Keeping up with the myriad of social media platforms available today can seem like an arduous, thankless task.  Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, Flickr, Tumblr…the list goes on and on.   However, never more than in today’s world has social media played a part in delivering new clients to your photography business.

With a structured approach, you can get more exposure for your business with minimal effort – leaving you with more time to work on what you do best – taking photos.

Here is a short guide to pushing your business out there on what we consider to be the top 3 social media platforms a photography company should embrace.  Ignore at your peril!

Facebook

First port of call, and arguably the most wide reaching platform you can use, is Facebook.   If you don’t have a Facebook page for your business – you simply must have one.  Check out how to create a Facebook business page for details on how to get started.    An important thing to note here is you should adjust your Facebook page privacy settings to make it Public (not your own personal profile, just your business page), so that your reach is not limited.

Once you’ve created your photography Facebook page and updated all your company information including website, you should post a few interesting snippets of information so that your page is more engaging.  Next is your quest for Likes!   In order for you Facebook updates to reach people, they must Like your page.    Once Liked, your updates will appear in their News feed and depending on privacy settings, their friends feeds too.

Reach out to your friends on Facebook and invite them to Like your page – you can do this from the Admin Panel on your Facebook page.  There is also the ability to add contacts from your email address book which will send a message asking people to Like your page.  Update your email signatures, business cards and website to clearly show the link to your Facebook page.  Unashamedly promote your Facebook photography page and ask for Likes – don’t be shy!  Growing Likes is an ongoing quest, so in the meantime, you need to keep your followers engaged with succinct and interesting posts.  According to Facebook, pictures and videos get 120% and 100% more engagement respectively.  For photographers, this should be easy to find the content.   Do you add a sneak preview of shots from your last wedding and tag your client in the pictures?  Winner every time.

Google+

Fewer photographers will have a Google Plus page than Facebook, however the popularity of G+ is rocketing and it is time to jump on the band wagon.

Get involved, and take 10 minutes to create a Google+ business page.   Part of the process involves detailing your business address, upon which Google will send you a lovely postcard to activate your page, and local business listing.    This is very important, as you will then also feature in Google Places search results, like this:

Add links on your page back to your main website, and complete your business information.  You can even add sites that review your work (cough cough…like Photographers.com.au).

So now you have your page set up, you need to follow the same rules as for Facebook and go hunt down those fans!  For Google+ you want people to PlusOne your page, and share your content.   Here’s very basic guide to promoting your Google+ page and getting more people following your page updates.  Again, short succinct, media rich posts will attract the most attention.

According to SearchMetrics.com, Google+ will overtake Facebook in the number of PlusOnes (Google+) v Shares (Facebook) by February 2016 – this is significant, and the more you build today, the greater the reward tomorrow.

Twitter

The third of our musketeers.   Creating an account is very simple, and you can get set up in no time.   You guessed it – firstly, you need to add your company information to your profile, with links, bio information and a couple of initial tweets (Twitters word for posts/updates).   The key thing to note with Twitter is that your Tweets have to be less than 140 characters long.   This can actually be very tricky – however forces you in to punchy, attention grabbing posts.  You can tweet pictures too on Twitter – and like Facebook and Google+ will get you more views and re-tweets.

Summary and Key Points

So now you have three, if not more, social media platforms to manage.   This may seem a little daunting, but once the initial set up is done, each update can be copied across all platforms.  If you come across an interesting photography news article or a picture that blows your mind – post it across your network.    Any update is better than no update – it’s all about engagement.

Most likely you have a blog, and this of course is a great source of self promotion.  Every blog update you do, share the URL link with a short summary (and picture!) on to Facebook, Google+ and Twitter simultaneously.  Ask questions in your updates, and encourage responses.  If users reply to any of your updates, be sure to respond to them as quickly as you can.

Keep on the hunt for Likes, PlusOnes, Shares and Followers!  Don’t be afraid to reciprocate the favour too and Like/Share other businesses social media pages.

How is your social media going for your photography business?  Do you find some platforms better than others?   Any a waste of time?   Feel free to comment below and let us know your experience.  Happy socialising!