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Marketing Your Photography With Instagram

Writer's picture: Mark PauldaMark Paulda

Updated: Dec 1, 2024

Social Media Marketing

How Do I Do It, And Why Should I Do It?


Marketing Your Photography With Instagram


Below you’ll find my general tips for all social media, but if you want platform-specific tips see my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts in this blog.


Successfully marketing your photography store on social media can reap huge rewards - but it does take effort! In simple terms, there are three steps to success.



instagram app on a mobile phone

Three Tips To Success


01

Build. Before you start trying to make sales through social media, you need to put some time into making your social media profiles look as good as they can, by fully completing your profiles and posting some engaging, beautiful content.


02

Grow. Once you’re set up and posting regularly, it’s time to start growing. This step can take some time, but can also be a lot of fun along the way. Post your best work, share interesting content you create or find, engage with others, and take part in conversations.


03

Sell. As you continue to post and grow, the right people will start to notice your business. At this point you can also start engaging with people you see as potential customers. The more you grow, the easier it will be to find buyers, and for buyers to find you.


photographer checking his instagram page

Username

Make sure to keep your username consistent with all your other social media accounts! Having the same or similar usernames across all your accounts helps reinforce your personal brand and means that people can find you more easily.


Bio

Write a simple bio that explains who you are and what you do. If your photography is specialised around a particular subject, make sure to mention that. If you had just a few seconds (or in this case 150 characters) to explain your photography to a complete stranger, what would you say? That will be your bio.


Don’t be afraid to show some personality - be playful with it! This is a chance to give an insight into the photographer behind the images.


The ultimate goal of your Instagram profile should be to drive visitors to your photography website.


“Link In Bio”

You may have seen people on Instagram writing “Link in bio” in their image captions. If you’re linking to your photography website in your bio, this is a great idea. Imagine a potential buyer stumbles across one of your posts and likes what they see. By saying “Link in bio” you are encouraging them to follow the link to your website. This could be the difference between someone liking your image and moving on, versus liking and taking the time to visit your store and buy something.


What To Post

Think of your Instagram profile as a portfolio - a direct platform for you to show what you can do. It has fast become the first place image buyers will look to get a taste of a photographer’s work. So, keep it professional, and only post your best images. It can help if your style or image subject is consistent, too - the best performing Instagram accounts tend to pick a style and stick with it.


Don’t be afraid to deviate from your style occasionally, though - just make sure they’re up to your usual visual standard. Social media is as much about personality as professionalism, so post some shots of your gear, behind the scenes at your shoots, your morning routine, etc.


Aim for 1-2 posts a day to keep the content rolling. Research shows that people are much more likely to engage with someone who is active.


Instagram profile on a mobile phone

Make Your Instagram Profile A Business Account

By switching to a business account (it’s free) you can also add an email address, giving potential customers an easy way to get in touch with you. You’ll also get an added analytics section to keep track of how your posts are performing.


Follow People

Once you’ve posted some of your best images and your feed is up and running, you should start following people.


To get started you can follow people you already know by following these instructions:

1. Go to your profile

2. Click Discover People > Contacts.

3. Click Connect Contacts > Allow Access.

4. Click Follow next to the people you’d like to follow.


After doing this, you can find people you might like to follow using Instagram’s search function. Tap the search bar to search for people, hashtags, places and events that interest you. Each time you follow someone, they will get a notification - and some of them will follow you back.


Tagging

Tagging helps new people discover your work, and can help you appear in the “Discover” area of Instagram.

There Are Three Types Of Tagging:

  • Geo tagging

  • Whenever you post an image of a specific location, you should geotag it. Your image will then become more discoverable to people either in that location or researching that location.

  • People tagging

  • If an image you post includes someone who is also on Instagram, tag them. This is especially helpful if that person has lots of followers themselves!

  • Hashtags

  • Tag your image with 1-3 relevant hashtags. This will make you discoverable to people searching for those terms.


captuing an image with a mobile phone for instagram

Cross-Promote.

Promote your Instagram account on your Facebook and Twitter and vice versa to encourage more people to follow you on each platform. This can give you a nice little follower boost.


Look For Exposure Opportunities

Nothing is quite as effective at growing your follower base than being featured by other accounts with high numbers of followers. Research competitions and opportunities that repost images. For example, Guardian Travel Snaps reposts the best images that are hash tagged with #guardiantravelsnaps. A great way to increase your exposure.


Give Shout Outs.

When you post, take any opportunity you can to mention others. For example, if you used a Nikon camera to take a shot of someone that someone has purchased as a print, you could mention them all in your post.


Your post might read something like:

“Lovely shooting @PersonA using my trusty @Nikon for @customer.


By doing so you are making yourself visible to the audiences of PersonA, Nikon and Nat Geo, and will hopefully get some new followers. You can do this with people, companies, and places, big and small. Again, don’t spam anyone. Only so this when it is relevant.


Go Out And Find New Buyers.

Don’t be afraid to introduce yourselves to potential buyers on Instagram. If your profile has a steady stream of your best work, you can start searching for businesses and publications that you think might be interested in purchasing your images. For example, if you have an amazing collection of exercise-themed images, you could message local gyms with a polite introduction. Find them on Instagram and follow them - hopefully they’ll see your work and follow you back. Don’t put them off by spamming or giving them a sales pitch, but encourage them to be aware of you and you work. Being proactive is the best way to make sales.


Social media is about making connections, and you want to be making positive connections with image buyers. Remember, first impressions counts massively, so only begin doing this if you think your Instagram profile is full of good content and reflects your best work. If it doesn’t yet... start working on it.


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Mark Paulda, a highly acclaimed travel photographer, has a passion for helping fellow photographers achieve their goals. Considered a photography mentor, he offers personalized one-on-one sessions to teach the ins and outs of making money and succeeding in the photography business. He also provides valuable guidance on self-promotion and marketing strategies specifically tailored for photographers. Through his expertise, you can learn the best practices for marketing your photography, setting up a successful business, and mastering the art of photo composition through the top online photography classes available. With his online photography academy, you can unlock the secrets of photo composition and the art of seeing, all while gaining a deep understanding of the business side of photography. As a Grammy Award finalist for Best Album Art for a Music CD and a three-time best-selling author of photography books, it's no surprise that Mark Paulda is renowned as one of the top photography mentors today and his online photography school is hailed as one of the best in the industry.

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