With the rapid grows of social media and networking, every professional Photographer must inevitably build one’s business through Facebook. Be sure, Facebook is an amazing way to connect with targeted audience and deliver called-for services and products to them directly. It’s kind of a business, where you can do right things in a right place.
Image by CoffeeGeek
1. Create a fan page rather than group.
As you know there is one one way to present a person in Facebook, and that is via Profile registration; and two other ways to create the community or business channel – via fan pages and groups. Go with the second why. Wanna know the reason? See them below:
- Your fan page will be visible for all users (registered, non-registered, fans, non-fans).
- Assign unique username to your fan page. Get a username which works perfectly for you instead of having an “ugly” URL like http://www.facebook.com/pages/Page_Name/Very_long_page_id. By doing this you will definitely simplify the process for others to search for your fan page in Facebook community. This can be your name, pseudonym, nickname… whatever. Read how to get username for your fan page and profile on Facebook.
- Get access to your fan page insights (statistics). Did you know that you can track your likes, unlikes, page visits, posts and feedbacks on a daily basis? This is amazing chance to monitor and analyze your Facebook marketing strategy.
- Monitor the demographics. See where around the world the most likes come from. See the pages they like to attend most, analyze the referrers.
- Possibility to promote the page via Facebook Ads and Activity Widgets. Facebook Ads are devoted to promote your fan page, profile or application on Facebook network. Facebook Ads can also be easily integrated into your website or blog, just like the Facebook feed. Learn how to integrate Activity Feed widget to your site.
2. Feature your profile/fan page with unique and creative icon.
Facebook profile or fan page icon will follow your post, update or activity status everywhere on Facebook, thus it has to be very prominent and recognizable. Make it look like your own brand, signature or something special and definitely associated with yourself. Embed your motto into the badge, so a stranger understands that you’re an official representative and can contact you back for more information.
Few things to not forget about when designing a profile picture:
- Include your branding: Make it prominent and memorable;
- Include your phone number: Some people prefer to speak about personal things privately;
- Include your name.
3. Make friends.
Start with searching for the people you know. These can be your school mates, people from college or high-school. Then search for people you ever did photo sessions to (your previous and present clients).
Note: There are tons of people out there who are waiting for an opportunity to grow their friends “collection” by adding people they don’t know. These guys (and, maybe gals) are simply striving for greater figures. Very often they sell their accounts in marketing purposes and start spamming their “friends”.Advice: Don’t friend a person before you get more information about one. This rule will keep you safe on the first stages. Believe me, keeping your account safe and clean is very important at the start.
4. Workout your activity strategy.
Now that you have friends in your bargain (especially, people whom you know), start entertaining them by providing fresh and up-to-date news. Be informative, speak on relevant topics and don’t be boring. For a photographer it is also very important to showcase your best shoots, photo sessions or simply nice works. Make them love your works. Share your works with them on regular basis. Don’t go too far by posting updates and messages too frequently. You might be black-listed.
5. Be client-oriented.
Mind a dialogue when addressing yourself to your audience. This means that you need somehow make your friends interact with your through a Facebook page, not just read your lines. Ask about their thoughts, make polls, and make them judge your works, whatever… even their critiques will be much better than their silence. Categorize your content according to your friend’s nature. Let’s say, if you have married friends, it would be cool to post something interest about babies, maternity, relationship, etc. For younger audience consider posting top-notch, hot and actual messages about modern life, fashion, sports, love… etc.
6. Keep contact with other masters.
Make it clear that you work in tight partnership with other artists, share the links to their stuff you like and make discussions about their techniques and methods. Don’t be afraid of asking, feel free to share your experience and you will definitely be noticed.
Make use of Facebook built-in and external applications.
Facebook applications are stand-alone programs with their own interfaces which allow you to interact with your fans and friends. In addition to standard apps, there is a directory of applications developed by third parties. There are various types of apps for photographers you can find very useful. See the main ones below:
- Fill Info tab with informative biography and your business overview.
Look at the figures below, it’s proved that the third part of visitors attend the Information tab. I quess it becomes obvious that people will show more trust to businesses which reveal their real titles, postal addresses along with reachable landline numbers.
- Use Questions to interact with your fans and their friends.
When not trying to be obsessive about being too talkative, do your best and rise actual questions. Secretly address them to the number of people you want receive the feedback from. It’s just the matter of your verbal power. That’s the trick!
- Build fan page portfolio via Portfolio Builder App from hostFB
This portfolio app allows you to build your own portfolio via user-friendly interface. Inside the portfolio you can categorize your works by albums/projects, load individual images into each project, fill in project description info and put information about yourself (links to your social accounts, quick bio, phone number and email). This application will be useful for a professional as well as amateur photographer. You can categorize your works by genres or people you made photo sessions for. Look at the picture below to see a live example of Portfolio Application in action:
8. Workout your own marketing strategy.
There are lots of known tips and tricks photographers know about in order to gain popularity and attract new clients. The most popular ones are discounts, coupons, sweepstakes, giveaways and contests. Play simple and funny games, and you will definitely get more positive feedback from your friends and friends of your friends.
Hopefully, these basic tips will help a photographer to get started with Facebook from the right track. Remember another rule: don’t be afraid of changing the rules, instead, correct them so they work perfectly for you. Good luck!
Build fan page portfolio via Portfolio Builder App from hostFB
Lynn Hope
Latest posts by Lynn Hope (see all)
- 7 Facebook Tip For Photographers - July 30, 2011
Lynn Hope Reply:
August 15th, 2011 at 4:02 am
Thanks, Blake. Indeed, Facebook has can be applied to any areas of our lives if used correctly and exactly.
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