those captions while they are browsing your content.
Should Photographers Use Instagram Stories?
Photographers should use Instagram Stories as an additional social media marketing tool. Instagram Stories are found at the top of the app, and they are usually the first button users tap on when they open the app. This is prime real estate for your photography business. Your Story highlights receive a lot of attention on your profile as well, given that they are placed above your carefully curated Instagram grid.
Should You Have a Separate Photography Instagram Account?
Keeping a separate photography Instagram account for just your photo work may be good for your business. When it comes to social media for photographers, it’s important to make sure that your brand comes first. Bringing your personality into your brand is important, but if you like to post lots of social media posts that don’t reflect your work, it may help to separate into two accounts.
Finding Photography Clients on Instagram
Allowing photography clients to find you on Instagram is one part of it. The other is finding clients for your business. Engage with accounts that are in the same sphere as yours. Whether you are starting a photography business or are just looking to continue growing, leading people to your account will help you find photography clients. There are lots of opportunities for consumer niches like wedding photography to grow with Instagram. Engaging with others on this social media platform is like using word of mouth, but digitally.
How Often Should Photographers Post on Instagram?
You should be posting on Instagram fairly regularly. People often look to social media channels to see whether businesses are still active before they inquire. Potential clients may stumble upon your page and if you haven’t posted in two weeks, they may think that you’re not working right now. Posting regularly on social media accounts like Instagram will also help to keep up your brand awareness by keeping you at the top of feeds.
Facebook for Photographers
Facebook is a big platform for photographers. There has been a lot of debate on whether Facebook is a “dead” social media marketing tool. However, Facebook can be one of the best social spaces for photo professionals. Sharing your photo work on Facebook in multiple spaces can benefit your business greatly. Facebook is one of the best social platforms for photographers to create meaningful community connections.
How to Use Facebook as a Photographer
Creating a Facebook Page for your professional photography can help to generate awareness. Invite your Facebook friends to “like” your page, and feature your work regularly. Building brand awareness with Facebook can be a useful tool to keep at top of mind for those who are regular users of this social media platform.
Connecting with Facebook Groups
Facebook Pages are not the only valuable space for photographers on Facebook. Of all the social media platforms, Facebook has the unique capability to build Groups for your business. You can start a group for your potential clients to network and build community.
For example, if you are a family photographer, you can build a Group for clients as part of your social media strategy. Create a group for local moms in your area and offer exclusive discounts and sessions to your Facebook Group. This can create even more opportunity for digital word of mouth marketing for photographers.
How Often Should Photographers Post on Facebook?
If you are running a Facebook Group for your photography page, it can be valuable to post a few times per week. If you have a Facebook Page for your brand, once or twice per week should suffice. You may be battling the algorithm quite a bit on Facebook, so limiting posts will help them to show up and not feel overwhelming to audiences who are seeing your posts regularly.
Twitter for Photographers
Twitter is a unique platform that focuses more on words and sentiments than visuals. That being said, there is a good bit of visual opportunity on Twitter to make an impact. For connecting with other professionals and building a niche client base, Twitter presents some unique social network opportunities for photographers.
Building a Community on Twitter
Twitter can be valuable for photographers if community building is important to your business. There are plenty of other photographers that are using Twitter and creating meaningful connections on the platform. Using Twitter to boost your presence within a community of photographers is a unique way to use this social media platform.
As opposed to Instagram or Facebook, your focus can mainly be on building a connection with other professionals. That’s not to say that you can’t find photography clients on the platform – it’s just not as seamless as using a social media network that is more visual.
Finding Photography Clients on Twitter
Wedding photographers and consumer photographers overall can find clients using Twitter. It takes more involvement in your local Twitter community, however. Your focus on Twitter isn’t just about the visuals so you have to figure out what and how much of your personality and brand messaging you are comfortable sharing.
If you are a wedding photographer who wants to find local wedding clients on Twitter, for example, seeking out those in your local community who are talking about wedding planning, venues, etc., can lead to professional photography clients from this social media platform.
Should You Use Hashtags on Twitter?
Of all of the social media platforms, Twitter is really where hashtagging first got its start. That being said, it’s a lot less common to see brands hashtagging their tweets these days. Unless they are creating a specific hashtag to build community or brand awareness, it’s not likely that a hashtag is being used. If you are using lots of hashtags in your tweets, it can come off as spammy-looking and inauthentic. Keep your brand voice on Twitter as authentic and natural as you can.
How Often Should Photographers Post on Twitter?
The half-life of a tweet is about eight minutes, so regular Twitter posting leads to more engagement. For small businesses, this can be more difficult than the average popular Twitter account. Using scheduling apps to pre-schedule several tweets in advance can help you to come up with days worth of content ahead of time.
Show off some of your photography work, then share some inspiration, then do a call-to-action for other photographers to share their work, and so on. Find unique ways to keep creating conversation a couple of times per day on Twitter.
TikTok for Photographers
TikTok is a relatively new platform for photographers to get into. Everyone is still finding their footing and figuring out how content marketing on TikTok actually works. The TikTok algorithm is still a mystery to even the best social media marketers. So how does TikTok help build social media for photographers?
Going Viral on TikTok as a Photographer
Going viral is still something that users on TikTok are trying to figure out. Try using different tags on TikTok to generate new views. Creating helpful content on TikTok will help you to gain more views. An example of this would be creating a TikTok about the “best poses for photo shoots” as opposed to just saying “these are my best photos.” Adding value to the lives of others can help you on many social media platforms, TikTok included.
Getting Photography Clients from TikTok
The target audience of TikTok leans more towards a Gen Z audience. If you deal with senior photography and niches that are geared at a younger audience, TikTok can be valuable to bring in clients. Keeping a consistent presence on TikTok will help to draw in more potential clients to view your work.
Another thing to keep in mind: TikTok may become one of the social media platforms for photographers.
Eventually, Gen Z will get to the point where they’re looking for wedding photographers and family photographers. You have to meet your clients where they are.
How Often Should Photographers Post on TikTok?
There isn’t a right or wrong way for photographers to post on TikTok. The more you post, the more chances there are for your content to go viral. Keep on experimenting with what works for you as TikTok gains more active users. The best social media for photographers is kept consistently and with thoughtful, useful content.
Pinterest for Photographers
One valuable resource for photographers is Pinterest. Pinterest is less of a social media platform and more of a search engine. However, for the sake of best social media practices, we’re including Pinterest as a social media platform. Out of all social media platforms, Pinterest is one that is specifically good for driving traffic to your site. So how do photographers use this tool to share their photography work?
How to Use Pinterest SEO
When you share content on Pinterest, make sure it is optimized for search. As opposed to most platforms where you are thoughtfully writing captions, Pinterest works on SEO. As you create and share pins, use pin descriptions to describe what is in the pin itself. Don’t think up captions that are creative and vague; get straight to the point. If you share a pin that features a venue, for example, put the name of the venue, the location, and any details about it. Is it a rustic wedding venue? Add in details that are searchable and snappy!
Posting Original Content to Pinterest
Pinterest favors original content. Thankfully, the work of photographers is entirely original content. Create pins from content that you are already sharing on your website. Share pins that relate to blog content, portfolio pages, and lead magnets. Keeping your content fresh will make it more likely that Pinterest will share it in their greater algorithm!
Get Photography Clients from Pinterest
The best way to get photography work from Pinterest is to create boards and posts that are centered around local content. If you are a consumer photographer, this is absolutely essential to generating success with Pinterest. This platform can easily help you drive traffic to your website and build out your clientele. If you have a blog post that pertains to a certain wedding venue as a wedding photographer, for example, pointing to that post from Pinterest can generate significant traffic that can convert to leads.
How Often Should Photographers Post on Pinterest?
If you are regularly creating photography work, you should have lots of content to schedule to Pinterest. There are several media platforms that will help you to get the most out of Pinterest. Pinning anywhere from 10-30 times per day using scheduling tools can help to build up your photography business on this unique platform. If you are creating regular blog content with lots of images, this can easily translate into unique pins that lead to your site.
Social Media Marketing for Photographers
Share your work on social media across different platforms for different influences on your business. From website traffic, to brand awareness, to lead generation, there are plenty of ways that social media can make a large impact on business for photographers. Try out different platforms and see which social media strategies work best for you!
Written by MEGAN BREUKELMAN | Cover by SONNIE HILES | Photographs by ELLA K. PHOTOGRAPHY, NICOLE NERO STUDIO, PIPER BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY, THE MEYER PHOTO + VIDEO GROUP, TARA T. PHOTOGRAPHY
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