Photographers Are You Blocking The Print Feature On Facebook?

Will Facebook Comments Be The Way Of The Future?

One of the reasons I fell in love with blogging is it allowed me the opportunity to connect with people all over the world. I could write an article and post it, and people can comment and write what they choose in response to what I’ve written. It’s a great way to communicate, and to add value to what we do every day.

A few months ago Facebook came out with a new social plugin that people can use to power the comment section of their blogs. I’ve played around with it on several of my sites. It offers two main benefits over using the typical comments section that comes with your blog: (you can get the plugin here as well)

Social Relevance: Comments Box uses social signals to surface the highest quality comments for each user. Comments are ordered to show users the most relevant comments from friends, friends of friends, and the most liked or active discussion threads, while comments marked as spam are hidden from view.

Distribution: Comments are easily shared with friends or with people who like your Page on Facebook. If a user leaves the “Post to Facebook” box checked when she posts a comment, a story appears on her friends’ News Feed indicating that she’s made a comment on your website, which will also link back to your site.

Are companies accepting this as the new norm in commenting?

This past week, Big Picture announced it is moving to the Facebook comments platform. And I completely agree with their reasoning.

1. Facebook is the major player in the online world. With a growing base expected to reach 700 million users in the next few months, and a worldwide presence with over 70 different languages, you can’t ignore it as a marketing tool.

2. Commenting with this system means your exposure increases tenfold across many platforms instead of staying within your site or blog. Because people have the opportunity to include their comments in their newsfeeds, you have the potential of increasing the viewers of your content and information.

3. No more anonymous comments with rude and vulgar remarks. This stops when you require people to use their real names.

While more people are starting to use this new form of commenting, I do think it will be even more commonplace here in the coming months. The true reason for social is to easily share anything anywhere, any time. This makes it even more possible.

Are you using Facebook comments on your site?

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: blogging, commenting on blogs, facebook comments, newsfeed, plugin, using the comment section

Is Facebook Killing Your Website?

by Virtual Photography Leave a Comment

Just a few short years ago, the online world was pretty simple. Design a website, make it pleasing, and you could find success online.

Then things started changing. Social hit and nothing has been the same since. While MySpace gave a first shot at connecting up with like-minded people, it wasn’t until Facebook made waves that we began to see an alternative to building a presence that is both professional and personable.

The best feature of Facebook is it’s free. Where else can you create a presence and market your business – all for the price of FREE? So of course many new start up photography businesses are using it instead of building a website.

But is that the best course of action? Can you really build a strong, successful business with just a free Facebook account?

Yes. And no.

Facebook’s War On Websites

Historically we went online to search out content relative to what we were searching for. If someone typed in a keyword or phrase, they were looking for a website filled with content that could answer their questions, and possible provide them with enough information that would convert them into a customer.

Today, time is short. And our methods of gaining information make the necessity for short information even greater. If we’re standing in line at the post office and do a quick search from a smart phone, we want short tidbits – directions, 140 characters of content, photos, videos, an app to get the details we need. Which makes the Facebook platform perfect for what we need.

We can use a Facebook app to get to our account. See what’s new in our newsfeed. And connect to any messages or requests we’ve received since we logged in the last time. The “like” feature has added tremendous value over the past few months because we can control what we want to see and what we want to share. It helps build your credibility as a company.

Dig Deeper: How To Use The Facebook Like Button

With a few simple steps, you can create a Facebook Page that emulates your brand. And because you can build as many “tabs” into your page as you desire, your Page can be quite complex.

Dig Deeper: How To Make Your Facebook Page Attract Customers

And with many of the apps now available both within Facebook itself, and outside with third party developers, your Facebook Page can do just about anything your traditional website can do. With galleries, shopping carts, and more, a customized Page is just a few clicks away. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: business, Facebook page, marketing, Photography, web presence, Website

How To Make Your Facebook Page Attract Customers

by Virtual Photography Leave a Comment

Putting up a Facebook Page is easy. Click on the Create A Page button, and it walks you through a few screens to add content.

The challenge comes from turning your page from a stand-alone, no one knows you’re there Page, into a Page that brings in new clientele every day. After working with Facebook steadily for a couple of years now, I’ve discovered there are four key steps that will help you move from a Page know one knows about, to a Page everyone raves about.

Use The Features

One of the reasons Facebook is so popular is its user friendliness. You can check in on your desktop, laptop, tablet or smart phone. You can use your browser window, or use an app. Phones, cameras and video equipment now come with “push one button” technology that allows you to go from concept to sharing in a matter of minutes. And in today’s me-society, that’s powerful stuff. Everyone is a reporter. Everyone stays connected.

With Facebook features, all of this is easy.

It may seem overwhelming at first, but most features can be enabled and used in a matter of minutes. Start with the basics. Then commit to trying something new everyday.

“I’m scared to post anything. I know it will be there forever, what if I make a mistake?”

I had a client ask me that recently. So we talked for a while. We had just set up her page, and she had 25 people liking her page – most were friends. With 25 friends, they will be forgiving. So I had her start out small. She photographed a few images on a hike, and sent them to her Page with a simple caption. She included photos of a conference she attended, and learned to tag the people in the photographs. And she made a couple of “mistakes” – spelling errors, and incomplete thoughts. But she learned, and is now much more confident about posting. And her friend base is growing in the process.

Develop A Strategy

What if I asked you what your marketing strategy is? What would your answer be?

I’m betting you would have a variety of ideas in place.

Advertise in the local magazine every month.

Monthly mailers to my client base.

The local bridal show.

I’m sure you have a number of campaigns and tools in place in order to keep clients coming in all the time.

Now let me ask what your Facebook strategy is? Hmmm… [Read more...]

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: advertising, Attract Customers, Facebook marketing, Facebook page, gaining clients, planning, strategy

4 Ways To Use The New Facebook

by Virtual Photography Leave a Comment

It seems like Facebook is always tweaking and making some kind of change. But recently Facebook made some changes that are particularly beneficial to small business owners. Let’s look at some of the newest features and how they can help you become more attuned to your followers, and reach out to them in a better way.

Who Do You Want To Be?

When you login to Facebook and travel around making comments, your comments are posted using your personal profile. All that has changed, as you can now tell Facebook who you want to be as you are making comments.

By visiting your “account” in the top right of your page you’ll see the option “Use Facebook as Page”. This allows you to visit other pages and write comments as your Page, or brand, not as your personal self. So any comments, photos or videos will come from your brand – making it easier than ever to stay active as your business, not as you personally.

Keep in mind that you do need to shift back and forth as you are posting, especially if you have different brands. Also, if you have more than one admin for a page, make sure they are also aware of shifting back and forth as they post. You don’t want to accidentally post the wrong message – remember who you are at all times!

A Change In Navigation

Remember the tabs at the top of your Page? No more. Now your page is set up very much like your profile, with the navigation falling to the left side of your screen under your logo/photo.

The new navigation makes it more user friendly, and makes your Page more accessible – much like you access your Profile. If you’ve been complaining about separating your personal from your business life, this will help you keep the two distinctly separate.

Control Your Likes

As a Page, or a brand, you probably have certain Pages that you connect up with, and like to showcase to your visitors within your Page. Now as an account admin, you have full control over what shows up under your navigation.

Remember, you can join other pages that have similarities, or you can create more than one page for your different brands and services. In either case, you as an admin have the final say over what is showcased on your Page.

Change Your Photos

Chances are you’ve seen the new photo layout on your Profile. While your Profile allows you full access to the layout, and allows you to be creative with the way it presents to your visitors, you still don’t have quite the leeway with your Page photos.

Even so, your photos are now front and center of your page. Don’t allow them to become stagnant, and make sure you are changing them often for a “new look” as your visitors come over to share and make comments. Follow Virtual Photography Studio on Facebook

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: facebook, likes, pages, photos, profile, social marketing, Ways To Use The New Facebook

Photographers Are You Blocking The Print Feature On Facebook?

by Virtual Photography 24 Comments

Do you know how easy it is for your friends in Facebook to print out your photographs at a local big box store such as Walmart or Target?

I just read an interesting blog post over at A Photo Editor on printing your Facebook photos, and wanted to bring the conversation over here as well.

I love social sites and think they are a great way of marketing your business. But you do have to think twice before heading down that path with your images, and the way you post them for your friends to see.

In Facebook, one of the best ways to grow is to take your photos, put them into a new album on your page, then tag them with your clients name. They will now feed into their news streams as well, and can potentially bring you in business down the road. Friends flock together and have similar tastes and requirements, so it’s a perfect way of marketing. But you have to keep three things in mind.

1. Be properly compensated BEFORE you release them on Facebook

2. Keep your image size small – a 300 pixel, 72 DPI print isn’t going to print well no matter where your client takes it.

3. Understand your rights to your images greatly diminish when you release them to any online social site.

And now once again, Facebook is making things a little easier for the average member, and a little more difficult for the photographer.

If you’ve tagged a client in a photograph, your client now has access to printing that photo at any of the big box locations – Walmart, Target, Walgreens, Shutterfly. With just a couple of clicks, they can see their albums and any of their friends albums in the application, select an image and hit print. It will be ready and delivered to them in no time. Unless you opt out of this feature.

Tagging is good for showcasing, but gives them access to your photos through the Facebook print feature at many labs, including Walmart, Walgreens, etc.

Visit these pages, and under the application click the Block Application button. You will then opt out of this application, which means your clients will not see your name if they try to use this application.

Did we miss any? Any other photo apps out there that we need to block as photographers?

Filed Under: Blog, Facebook Tagged With: Facebook photo printing apps, Photographers Are You Blocking The Print Feature On Facebook, Privacy controls on photographs within Facebook