INSTAGRAM MARKETING FOR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction - The Importance of Social Media for Wedding Photographers 3 Chapter 1 | Why Use Instagram for Marketing? 4 How to Get Started with Social Media 6 How to Create Quality Content 7 How to Post Your Content: Guidelines and Rules 8 Best Times to Post 9 Chapter 2 | Using Instagram to Grow Your Business 10 Hashtags 12 Vendor/Venue Tags 12 Shortened Links 13 Embedded Posts 13 Featured Posts 13 Scheduled Posts 14 INTRODUCTION THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR Wedding Detail Photos 14 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS Copy Following 15 Consistent Posting 15 Understanding the Audience 16 Social media has been a staple of the internet since its conception, evolving from things like group emails, chatrooms, and discussion Multiple Image Posts 17 forums to giant social platforms like Facebook and Instagram. However, Instagram Stories 18 it wasn’t until recently that it became a critical component for almost all businesses, including photography studios. Instagram TV 19 The Explore Page 20 The definition of social media encompasses all websites and applications that enable users to create and share content with others. While many Max Engagement Apps 20 websites and applications fall under this definition, we’re going to focus Understanding the Algorithm 21 our attention on one that has an enormous impact on photography Conclusion 21 businesses: Instagram. With over 1 billion active users and growing, Instagram is a wonderful tool for connecting photographers with fans and clients. As a visual platform, it lends well to showcasing great visual imagery.

2 3 You might be thinking that Instagram -- or social media in general -- is not for you. Maybe you’re wary of the ever-changing privacy landscape or maybe you think you just don’t have time. But here are some reasons why utilizing a social media platform like Instagram is critical to your photography studio.

1. Speed of Communication – An Instagram presence allows you to communicate directly with CHAPTER 1 your clients and your fans with speed and ease. Now, your clients and fans can stay up to date with your latest work the moment it’s published. WHY USE INSTAGRAM FOR MARKETING? 2. Personal Connections & Feedback – With Instagram, you are able to interact on a personal level, leading to stronger connections to your fans and clients. These advocates are the first ones to give you honest feedback, the first ones to hit the “like” button, and the first ones to recommend your work.

3. Impressions and Consistent Reminders – You have the opportunity to consistently remind your network of your services and your work. As long as you’re tactful along the way, these impressions will help your business come to mind when they, or their friends, need photography services.

4. Reach – Social media companies are valued in the billions because of their high number of active users. Done the right way, your Instagram profile can be like placing an advertisement in your client’s favorite magazine as you’re engaging your users on their preferred platform. If your clients are spending a large chunk of their day on Instagram, you should be there too.

5. Distribution – On Instagram, your work has a chance of getting shared and distributed organically to a wider audience.

6. Recommendations – Should your Instagram content be reposted from one user to another, a friend recommending to another friend, the power of that personal recommendation has the chance to be much more effective than any other form of advertising. What’s even better is that this marketing power is free.

7. Analytics and Research – Instagram gives you concrete numbers that can help you make decisions in your business. You can simply ask a question and collect responses. You can look into the insights and analytics of your page, which most social networks provide for free, to see your fans’ age groups, locations, gender, and more. Understanding your clients is critical to the success of your business and Instagram provides you with a great way to do so.

8. Credibility – Strong Instagram numbers gives you credibility and establishes a sense of authority for your prospective clients. Imagine comparing a photography studio with 10,000 Instagram followers to one with 50. That business with 10,000 just seems more established, more popular, and more successful. Of course, this could be very far from the truth, but you can never discount the importance of client perception and initial impressions.

9. Direct Tie-in to SEO – We’ve established the importance of Instagram as a web marketing tool, but how does social media and SEO directly tie together? Social media has recently emerged as a small but important piece of the organic SEO equation, meaning actions within social media networks like Instagram can directly affect your organic SEO results. For now, the specifics are not important because if you simply follow the best practices outlined in this guide and grow your Instagram presence organically, the benefits will cross over to organic search without needing to focus on the ever-changing nuances of how the two relate. 4 5 HOW TO CREATE QUALITY CONTENT

Like organic SEO, succeeding on Instagram starts with great content. A page with great content is worth following, worth sharing, and worth discussing. To create quality content, there are many overarching practices and concepts that you should consider.

Before you study ‘best practices’ and nuances of each, consider the following general guidelines:

1. Understand the Medium - Instagram equals ‘eye candy’ and non-visual stories don’t translate. Making sure that the images you showcase are eye-catching is crucial. Each image should provide HOW TO GET STARTED enough context to engage your viewers. 2. Curate/Select the Right Imagery - Consider the visual interest of each image in its thumbnail size and ensure that the subjects are an appropriate size for the medium. On Instagram, for example, a tiny thumbnail of people who are also very small in the frame is not as likely to capture a viewer’s interest because the subjects are lost and hard to see; however, medium to close-up angles of your subjects will likely fare better when trying to grab your audience’s Now that you understand the importance of marketing on Instagram, where do you start? Complete attention as they scroll through their daily feed. the following steps to get the ball rolling: 3. Images Should Works as Squares - While Instagram does give you the option to post in 1. FILL OUT YOUR BIO & CUSTOMIZE YOUR PROFILE portrait (1080x1350px) and landscape (1080x566px) dimensions, keep in mind that the images will still be cropped to a square on your profile. So you may want to consider how your images will work as a square thumbnail to facilitate a cohesive, good-looking profile. Add a profile picture and a brief bio, as well as a link to your website.

As a photographer, your profile picture creates a great opportunity to showcase your work and/or your brand, so use that to your advantage by uploading a solid picture or your company logo.

In your bio, be sure to mention that you’re a photographer in order to connect with others in the photo world and related industries. Because there are so many fake accounts, making yours personalized helps add legitimacy and increases the chances of someone connecting with you.

2. START WITH YOUR FRIENDS

The saying “nobody wants to drink at an empty bar” applies to the world of social media just as much as it applies to the read world, as people are much more inclined to “like” or follow a profile if it already seems popular. You have to start somewhere! Your family and friends have likely supported you in other aspects of your business and most will be glad to help you in the social networking world as well. But remember, there is a fine line between asking and spamming. You never want to be that annoying friend who aggressively markets their services to family and friends. Find the balance where you and your audience will feel most comfortable.

6 7 HOW TO POST YOUR CONTENT: GUIDELINES & RULES

TALES

In the previous section, we covered content guidelines for Instagram posts. So now that you’re posting engaging, interesting content, how do you get your images shared or reposted by other accounts? The acronym “TALES” will provide you with a guideline on how to post your images so that they receive maximum exposure.

• T | Tag – Tag your clients, the venue, the makeup team, and any other person or company involved in creating the photograph. The users tagged get notifications that prompt them to check the post. Once tagged, people might repost the image or tag their friends. Beyond the increased exposure, giving credit to others is always good business practice.

• A | Aim High – Tag related companies and people, even if you think they are too big or too busy to notice. Most businesses and celebrities have PR managers who check relevant tags BEST TIMES TO POST on a regular basis. When a popular account shares your post, you might see a huge influx of followers and exposure. So aim high and don’t be afraid to tag anyone relevant, no matter how large or inaccessible they may seem. When looking to post to your Instagram, it is best to publish when a larger number of your • L | Link – Link your different social networks to save time. You can simultaneously post on audience is online and active on the app. The multiple networks through third party apps or on Instagram. Connect multiple networks benefits of posting at peak times include faster to your Instagram account so that when you post to Instagram, the same content is engagement from your audience, which factors automatically posted to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and others. You can similarly link up your into Instagram’s current algorithm and how your Facebook account to your Twitter and vice versa. Find as many connections as you can so posts get ranked and show up on your users’ feed. your content generation is easy and fluid. After all, it doesn’t matter if you have 10,000 In addition to how much engagement your posts followers if you don’t have the time to reach them. receive, it matters how quickly users engage with your content after you post. • E | Engage – If someone comments on your post, comment back! By engaging with your commenters, you’re building a relationship with your audience while, at the same time, When looking to post to your Instagram, it is generating more views. The initial commenter might receive a notification and return to view best to publish when a larger number of your your reply. From there, they might continue the discussion. Having legitimate conversations audience is online and active on the app. The with others develops online friendships, resulting in more engagement. Great engagement benefits of posting at peak times include faster and an increasing number of comments will also prove useful in helping you trump the engagement from your audience, which factors Instagram algorithm and help your posts be prioritized on your audience’s feed. into Instagram’s current algorithm and how your posts get ranked and show up on your users’ feed. • S | Schedule – It’s easy to dismiss posting in social media as something that you’ll do later In addition to how much engagement your posts when you have time. However, with this approach, you can easily neglect your accounts. receive, it matters how quickly users engage with Instead, you should incorporate posting to these networks into your regular workflow. Even if your content after you post. you have to set a calendar reminder every day at noon, you should be posting daily or at least every other day. Stay in the minds of your fans and friends and they’re more likely to think The times that will work best for you will differ of you when their photography needs arise. The great news is that with most social media from other users as optimal times are contingent networks you can schedule posts ahead of time, so if you’re swamped, consider scheduling on your specific audience. However, as a general out the entire week or month all at once. This could mean setting up all of your posts in rule of thumb, we have found that posting before Instagram, saving them as Drafts, and setting an alarm to manually post them later at a time and after general work hours have proved to have or using paid third party apps like Grum, Iconosquare, and Schedugram to schedule and the most engagement.There are also other paid publish your posts for you. third party apps that you can use to provide more detailed analytics on exactly what time is best to post your content. 8 9 With Instagram now at a staggering 1 billion monthly active users, you want to utilize all CHAPTER 2 available features to enhance your marketing USING INSTAGRAM TO strategies and take full advantage of the platform to reach as many people as possible. These GROW YOUR BUSINESS features include:

1. Hashtags 2. Vendor/Venue Tags 3. Shortened Links 4. Embedded Posts 5. Featured Posts 6. Scheduled Posts 7. Wedding Detail Photos 8. Copy Following 9. Consistent Posting 10. Understanding the Audience 11. Multiple Image Posts 12. Instagram Stories 13. Instagram TV 14. The Explore Page 15. Max Engagement Apps

10 11 1. HASHTAGS 3. SHORTENTED LINKS

While hashtags are important in a wide range of social media platforms, they are particularly important Links are not actually clickable on Instagram (outside of your bio and those included in your Instagram with Instagram as users are more actively searching and engaging with hashtags on Instagram (than stories), so the only way you can direct traffic to your website is if you include a short, memorable URL they are, say, on Facebook). So if you’re Instagramming a picture of a bouquet, tag it with #bouquet in your posts for your users to input into their browsers. and that may lead to a bride discovering your work while looking for wedding inspiration.

Hashtags often come into play when trying to create a marketing strategy on Instagram. By creating 4. EMBEDDED POSTS specific, intentional hashtag sets, you can categorize your content and make it more discoverable, especially since Instagram made it possible to follow hashtags. Just be aware that users can also block Embedding your Instagram posts onto your website gives you the ability to connect your regular blog certain hashtags, so you may want to mix it up to reach a wider audience. visitors to your Instagram account. If they’re interested, they may click through and potentially follow your account. You might also consider adding features or plugins onto your website that display all your When you can find a way to use a relevant, active hashtag, your potential for an increase in visibility, recent Instagram posts to further promote your Instagram to your website visitors. followers, and engagement will begin to grow.

2. VENDOR/VENUE TAGS

Vendors + Venues + Media = Exposure

When you tag vendors, venues, and other relevant outlets, your images receive more exposure and have a better chance of getting seen and shared, ultimately landing you more work.

5. FEATURED POSTS

Getting featured is easier said than done, but if you can get your content featured by an account with a large amount of followers, your numbers will see an increase. In order to be featured on such accounts, it may mean that you send them an email with some of your most recent work, networking and potentially becoming friends with influencers outside of social media, or your content may simply be coming up on their radar through careful mentioning and hashtagging. If you have any networking magic up your sleeve, this is the time to use it because the potential exposure is significant.

12 13 6. SCHEDULED POSTS

Instagram does not currently have its own scheduling feature but you can use the aforementioned paid third party apps like Grum, Iconosquare, and Schedugram to schedule and publish your posts for you.

7. WEDDING DETAIL PHOTOS 8. COPY FOLLOWING Sharing wedding detail photos are great as they are wonderfully taggable and provide opportunities to reach a number of marketing goals: Copy following is the act of following users who are interested in accounts similar to yours. By following these users and liking their posts, this • Attract More Brides/Potential Clients - will boost your visibility with an audience that Brides might be shopping around and is within your peer group and shares an interest looking for wedding inspiration when they in the services you provide while also inspiring come across your detail photo on Instagram. organic participation. Although their initial goal may have been simply to find a wedding detail vendor, they So what does the copy following process even may see your photo and like it enough to look like? Here is an example: follow your account and potentially book you as their photographer. As a wedding photographer, you may visit The Knot’s Instagram account and follow a number of • Keep Vendors/Venues Happy - Just like their followers as there is a very high chance that yourself, vendors and venues are always the majority of their audience are brides-to-be. looking for more content to post on their As you go through and follow these new brides social accounts and high-quality images that and like their photos, they will be notified of your showcase their work. Consistently tagging interaction with them and will potentially take an vendors and venues in your photos will not interest with your work, follow your account as only help you get your photos shared by a result, and may end up booking you for their them, exposing your work to a new audience, wedding. but it also maintains a positive working relationship with these vendors and serves as This strategy is effective but can prove to be time- a effective form of networking. consuming, however, as it must be done manually; apps that facilitated copy following are no longer • Build Ongoing Organic Marketing - Detail photos make for great marketing content as they available due to restrictions set up by Instagram. prove to be timeless and that brides will always be searching for details so therefore, an ongoing stream of potential clients will come across your detail photos. 9. CONSISTENT POSTING • Create Styled Shoot Opportunities - By showcasing your ability to capture amazing detail shots, vendors and venues will be more inclined to work with you when looking to organize Start with at least one post per week, and then their styled shoots. This is incredibly beneficial for your business as you not only get to shoot eventually try to get to a place where you have and have more content for your portfolio but now your business will always be associated enough content to post once per day. with all of the vendors’ and venues’ advertising.

• Get Published - Wedding publications are always on the lookout for amazing details to feature on either their print publication, website, or social media. Posting your best detail images with thoughtful tagging and hashtag will help you get their attention and potentially get your work featured and shared with their audience.

14 15 11. MULTIPLE IMAGE POSTS

Instagram has the option for users to include up to 10 videos or photos in a single post, in essence turning each post into a sort of blog or portfolio, all of which creates more opportunities to showcase more images at once from a wedding and tag more vendors. 10. UNDERSTANDING THE AUDIENCE This means a great deal for professional photographers trying to bring in clients as now multiple images from a shoot, session, or wedding can be seen in one quick swipe instead of prompting users Clients tend to book you based on what to click a link to a blog post. they see on your Instagram, so maintaining a specific style lets them know what to expect, and lets you know exactly what to deliver. Of course, the degree to which you make your feed consistent is a business choice that should depend on your style, niche, and audience.

Understanding your audience will also help you tailor your social media content and optimize it for more likes/engagement. You may consider taking a look at the photos you’ve posted and discern which ones have done the best in terms of highest number of likes and comments. Once you’ve figured out what your audience likes to see based off of these numbers, look to post images that are similar in style/concept to pursue that same amount of high engagement.

Remember, engagement goes both ways, so be sure to interact with your followers, too. Instagram monitors how frequently and how quickly users engage with a post, so check back often to keep the conversation current. Communicating often with your followers represents a major way to bypass the algorithm’s filtering wall. Writing questions in your captions may work well for this, especially questions that are crafted to elicit more than yes or no responses. You don’t have to wait for your followers to comment on your posts, either. Be proactive and reach out to followers whose posts intrigue you or showcase similar interests. Your followers will likely be excited to have garnered your attention and will respond to your comment(s).

16 17 Using Instagram Story Highlights 12. INSTAGRAM STORIES Instagram Stories Highlights and Instagram Stories Similar to Snapchat, Instagram stories live short, 24-hour lives, but they’re impact can be long lasting. Archive are features that extend the shelf life of It’s important to note that content shared via Instagram Stories lives exclusively in that context and is stories. Highlights are curated stories that remain not shared on users’ regular grids or Instagram feeds, unless users choose to create curated Highlights available on your profile until you decide to remove that are pinned on their profile. them. Archives will do what they sound like they’ll do - store the stories after they’ve expired to be How to Make the Most Out of Your Instagram Stories displayed at a later time (if desired).

Having great, visually captivating stories is a great tool to help you showcase your work and even give Benefits of having Highlights include not only your users a more in-depth look to your brand and work process. Take advantage of Instagram Stories saving and displaying your previous stories but as an additional outlet to express and promote your business by: also expanding your options for presenting your content to users visiting your profile.

• Creating a strategy behind your posts NOTE: You will be unable to add stories to your highlight that were posted to your Instagram • Post stories to coincide with your latest Stories before December 2017. blog post to market and highlight your most recent work

• Designing your stories for a vertical display

• Optimize your stories to fill the 13. INSTAGRAM TV 1080x1920px dimensions (aspect ratio of 9:16) so that your imagery/message As of August 2018, Instagram TV is a relative fills the screen and captures the most newcomer to the Instagram feature set. Its attention introduction of long-form video content to the social platform is remarkable but how does it • Using Stories to share BTS (behind-the- affect you as a wedding photographer? scenes) content With Instagram TV only being a month old at the • Engage with your audience by posting creation of this guide, this new inclusion hasn’t behind-the-scenes content that can proven to be an immediate game changer for show how a particular image was shot or wedding photographers in particular. Although, how an image was edited. Similar to BTS this doesn’t mean that you can’t use IGTV for content, going Live with timely content additional marketing purposes. You may consider like original tutorials or real-time BTS uploading high quality slideshows of your images footage can also allow you to reach users to your IGTV channel that will be served to your and build your brand. existing subscribers.

18 19 14. THE EXPLORE PAGE

Unlike Instagram’s previous “Popular” page, which featured generally popular posts that were not influenced by any particular user, the Explore page features content that is target-based and depends on each specific user’s interaction with Instagram. In other words, if you can get your content to appear on the Explore page, then the chances of the user engaging with your content (liking, commenting, sharing, etc.) increases dramatically, as does your chances of reaching a wider audience. If a large profile on Instagram, such as a celebrity or business with hundreds of thousands of followers likes your post while it is on the Explore page, your post will reach their followers as well.

You can increase your chances of getting on the Explore page by following the tips in this guide UNDERSTANDING THE ALGORITHM (knowing your audience and posting relevant content, using appropriate hashtags, tagging others associated with your posts, creating live content and/or stories, posting at optimal times, etc.).

15. MAX ENGAGEMENT APPS As mentioned earlier, Instagram’s algorithm makes it noticeably more difficult for brands to get their Instagram’s ever-changing algorithm tends to content seen, taking the feed even further from its chronological roots, but it’s still not impossible for make it increasingly difficult for businesses and brands to have a strong presence on Instagram. brands to reach their audiences (see later sections below for more information on Instagram’s Surprisingly, as little as 10% of a brand’s audience may actually see that brand’s post on Instagram algorithm). Luckily, there are apps to help navigate because of the algorithm’s filtering capabilities. the algorithm and find success in marketing your business on Instagram. High engagement is rewarded, which increases the significance of the volume and frequency of likes, comments, video views, saves, shares, and more that each post receives. Based on the algorithm, more These tools are the best things we can do as engagement implies a higher quality post; therefore, these posts get more exposure. users to help increase engagement on our posts, but Instagram will still serve the posts to our Just as photographers love it when their clients order prints and hang them on the walls of their homes, audiences as they see fit. Instagram likes to see their features put to use. Instagram’s algorithm tracks how many features are being used as well as how often they’re used, so experiment with new features when they’re released One app, called Focalmark, synthesizes the most to get on the algorithm’s good side. explored and trending hashtags that are within your target area and niche market into an all-inclusive caption (with up to 30 hashtags). Focalmark IN CONCLUSION does this by collecting data on what users who are interested and active in your selected topics are searching for. By using these hashtags and We hope you have enjoyed this guide and will use the information we’ve shared to take your Instagram inputting them into your first comment after marketing potential to the next level. publishing your post, you can help maximize your exposure by getting your post pushed to the most If you would like to learn more marketing strategies to help grow your photography business, sign up active hashtags within your market. (Screenshot for updates on the release of our SLR Lounge Business Course, the A-Z guide on running a wedding of post with first comment) photography studio.

There are many other third party apps, both paid and free, that can also help the reach and engagement of your posts like Planoly, Preview, and more.

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