How Photographers Can Use Facebook for Marketing

How Photographers Can Use Facebook for Business Marketing

Facebook and photography go hand in hand- people love Facebook and they love great photos. So if you have great photography to display, Facebook can be an excellent tool in your business marketing strategy. However, it all begins with planning and executing it correctly. Who has time to spend all day on Facebook when you have photos to take or a business to run?

Facebook marketing doesn’t have to be complex. You can do it with as much or as little time per day that you have to share and you can work it into the rest of your marketing campaign. So let’s take look at how photographers can use Facebook for business marketing.

1. Creating your Fanpage

The first step is to create your fanpage. If you already have one set up but you’re not doing very much with it, this could also be a time to revamp it. You want to give it a name that is recognizable and will be easily associated with you and what you do. Many photographers use their own name or the name of their company as the name of their Facebook page. This is a practical but sensible approach.

Be sure to fill out all of your biography info and include a note about what your page is all about. Tell the visitor what kind of photography you specialize in and what they can expect to get from your page. Remember that all of the bio info can be edited later so if your business changes or your objectives change, you can still use the same page. This will help you fill out all the info without worrying about not being flexible enough to allow for changes.

You also want to choose a stunning cover photo. This is one of the most important things you can do for any fanpage but especially as a photographer. You want people to land on your page and immediately see a great example of the type of work you can do right at the top. It’s in their face and they are sure to take notice to make it a great example of your work. You can also put your branding on the cover photo and Facebook dropped the 20% text rule that used to limit how much space on the cover photo could contain text. You can even put a call to action in your cover photo so go for it and make it great!

2. Some other features of your fanpage to consider to make the most of the page are:

* Custom apps

* Pinned, highlighted and milestone posts

* Private messaging

* Facebook advertising/ promoted posts

If you are unsure what these things mean, you can see the help of a professional in Facebook marketing to get your page on track.

3. How to Build an Audience

“If you build it, they will come” is not always true in social media marketing. In fact, it’s seldom true. Once your page is set up, it’s time to explore how to build an audience. There are some techniques that can help you get started on the right track with this.

Here are some ideas to help you build an audience on your Facebook fanpage:

* Let existing fans and clients know about your page

* Hold a contest (more about this later)

* Post engaging posts and captions to your photos

* Showcase your best work- and consider photos just for fun

* Be the most frequent commenter on our own page- answer and engage with people

* Offer utility- give tips and advice your readers can use

4. Advertising without Spam

There is nothing worse in social media marketing than the dreaded spam. The reason it is so prevalent is that many people don’t even realize what they’re doing is spammy. So let’s take a look at what is and is not spam- and how you can market yourself as a photographer without spamming your community.

First, you don’t have to spam your services or packages/pricing. If you’re running a special or offering a coupon, definitely show this off but your page and about section (and possibly tabs) will tell people you are available for hire. You don’t need to scream “hire me” with every post you make.

Don’t post too often. As a photographer, you can probably get away with more frequent postings than some other niches but you don’t need to post 100+ new photos daily. Facebook has an album option that you can use to upload multiple photos at one time and unless there is a special event going on, you don’t need to make more than an average of 5 posts per day. If you’re flooding their feed, they’re going to unlike the page.

Use Facebook paid advertising smartly and efficiently. You can enlist a professional to help you with this if are not sure how it works and if you want to make the most of your budget. Some people think they can’t afford Facebook advertising but since you control your budget, you can spend as much or as little as you have to spend. You can boost a post for as little as $5 and you can set daily budgets on like ads, for example.

5. Sharing Examples on Facebook

Using Facebook to share examples of your work is a given. But how can you do it and be most effective? Here are some tips and ideas to help you:

1. Create photo albums of the type of photography you do. For example, you can show graduation photos in an album or nature photography in another. If you specialize in portraits, you can organize albums by types of portrait shots taken.

2. Include notes and captions with each photo you upload so people know more about what it is, why or how you took it, what type of equipment you used or other interesting details.

3. Network with other photographers. Share their work from time to time as well.

4. Know your rights when sharing your photos to Facebook.

6. Running Contests/ Building Buzz

So now that you’re all set up, you know how to market on Facebook and you have started sharing samples of your work, what can you do to build more buzz about you and your work? A contest is a great place to start and the new relaxes Facebook contest rules make it easier than ever before.

You can do a photo caption contest, a giveaway, a free offer or coupon or any unique contest idea you can get creative and come up with as a way of building buzz to your page. You can also use offline tools to accomplish this goal. For example, you can add your Facebook page to your business cards or have special “Facebook cards” printed up to pass out when you meet people, or to your existing clients. You can wear t-shirts or get a car magnet/decal that advertises your fanpage all as ways of getting in more fans to the page. The more great content you share and the more engaged you keep your audience, the more it will spread.

Now that you have these tips about using Facebook for marketing as a photographer, you can begin your own campaign and build a community of people who love your photography and who love “talking shop” with you.