An educational guide from
TABLE of CONTENTS
5 LinkedIn
6 4 Way to Grrow Your Photography Business Through LinkedIn
7 9 10 11 12
LinkedIn Features You Need to Know About Ways to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile and 4 Improve Your SEO I mproving Your LinkedIn Daily Workflow: Tips from Photographer Jorge Parra ptimizing LinkedIn: Up Close with O Photographer Scott Wyden Measuring Sucess On LinkedIn
Part 2
14 Twitter 16 17 18
Whats New On Twitter 9 Ways to Grow a Following Fast Who Should You Follow?
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Twitter Tips From The Expert: Ken Kaminesky
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Tips From a Twitter Expert: Jim Goldstein
20 7 Reasons to Love Twitter & # Reasons to Hate It 22 23 24 25
Tweets that Work easuring Success Twitter/How PhotoShelter M Can Help Other Social Media Platforms that Matter 9 Major Takeaways From this Handbook:
Š 2012 PhotoShelter, Inc No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, without the prior written consent of PhotoShelter, Inc. The logos of the companies described are the trademarks of their respective owners. No endorsement is implied. PhotoShelter, Inc. makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation.
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LinkedIn We know what you’re thinking. “Ugh, LinkedIn.” It’s true, LinkedIn might have the reputation for being the nerdy, less-cool, older cousin of Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, but infusing LinkedIn into your daily workflow and overall marketing plan is essential for helping you make business connections and reach specific individuals who can help your business expand. Unlike the others we tackle in this guide, this platform is designated specifically for business professionals. This means posting about your vacation or sharing a funny YouTube video of babies talking to each other may not be best shared here. The business-like platform means you should keep things professional and have your business at the center as you build your profile, answer questions, or join groups. LinkedIn has evolved over the years by adding a diversity of applications, giving you the ability to join a wider range of professional groups, create a company page, and even post content and status updates similar to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. And despite new changes to the platform, the core positioning remains the same – LinkedIn is a social platform for your business.
LinkedIn Today
Curious how LinkedIn has changed over the past few years? Here are some hard numbers straight from the source: • More than 2 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages • LinkedIn counts executives from all 2011 Fortune 500 companies as members and its corporate hiring solutions are used by 75 of the Fortune 100 companies • LinkedIn represents a valuable demographic for marketers with an affluent and influential membership • There are now more than 180,000 unique domains actively using the LinkedIn Share button on their sites to send content into the LinkedIn platform • LinkedIn members are sharing insights and knowledge in more than one million LinkedIn Groups • Mobile page views account for more than 11% of total member visits to LinkedIn
With the number of LinkedIn users continuing to grow each year, it’s important to approach LinkedIn not as “just another social media site” but instead, as a platform to establish powerful relationships that can help you advance. When word-ofmouth marketing is still the most powerful referral, LinkedIn helps you establish yourself as a reputable source and make connections with people who can vouch for your great business ethic and great photography. Given that LinkedIn is synonymous with professional networking, photographers should incorporate LinkedIn in their daily workflow to help expand their network and meet new business contacts. The platform provides you with great opportunities to grow your potential client base and market your photography. To get a sense of the number of people on LinkedIn in the photography sector and the buyer side, we did some searching of our own. For example, searching the term “photo editor” returns 54,045 individuals, “art buyer” yields 28,049, “graphic designer” yields 583,160, and “art director” yields 644,485. These are all people you can network with by sending an invitation to connect or through a recommendation from a mutual connection. The key difference between connecting on LinkedIn and other social media platforms is that the connections are permission-based.
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Do This: 4 Ways to Grow Your Photography Business Through LinkedIn To use LinkedIn to grow your photography business, here are 4 critical things you need to do:
1) Build Your Credibility With Recommendations
You can receive recommendations from contacts and make recommendations for your contacts. According to LinkedIn, users with recommendations are three times as likely to get inquiries through LinkedIn searches. Sometimes the best way to receive recommendations is to give recommendations. If you view a contact’s profile, you’ll see you have the option to click “recommend” under each position they’ve listed on his or her profile.
2) P articipate In The Community Through LinkedIn Answers
LinkedIn Answers enables individual users to post questions for the broader community. Participating in these conversations helps build your credibility and gives you exposure to people who can help grow your network.
3) Use LinkedIn Applications To Enrich Your Profile
LinkedIn applications enable you to differentiate your profile, share more content, and collaborate with your network. Applications are added to your homepage and profile enabling you to control who gets access to what information. Currently, 18 applications are available on LinkedIn including: • WordPress: Sync your WordPress blog posts with your LinkedIn profile • Tweets: A Twitter client you can use directly within LinkedIn • SlideShare: Share presentations right within your profile - We’ve seen photographers use this to weave their photography to their profiles • Events by LinkedIn: Discover what events, conferences and workshops your connections are participating in
4) Use InMail to Email Your Network
Use LinkedIn’s InMail feature as a credible means to connect with your contacts. Using the email feature, you can appropriately approach contacts and engage people in relevant dialogue. Our advice is to make this a custom outreach – be clear that you’re contacting that one person specifically and not shooting off a mass-send. Anything email that appears to be impersonal will likely be ignored.
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LinkedIn Features You Need to Know About: Profile:
Consider your profile your online resume, which means you want to be specific about what you’ve accomplished and who you’ve worked for. Including a direct link to your website is a must. After all, LinkedIn allows hiring companies and recruiters to search for professionals who might fit their criteria, so the difference between a great profile and a so-so one could make or break a future opportunity. As a user, it’s important to note that you can’t view another LinkedIn member’s profile unless you’re connected to them. To connect with someone, you can send an invitation to connect on LinkedIn, or you can be introduced by one of your existing contacts.
Updates:
Similar to Twitter, LinkedIn’s Updates feature (appearing on your LinkedIn homepage when you log in), lets you share something with your network in 140 characters or less. You have the option to attach a link (i.e.: a link to a photo, your most recent blog post, an article, etc.), and make it visible to either everyone or just your connections. In the Updates box itself, you can also choose to share your update directly with your Twitter community. In the feed of updates on your homepage, you can also keep track of the additional LinkedIn connections made by those in your network or comment on others’ posts. This feature helps you keep track of your connections and also keep them informed about what you’re up to.
Job Listings:
Use LinkedIn to find your next photo gig. You can search available job listings found in LinkedIn’s main navigation tool, as well as within the groups you join. Jobs postings found on LinkedIn are often posted exclusively there, which means that jobs you’re looking at aren’t available for the whole Internet to see.This is an even greater incentive to join the right groups and monitor them daily.
Skills & Expertise:
Search LinkedIn’s Skills & Expertise Section to find a hub for all things photography-related. Type in your specific field (e.g. fine art photography) and find a landing page for other fine art photographers on LinkedIn, fine art photography groups, organizations, as well as job postings. If you want to broaden your reach, type in a general term like “photography” to find even more results.
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Groups:
Joining photography groups and participating in discussions will help establish your business presence in the industry. If you have a group in common with another LinkedIn user, you can invite this person to join your network. In other words, joining credible photography groups can help you expand your network and meet new contacts. Also, each group discussion contains its own job listings, which becomes a tremendous resource if you’re in the middle of looking for your next gig. Keep in mind there are many groups, and you need to request to join before you can gain access to them. But once you’ve joined, be sure to use groups to: • Discover and contribute to popular discussions. • “Follow” group participants, including major industry leaders. To follow someone, you have to be connected to them or share a group in common. If this is the case, their posts made in that group will show up on your homepage feed. This allows you to easily follow their discussions. • Sort by latest discussions and join the conversation by commenting and liking. Here are a few popular and active groups on LinkedIn that are worth checking out and even joining:
Photography Industry Professionals:
Women in Photography:
This group has 31,000 members and is a hub for photographers and art professionals to meet each other and discuss the photography industry today. Soliciting is shunned upon in this group.
With 25,5000 members, this group celebrates women photographers and is a network for sharing ideas, accomplishments, and opportunities.
Photography Business:
With 3,600 members, this group aims to educate photographers on key business strategies to help advance their bottom line. The group covers discussions on marketing, client interaction, licensing, and industry trends.
Fashionista Cafe:
This group has nearly 10,000 members and is intended specifically as a networking community for professionals in the fashion, design, and photography industries.
Stock Photography, Buy and Sell Images:
This professional group with 4,500 members is a resource for stock photographers to exchange information and help each other locate agencies and stay updated on the stock photo industry today. You don’t need to join every group out there. Instead, be critical and think, what type of connection are you trying to make and where can you find these people? What types of groups would appeal to them?
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Do This: 4 Ways to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile and Improve Your SEO A presence on LinkedIn can improve your SEO because LinkedIn itself is ranked very highly on Google. Here are 4 ways you can really optimize your profile to take advantage of the SEO benefits:
1. Keywords
Complete your profile and use relevant keywords. Detailed profile entries provide rich, searchable content. Use keywords that you believe would help potential clients find you. Because LinkedIn pushes your job title into your profile’s website page title (another very strong SEO factor), you want to use descriptive keywords here, too. “Photographer” won’t help differentiate you in searches. Go with something more descriptive like “Boston Wedding & Event Photographer”.
2. Make Your Profile “Public” Any information you block from public view will not be viewed by LinkedIn search engines, or external search engines like Google. At minimum, you want your own name, company name, and most relevant keywords to be visible. Edit your LinkedIn vanity URL. (www.linkedin.com/in/YOURNAME) to optimize for search. If you want to optimize your name, make sure to use it here. Otherwise, you can use your company name, or emphasize your specialty.
3. Participate In Answers In addition to helping grow your network and your credibility, having a presence in Answers will grow internal links on LinkedIn that point back to your profile, which also enhances your SEO. Indirectly provide your expertise by responding to a question and linking to a relevant blog post you’ve written.
4. Drive Traffic To Your Website Or Blog Include hyperlinks to your website and blog in your profile with descriptive anchor text. LinkedIn enables you to add up to three website hyperlinks on your profile. Unlike most social platforms, these are “dofollow” links – meaning LinkedIn has told Google to crawl these, and they can be used to help your SEO. You have full control of the anchor text that’s displayed over the hyperlink. Descriptive anchor text helps Google best understand what you’re linking to. The default is “My Website” – and this anchor text is not descriptive enough to help you with SEO. You’re better off changing it to include top keywords, like “My Fashion Photography Website”. Link to your portfolio, image archive, blog or any other site you’d like to drive traffic to.
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Improving Your LinkedIn Daily Workflow: Tips from Photographer Jorge Parra We turned to advertising and fashion photographer Jorge Parra to get his top tips on how photographers can benefit from LinkedIn. Jorge has who has over 500 connections and has written LinkedIn: A Photographer’s Guide, Part 1 and Part 2.
PhotoShelter: What are some LinkedIn best practices you can pass along to other photographers? JP: The main thing is, do not connect with other photographers. Sometimes this may sound rude, since you may be rejecting connections from your peers and personal
connections, but truth is, you want to hook up with potential customers and clients, and other professionals you can do business with. It only makes sense to hook up with other photographers if you are an educator, presenter or workshop guide, as in these scenarios photographers are the potential clients. In terms of what works on LinkedIn, the most successful posts come mostly from actively participating in the “Answers” section, which can greatly impact your ranking on Google. Jorge also writes in his post LinkedIn: A Photographer’s Guide, Part 1 that optimizing your individual connections is key to success:
“Once you have someone in your network, you have access to his or her email and other contact info, data which LinkedIn allows you to download to your computer to prepare a contact list. By definition, these contacts are opt-in, meaning they are all willing to exchange info with you. Because you have this personal info, you’re able to send private, personalized emails to very focused lists of people - those you REALLY want to work with - and make your best effort to reinforce your relationship with those highly specific people.”
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Optimizing LinkedIn: Up Close with Photographer Scott Wyden Scott Wyden is a professional portrait, landscape, commercial, and editorial photographer based in New Jersey. Scott’s been using LinkedIn for years to make connections in the photo industry and share insights with others. We picked Scott’s brain to understand how he’s optimizing the service to expand his photogaphy network.
PhotoShelter: What do you like about LinkedIn? What’s your goal using it? SW: LinkedIn is a fantastic method to network with other photographers, share
stories, articles, and request feedback on new photographs. If you’re a photographer with another business target in mind then LinkedIn is an amazing tool to use. In fact, for Business to Business (B2B) marketing, I find LinkedIn better than all of the social media tools out there. I have been in the process of building a real estate campaign in New Jersey and LinkedIn will be my main source for marketing to realtors and real estate investors in the state.
PhotoShelter: Do you contribute to LinkedIn groups? If so, which ones? SW: I am a member of a variety of LinkedIn groups. Some are about general
photography, some are photographic marketing or business, and some are marketing in general. It’s a good idea to join a few local groups if you’re planning on targeting in-state businesses. To share a few: NAPP, New Jersey Young Professionals, NJ Social Media, NJTC, Photo Marketing Association, and Photography Business & Marketing.
PhotoShelter: Do you have a posting strategy on LinkedIn? What type of content provides you the best response from others? SW: If I write an article that I believe has value for my LinkedIn connections, I
in a group and people reply, be sure to add your own replies, even if they are “thank you” comments. I don’t pay attention to specifically when I post content. Instead, I do it when I have the time. The best content is usually an article about photographic marketing or a specific part of the business. General articles don’t do well on LinkedIn. Finding the niche is important and having it match the group is a crucial element.
PhotoShelter: What do you urge photographers not to do on LinkedIn? SW: Don’t sync with Twit-
ter or Facebook. LinkedIn is best for B2B. The people you connect with on LinkedIn are not necessarily concerned with what you ate for dinner, what wedding you just finished photographing, or every tweet that you retweet on Twitter. Your connections want to see how your services can benefit them.
will post the article as a status update. However, if I feel that a specific group will benefit from the article, I will post it to those groups with additional content to add even more value. Simply posting your article in a group won’t be viewed positively by the group’s members. It might even get a person kicked out. Also, if you do post
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Measuring Success On LinkedIn There are a few straight forward ways to gage your success on LinkedIn. We recommend you track these two top metrics over the span of at least 3 months to see if your approach to LinkedIn is working:
Number of Contacts:
The more individuals you connect with, the more you’re able to create relationships that can lead to potential business opportunities. Although a growing number of contact is an important metric to measure, the quality of your contacts is equally as important to consider. Is each connection someone you could actually email for your business? Or are they realistically someone you would never speak to again? These are all things to keep in mind as you track your contacts.
Website Traffic:
Remember, you can use Google Analytics to track traffic to your blog, portfolio website, or image archive that comes from LinkedIn. Using this tool, you can develop a sense of how individual links you post on LinkedIn compel fans to visit your website, and even convert (i.e. buy something) via your website. You can then compare this data across other social networks to rationalize your time investment, ensuring you’re focusing on the greatest return.
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Twitter The words “Twitter” and “Facebook” often fall in the same sentence, but the services are quite different. Facebook’s platform is more visually driven than Twitter and allows for lengthier posts which pair nicely with videos or photos. Twitter, on the other hand, gives you 140 characters or less to say what you want to say per tweet. This means that every word counts, abbreviations are welcome, and posting frequently - something shunned upon on Facebook - is even OK. Consider Twitter a “micro-blogging” platform. This is your chance to keep users up to date with what you’re working on, interact with potential clients, ask questions, get feedback, and share industry news. Twitter will not work for you unless you engage others, but as soon as you show the Twitterverse that you are there to interact and not just scream from the rooftops, people are more likely to respond favorably with a follow, retweet, or mention. You need to think strategically about your message and how you can effectively get it out there. As a photographer trying to expand your business and build your marketing efforts, you should first consider what you want to get out of Twitter. Today, the tool is an essential piece of your online overall marketing plan and efforts to grow your business, so it’s worth getting on board if you aren’t already. In this section, we’ll address ways that you can optimize the platform, build your network, generate awareness about your products and services, and establish new relationships.
Twitter Facts:
In 2010 alone, 100 million accounts were created and 25 billion tweets were sent. Twitter continues to be one of the fastest growing social media platforms out there. What’s more: • Twitter has about 300 million registered users • 21% of Twitter accounts are blank with no tweets • One billion new tweets are posted every week • There are more than 600 million searches done on Twitter every single day • Everyday, Twitter gets more than 400,000 new users • In 2011, Twitter mobile users increased by 182% Over the past two years, we’ve watched photographers take advantage of Twitter and use it productively in a wide range of ways. It’s clear that Twitter can help you build your network, gather information, connect with potential clients, and promote your quality content. In fact, promoting quality content is a theme that runs through this entire guide. If you post good stuff, you will grow a quality following and attract positive attention. Twitter is no different.
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Why Photographers Should Use Twitter:
If you’re intimidated by Twitter, our hope is to get you over that hurdle. Twitter is a marketing machine for your business, but it definitely requires work. The payoff - attracting thousands of quality followers and creating real business opportunities - is real. As a photographer looking to expand your business and enhance your marketing efforts, Twitter helps you: • Spread awareness to users and potential clients who may not know about you • Continuously update those who are interested in what you do • Improve your SEO • Drive signups to your newsletter • Build relationships with potential and existing clients • Announce news, special promotions, achievements, and events • Generate interest in your photography so the next time someone is in need of your services, they turn to you • Discuss photography-related issues and news with your peers • Get feedback for your images and your services • Get your questions answered
Getting Set Up
When you pick your Twitter handle, keep in mind that what you choose will appear in all your tweets and retweets from others. Try not to include numbers in your handle. As tweets are logged in search engines, sites like Google will read numbers as spam and be less likely to rank. If possible, reference your name or your business, or both if possible. Here are a few Twitter handles from PhotoShelter photographers that we think work well: • @briansmithphoto • @gavingough • @LUCEO • @KendrickBrinson • @Toddbigphoto
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What’s New on Twitter Keep Better Tabs on Your Followers:
In the past few months, Twitter rolled out changes to help you track your user engagement. Now when you log on, Twitter lets you know in a new tab found under your @ username when someone retweets you, favorites one of your tweets, mentions you, and follows you. The new function also helps you learn which Tweets are most interesting to those in your network. Twitter has also implemented a new “Activity” tab which highlights the latest tweets, retweets and favorites from the people you follow on Twitter.
Why photographers should care about these changes:
witter is rolling out new changes to help you monitor your followers, keep tabs on T what’s interesting, and even give more exposure to your tweets beyond Twitter itself. Twitter may be free, but remember you are giving your time and that’s very valuable. So with these changes, Twitter is helping you optimize your time spent there.
Twitter Brand Pages:
In December 2011, Twitter announced they’ll be launching Twitter Brand Pages, which will take on a style similar to Facebook. These Brand Pages, which will roll out slowly for the public in 2012, will let advertisers customize their headers and make their logo and tagline more central. Brand Pages will also come equipped with settings that allow administrators to control the message visitors see when they come to their page. For example, you’ll now be able to highlight or “promote” a specific tweet of yours at the top of your page in a larger and expanded format. For photography business-focused tweeters, these pages will have great potential to help raise awareness about the great work you’re doing.
Embeddable Tweets
A long awaited request, Twitter will now let bloggers and web developers to embed tweets on their website. This function rolls out in 2012 with Twitter’s new redesign and will soon be available for all. Twitter users will simply enter a line of HTML code found by clicking “embed this tweet” located directly below the tweet itself. Once the tweet is embedded in your web page, visitors can interact it (reply, rewteet, favorite, and follow) without even leaving your page.
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9 Ways to Grow a Following Fast 1. Tweet regularly.
6. Engage with the big guys.
If your followers are viewing tweets in a timeline, whatever you tweeted two hours ago is likely buried by other users’ tweets. Increase followers’ chances of seeing your tweet, making it more likely that they’ll retweet it.
This is the same as contributing to conversations with regular folks, but if very influential member of your community mentions you, than you get added benefit of more people watching.
2. Retweet regularly.
7. Watch your timing and consistency.
Think “Twitter karma” – the more you invest in promoting others, the more likely they are to reciprocate by promoting you. But also keep in mind that it will be difficult for you to build your own “voice” if your only activity is retweeting.
Generally, we’ve found the peak time to tweet is during the US workday, after 12 PM EST. This ensures the largest possible audience for your tweets. If you can, add some consistency to your tweets by tweeting the same number of times per day. People will come to expect to see your regular tweets, and share them with their own followers.
3. Suggest to your connections from other platforms that they follow you on Twitter. Use your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook Page, business card, etc. to drive people to your Twitter page You can easily access widgets to display “Follow me on Twitter” on your blog, or even display a stream of your recent tweets.
4. Start and contribute to conversations. As the conversation unfolds, your commentary is exposed to your followers’ followers. Anyone watching can contribute and may follow you, too.
5. Credit everything. Give the idea’s originator credit to help build their following.
8. Use strategic keywords. Think about the likely keywords your desired followers would be using for Twitter search. What terms do they care about most? What issues do they need to stay on top of ? Use these keywords frequently in your tweets. The added bonus for this tactic is that you’ll increase your chances of appearing in relevant Google searches too.
9. Practice reciprocity. There’s some debate here, but often times, people will follow you if you follow them, as long as you keep your content helpful and interesting. We also recommend you check out Twitter’s own “Twitter for Businesses” tutorial for more tips on how to optimize Twitter for your own photography business and attract quality followers.
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Who Should You Follow? People often ask, “But who should I follow on Twitter?” If your goal is to grow your network and build contacts to help your photography business, there are a few key groups of people you should be following: 1. Your Customers: By following customers new and old, you’ll be able to listen to their needs and engage with them on a regular basis. 2. Local and National Media: Sometimes getting your big break can come down to getting featured in a local paper, or even a national one. Many journalists and media contacts turn to Twitter for their own source information, so following these contacts and tweeting at them when appropriate can help get you on their radar. 3. Industry Leaders: Photography industry leaders are well respected and have a considerable following of people who listen carefully to what they say and what they think. Following these individuals will also help you stay current on what forward thinkers are discussing and keep you within the loop of the photo industry today. By following key people and retweeting their tweets, you also help yourself by opening the door to getting noticed. Industry leaders who effectively use Twitter should hopefully be receptive to quality @mentions, so think carefully before tweeting at “big wig” and make it count. To get you started here’s a list of 10 of the most influential photographers on Twitter that you might consider following: 1. @scottbourne: Nature photographer, host of Photofocus.com - 116,275 followers 2. @stobist: Run by “professional flasher” David Hobby - 59,777 followers 3. @chasejarvis: Commercial photographer and director - 99,074 followers 4. @thomashawk: Photographer and blogger - 26,479 followers 5. @everywheretrip: Travel photographer Gary Arndt - 103,358 followers 6. @joemcnally: Photojournalist Joe McNally - 88,331 followers 7. @scottkelby: President of NAPP - 63,981 followers 8. @jeremycowart: Portrait photographer - 44,598 followers 9. @jasminestar: Wedding photographer and blogger - 38,642 followers 10. @michaelzelbel: German photographer specializing in lighting - 26,743 followers
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Twitter Tips From The Expert: Ken Kaminesky Based in Canada, Ken Kaminesky is a fine art travel and lifestyle photographer. In February of 2011, one of Ken’s photos was featured on the cover of National Geographic. To date, Ken has 39,700 followers on Twitter (@KenKaminesky). We wanted to know what Ken’s doing right on Twitter and any advice all the advice he has for photographers.
PhotoShelter: Do you have a tweeting strategy? What type of tweets provides
you the best response from others?
KK: I tend to Tweet at times when I think most people will be online. 9am people
are getting to work, grabbing coffee and getting online. Noon, lunch time, and Twitter gets busier. 8pm, relaxing time at home - good time to get your message across to your followers who are online at home now. I strongly suggest that you find out through trial and error what times work best for you and which time zones your followers are in. I use HootSuite which allows me to track clicks and re-tweets. I also use the StumbleUpon Url Shortener which is a good way to get the posts you want “stumbled.” There is always the chance that a stumbled post can go viral and get you thousands or hundreds of thousands of clicks. What provides the best response from others is humour, expressive and colourful wording, questions, relevant hashtags, and creating the potential for a conversation with opinionated statements. But be careful with the opinions . What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but the Internet is forever!
PhotoShelter: What do you urge photographers not to do on Twitter? KK: Do not talk just about your work, especially if you are not one of the top pho-
tographers in the world with a huge devoted following. Even then I’d recommend against doing that.
Your followers want to get to know you a bit better as a person, not just as a photographer. They can see your work on your website, blog, Photoshelter archive or a host of other places. Like in real life, you won’t make many friends or keep the ones you have but blathering on about yourself ad nauseum. I personally would not get involved in political debates, nor would I get into thinks like Canon vs Nikon kind of discussions. No one wins those arguments, it’s pointless. Keep it positive!
PhotoShelter: Can you recall some of your most successful (or unsuccessful) tweets? Why did these posts work or not work? KK: The tweets that get re-tweeted the most are funny ones, links to spectacular
photos, and quotes that make a strong point. To me the most successful tweet is one that gets a response from a potential client. It’s not something that you can always plan, but if you’re clever enough, you can make these people want to talk with you. Be creative and try to engage your Twitter target in a conversation. Don’t try to immediately take the conversation to email or other means of communication. Be patient - it requires time and effort to find out what works best for you.
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7 Reasons to Love Twitter & 3 Reasons to Hate It With a following of nearly 40,000, we also wanted to know point blank what Ken likes so much about Twitter and even everything he doesn’t. So here it is, Ken’s 7 reasons to love Twitter and 3 reasons to hate it:
7 Reasons Ken Loves It:
1. Twitter is simple and gets to the point in 140 characters. This is not the place for long drawn out conversations, but it can act as the catalyst to some great follow ups via email. 2. Twitter acts as an introduction to many people that I would never have had the chance to meet in real life. I’ve connected with magazine editors, ad agency creatives, tourism boards, hotel chains, airlines, photography related companies, awesome photographers, talented artists, travel bloggers, photo enthusiasts, and a bunch of people that I now consider friends. 3. Anyone can follow me and I can follow anyone. How deeply I get engaged with that person depends on both parties. I tend to follow most people back as a courtesy, and use the list feature quite heavily to classify those who I consider more relevant or important to my work and personal lives.
like photo sharing, poling your followers, statistical analysis of your tweets, and so much more. 7. Twitter adapts and evolves in a fluid fashion. Unlike Facebook that always seems to generate groans from users each time they “improve” their service, Twitter updates are quite well received. They understand that they have to keep it simple and that simple is why we use Twitter.
3 Reasons He Hates It:
1. Twitter is time consuming. Just like getting distracted by going on tangents when browsing online, Twitter can be a huge time killer. It’s fun and social so it’s easy to get engrossed and lose track of time. 2. Fail Whale. All too often the Twitter site goes offline because of high traffic volume. I’ve never seen this once on Facebook.
4. Twitter is SOCIAL. You really get a chance to connect with people and not brands or logos like on a Facebook Page. You get to talk to human beings in real time, in a fun, light fashion. Personalities get a chance to shine. Your likes, dislikes, and taste in subject matter defines who you are. Most importantly is the fact that you get a chance to share the real you, the person behind the creative images that you produce. People want to know who that person is and here’s your chance to show them. 5. Twitter is portable. It works well on a desktop computer as well as all forms of mobile devices like laptops, tablets, and phones. Using third party apps like HootSuite,TweetDeck, Echofon, and others will make using Twitter an even more productive experience. 6. There are hundreds of Twitter apps and tools available to help you with things
3. Spam. Yup, just like email spam, there is both regular message spam and direct message (DM) spam on Twitter. With 40,000 followers, I can get between 25-50 DM spams a day, mostly from hacked accounts of real followers who have no idea that this is going on.
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Tips From a Twitter Expert: Jim Goldstein Jim Goldstein is a travel, nature, and landscape photographer based in San Francisco. He has close to 9, 500 followers on Twitter - a number that is quickly growing.
PhotoShelter: What do you like about Twitter? What is your goal in using it? JG: My goal using Twitter is to keep people tied in to great information, services
and products... and not necessarily all my own. I’ve found social media platforms like Twitter work best when you’ve established credibility and trust with your audience. Without credibility and trust you don’t just lose your audience, but their power of referring you and the content you share with others.
PhotoShelter: Do you have a tweeting strategy? What type of content provides
you the best response from others?
JG: I post on Tiwitter as I need to. If content is being automatically posted from
my blog, I may follow up with 1 or 2 retweets for others to find later in the day, but I do so as needed and at my discretion. There are two trains of thought on this: You could 1) post the same content numerous times for people who use Twitter at different times or are in different time zones or 2) rely on search for people to find your updates. I balance both of these approaches. I regularly see followers that will check in with my updates (some being days old), while others are constantly monitoring their Twitter stream and clicking on what they see when they see it.
PhotoShelter: What do you urge photographers not to do on Twitter?
JG: The best tip I can give is to be yourself, think of others, and pull back the reigns on being too aggressive with self-promotion. There is a time and a place to self-promote, but it should be tempered. I’ve found Twitter to be far more productive in reaching new people by sharing 90+% of my updates about topics of mutual interest versus being about me, me, and moreme. That 10% or less of self-promotion will reach more people in the long run.
By and large my planned updates go out in the morning and evening. My other updates go out randomly. As I read online articles or news, I share it as I find it. If everything were automated or spread out pragmatically, as some new services offer, I wouldn’t be connecting with others in the same fashion. More than likely I am tweeting at certain times of the day based on my daily schedule, but I’m not adhering to that in a strict calculated fashion. Somethings are just better shared as you find them.
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Tweets that Work Why this tweet works:
Tweeting a quote is a great way to engage your Twitter followers. Quotes are often broad and can resonate with many others, which is an easy way to encourage retweets. This photography quote from LUCEO Images is a perfect example.
Why this tweet works:
Here, award winning photojournalist Ami Vitale is asking her followers to kindly vote for her film. This tweet work because Ami is promoting a good cause and also asking for help. Research shows that being very direct with your asks increases the likelihood of engagement.
Why this tweet works: Fine art photographer Art Wolfe thanks a follower for stopping by his show in Seattle. This tweet works because Art is showing his appreciation for a fan’s support. Thanking those who support you is critical because it lets your followers know that there’s a real person behind your Twitter account who’s actually listening and responding.
Why this tweet works:
Robert Caplin is a documentary photography who was Justin Bieber’s official tour photographer in 2011. We know that not everyone has the chance get to up close to celebrities, but this tweet works because 1) Robert integrates a photo via Instagram and 2) he’s giving followers some VIP access to a special event. What’s the takeaway? Tweet photos when you’re at an event or meeting someone in the industry.
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Measuring Success Twitter How do you know if it’s helping with your online marketing? The answer lies again with Google Analytics. You can very easily unite Google Analytics with links you post on Twitter to understand the traffic and behavior of visitors you are driving from Twitter. To do this, you need to use another great free Google tool, the Google URL Builder. The Google URL Builder allows you to append information to a standard URL that will enable Google Analytics to track all traffic that clicks the link. Google Analytics can then provide you with reporting on those visitors. You’ll get stats like total traffic, time spent on your site, total conversions (i.e. sales, newsletter signups, etc.), bounce rate (i.e. people who leave your site without clicking other content), and more. With this information, you can do two important things: • Assess the total impact of your participation on Twitter • Assess the individual impact of specific content you’ve shared on Twitter If you produce a URL through the Google URL builder, you can shorten the URL using a service like bit.ly (so the long URL doesn’t eat up your 140 character limit on tweets). You can then view the traffic data in Google Analytics using the “Campaigns” tab, and sort by campaign, medium, and source. Once you have a sense of your Twitter-driven website traffic, you can optimize your self-promotion to focus more on what works. If you tie the Google URLs to all campaigns, you can also compare the total effect of your Twitter participation against other marketing efforts and start making smart decisions about how you spend your time and money.
How PhotoShelter Can Help PhotoShelter offers a host of social sharing tools that help you promote your work via multiple platforms, including Twitter. Specifically, you can link Twitter and your PhotoShelter website in two ways: • Help your website visitors to post your work on Twitter. You can easily add a “Share This” widget to your PhotoShelter website. This is a simple buttons on your image galleries and single images so that your website visitors can instantly share links to your images via their favorite social networks. You need to make it as easy as possible for other people to promote your photography. • Post galleries to Twitter. If you have a PhotoShelter account, you can open any image gallery inside your account and click “Tweet This!” to share your gallery directly with your Twitter followers. The link posted to Twitter will take your followers to your PhotoShelter website. This is great for announcing when new galleries go live.
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Other Social Media Platforms that Matter Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter may be the most popular social media platforms out there today, but there are many more that if used the right way, can help you interact with potential customers and grow your photography brand. Here’s a list of a few that we thinkare also well worth investigating.
Vimeo
StumbleUpon
The iPhone app is famous for having acquired over a million users in 10 weeks, and now signs up a new user every second. Instagram’s filters and photos borders make even the worst photos look like art, and sharing images through the app or by posting images on Facebook has become a very potent marketing tool for pros and amateurs alike.
Link sharing sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, and the like may seem antiquated in the Facebook/Twitter age, but based on Google Analytics, we see many of the top traffic-driving photographers using these platforms to significantly extend their reach.
Pinterest is a community “pin board” that has become the darling of fashionistas and crafty moms. It’s a simplified extension of the scrapbooking concept that is incredibly popular in certain parts of the country. Photographers have started to explore Pinterest, and are carefully towing the line with being overtly commercial on a site that’s more specifically designed for “discovery.”
Flickr
Although Flickr has lost its sheen in the past few years, it’s still a potent source of images and image makers. (You might recall Getty’s decision to source images from Flickr as a way to find new, contemporary talent.) Flickr’s commenting system makes it an inherently social platform, and many photographers have created massive following by constantly loading images into their stream.
YouTube might be the most popular video site on the web, but Vimeo is where the cool kids hang out. The video hosting service has long been the launch platform for independent film makers, but photographers have gotten into the mix with the proliferation of DSLR video and all the cool gadgets like computer controlled dollies and high speed frame rates.
500px
Some people refer to 500px as the new Flickr, but what makes 500px so compelling is that it’s a highly curated set of imagery set into a aesthetically pleasing design. Many pro photographers have started to migrate their images to 500px, but will photo buyers follow?
Tumblr
Although Tumblr is generally considered a microblogging platform, the service’s commenting and following features have created a very interactive social environment for its participants. Its massive growth over the past few years has continued to attract a creative demographic, and as such, the developer and design community have created a multitude of plug-ins and themes to suit every taste.
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Other Platforms
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9 Major Takeaways From This Handbook: 1. Excelling at social media requires time, effort, and a plan. Before getting started you need to ask yourself who you’re trying to reach and what you’re trying to accomplish. You then need to tailor your efforts to reflect those answers. 2. This is not an opportunity to shout from the rooftops about you, you, and more you. Regardless of which site you’re using, remember the number: 10%. That’s how much you should be marketing your own sales and promotions. 3. In order to build your brand and grow your following, keep in mind that interacting on social media networks is only part of your marketing efforts. You must balance this with other outbound marketing strategies (email campaigns, trade shows, advertising, etc.) in order to attract a wider pool of potential customers. 4. To measure success, use a tool like Google Analytics to track incoming referral traffic from Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Then monitor Google Anlaytics daily to get a solid understanding of which platforms and specific posts draw people directly to your business and niche industry. 5. Remember you’re using social media to help get your business noticed. Refrain from using your profiles to conflate your professional and personal life. People want to get to know your personality, but that doesn’t mean you should be sharing posts about the latest movie you saw and why you liked it. You’re there to talk about topics that relate to your niche. 6. Incorporate your blog and website links into your social shares. Sites like Google and Bing are slowly (but surely) allowing user-generated content links to affect search engine index ranking. This means that the more people who “like” or +1 your content, the better your SEO. 7. On every platform, your responsiveness to those who mention you or post on your page is key. Quickly responding lets your followers know that you’re listening, you care, and you’re receptive to suggestions and feedback. This adds to your credibility as a good business person with excellent customer service. 8. When 24 hours in the day is not nearly enough, PhotoShelter helps optimize your time by making social media sharing efficient and easy, and helps you drive traffic directly back to your PhotoShelter site. You don’t need PhotoShelter to use social media to help build your photography business, but dang, it definitely makes your life a lot easier. 9. Make social media part of your daily workflow! Social media is not something you should pay attention to once a week or only on the weekends. Create a consistent daily schedule with dedicated times to post, share, and interact with users. This will help grow your following and increases your chances for solid business opportunities.
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