12 Ways To Use YouTube To Market Your Photography Business

Can You Make Money With Your Photography and Chime.In

What are your favorite pieces of each of the social networks you use? If you could build another social network to use for your photography, what would it look like?

Back in October 2011, a new site debuted … Chime.In. Think of Chime.In as a way to share short thoughts like Twitter, a way to get more in depth with each thought like you would with a blog, and voting capabilities like you get on Reddit.

Instead of focusing on information, Chime.In describes itself as an “interest network.” It has a newsfeed, profile pages and a system for following others – all like you are used to with other social sites. Instead of updating your status, you “chime”, which is a cross between an update and a post.

A Chime displays a headline, the first few sentences of the Chime, graphics (photo, video), your profile photo, interest tags, and options for liking, commenting or sharing. Your Chime can be up to 4,000 characters in length, giving you a lot more freedom to write exactly what you want to say. And once your Chime is up, people use a voting system to surface the best comments to the top of Chime.

While Chime may seem like just another player in the already busy social media field, it does have one unique difference. When you design your profile, you have full control over it, including the advertising and sponsors that run on your page. You can include your own ads on the page and keep 100 percent of the revenue. Or allow UberMedia to control the ads and split the revenue 50/50.

Chime.In is built with mobile in mind. You can access it via a similar look and feel as the web edition from one of its mobile apps, including iPhone, BlackBerry or Android.

Once you have your profile built, you can stay active in several ways. Type in your interest – photography – and you’ll be able to search through Chime by interests, communities or people. Then build up your followers list and start communicating.

Chime is simply another social site. Will it be popular enough to bring in a following that will help grow your business? It depends on your business and how you approach it. Yet it may be worth setting up a Chime to cover your basis and have one just in case. Remember, the key isn’t having one or two sites you rely on all the time. Its about spreading yourself out and being where potential followers may be. It doesn’t mean you have to be active all the time – just make sure you have a presence and watch it. If it becomes a big hit in your business world, by all means keep using it.

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: chime.in, profile, social media, Social Networking

How To Boost Your Photography Business With Pinterest

by Virtual Photography 1 Comment

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Facebook and Twitter have been the social phenomena for many months now, so eventually some other site had to come along and see what they could do to gain traction.

It may be with a site called Pinterest. Pinterest is a social site that calls themselves a virtual pinboard. It allows you to organize and share all of the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, organize their wardrobe/closet, and find favorite recipes. Yep, if that sounds like a place the female population would love, you’re right. Its heavily weighted towards female users who love sharing and commenting on everything fun.

While Pinterest is simply a pinboard, meaning there is no true way of selling or getting people to buy your products, it is a popular way to showcase images with links back to the original source.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out Pinterest yet, now is the time. Use these ideas to set up and draw attention to your photography.

Spend the time

Pinterest is just like the other social sites in use today – you get out of it what you put into it. Find the movers and shakers of Pinterest and build relationships with those who are known for quality “pins”. Once they recognize you, they are more likely to post about your photography. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: marketing, Online Marketing, Photography Business, pinterest, social media, Social Networking, Website

3 Ways To Make Your LinkedIn Profile More Powerful

by Virtual Photography Leave a Comment

When was the last time you opened up your LinkedIn profile? When was the last time you thought of using it to market your business?

LinkedIn is the “afterthought” social media site. It’s a site you use to put together your profile – your resume – then you head off into the sunset for more promising sites.

Yet LinkedIn has a lot of benefits that can not only help bring in clients through LinkedIn, but can also help you gain traction in other ways. For instance, did you know:

LinkedIn is a search engine that has a ton of authority within Google.

If you Google your name, and you have a LinkedIn profile, chances are you will find your LinkedIn profile in the first page of results.

Yep, LinkedIn is powerful. So why not use it?

Boost Your Search Engine Optimization On Your Profile

When you first set up your profile, your profile will provide up to three links to your sites. They will be listed as “My Website” and “My Blog”. Instead of leaving the links with these titles, click on the edit and change those to a keyword phrase that describes your business.

For example, I use Photography Business Tips for my VirtualPhotographyStudio blog.

While you can have up to three different links, keep in mind that you can change these as frequently as you desire. If you don’t have three sites, why not use your Facebook Page? The more ways to connect with you the better.

Keep The Content Fresh With Your Blog

With just a few clicks, you can connect your blog up with your LinkedIn profile. Then every time you add a new blog post, your LinkedIn account will be updated with fresh, new content.

While WordPress is one of the main applications I would recommend using, LinkedIn has a variety of applications you can use to populate your profile.

Try SlideShare, and incorporate a slide presentation using your images and graphics.

Or try Portfolio Display, and create a unique way of showcasing what you can do for your clients and customers.

Create A LinkedIn Ad Campaign

Facebook Ads aren’t the only way to advertise your business on social media sites. Why not give LinkedIn Ads a try?

Because LinkedIn is a professional site used by business people, they are less likely to click around on things that are of no interest to them. When they are in need of a product or service, they move straight to the source and find exactly what they are looking for.

LinkedIn has 100 million members worldwide, 40 million in the United States. You can reach out to 1.3 million small business owners, 4.2 million corporate executives, and 7.9 million business decision makers. And with an average household income of $108,000 US, it’s definitely the right place to find a few customers.

It’s possible to start your campaign in minutes with as little as $50. Be sure to use your branding any time you start something new so people will start recognize you from platform to platform.

Are you using LinkedIn? How is it working for you?

Filed Under: LinkedIn Tagged With: how to market your business on LinkedIn, linkedin, social media, Social Networking

How wedding photographers can maximize on Twitter

by Andrew Funderburg Leave a Comment

A Guest Article By Andrew Funderburg

1. Your Target Audience The main people a wedding photographer will want to target on Twitter is other wedding industry vendors. Since it’s damn-near impossible to know which Twitter users are brides-to-be, target vendors. Use Twitter to know who is doing what. Offer help if you see someone starting a project. Some suggestions:

Magazine Editors
Wedding Planners
Gown Shops
Florists
Venues

You get the picture. Twitter is an AWESOME way to break the ice with new vendors and other industry professionals you have yet to meet. Then when you do finally get some face time, you’ll have some familiarity to start with.

2. Look for people who talk back OK, so now you’ve found vendors with Twitter accounts. How do you know if they’re worth pursuing? Look at their stream. If they send out plenty of @replies, then this is who you want to talk to. If on the other hand, their stream is just one-way announcements and links to their Web site, chances are you won’t get much out of them. (They haven’t figured out how to use Twitter yet!)

3. Reach Out Twitter is not an “if you build it, they will come” type medium. In fact, it’s the opposite. You have to REACH OUT to people. You do this on Twitter by first following the people you’re targeting and then replying to their tweets. They’ll follow back after awhile. You have to jump-start it.

4. Be Interesting This should be a no-brainer, but have something to say. If you’re not witty yourself, provide resources, tips and info. You also can have good taste in retweets. @PicSeshu is someone who does this very well and has become a great photography resource on Twitter. Keep in mind your target audience and provide relevant info.

5. Have Fun The simplest law of the social universe, if you’re having fun people will be attracted to you. People want to do business with and be around other positive, upbeat people.

There you have it. That’s how a wedding photographer can use Twitter for business.

Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: social media, Social Networking, twitter, Wedding Photography

3 Ways To Market Your Photography On LinkedIn

by Virtual Photography 1 Comment

LinkedIn is the social media site that’s geared a little more towards business and careers, and can help you make connections on a business level as opposed to a general consumer level.

If your photography is centered around attracting a more professional level of clientele, than you may have luck with LinkedIn.

Just like other social sites, LinkedIn has its own nuances. If you’ve tried LinkedIn and haven’t had any luck, take a look at these 3 tips.

1. Creating a complete profile

LinkedIn has a variety of items you can use to complete your profile, and make it rich and full of information. Never discount content; the more the better. When people search out your profile, they want to be able to get a feel for who you are and what you do.

Also remember that a profile isn’t necessarily synonymous with a resume. If you were applying for a job with a resume, the reader would care that you are President of ABC Photography. But on LinkedIn, your title doesn’t matter. Instead, think from a keyword perspective, and list yourself by things people would search for. Then fill your summary and experience areas with relevant terms people will most commonly be searching for.

Also focus on utilizing as much space as possible. Hook up your RSS feed from your blog to your profile to generate content on a regular basis. Get your clients to offer recommendations. The more you have, the more you will attract people to want to connect.

2. Joining the right groups

When you start searching groups, it’s easy to jump in and find your own industry groups, and start joining as many as possible. I just did a quick search and came up with 1,385 results for the word photography. Yet are photography groups your best choice?

Maybe. Maybe not. If you target photographers, it’s a great choice. But if you target property management companies hoping to hang your artwork in their buildings, you’ll never meet one property manager in a photography group.

Instead, take a minute and think like your potential customer. Who are they and what are they interested in? What types of groups would they hang out in? Do a search for that type of group, and start posting and getting involved.

Remember, being in a group doesn’t equate to talking about you and your services. Instead, it’s about building relationships. Don’t sell. Answer questions, and find ways to connect with the members without deliberate selling. They will seek you out when they are ready – it’s only a click away to your profile.

3. Advertising your business page

LinkedIn also has a company section that allows you to create a company page in addition to your personal profile. It’s free and it’s a great way to add everything you can about your company and the services you offer.

People can follow your company page to keep up with your latest information, and you can even advertise your company page throughout the LinkedIn community, driving more people to your information – and hopefully to connecting up with you.

The key to LinkedIn is involvement – just like all of the other social media sites. The more you use it, the better chance you have of connecting up with the right people who can do business with you.

Choose your social site, and start connecting.

Filed Under: LinkedIn Tagged With: how to market your business on LinkedIn, linkedin, social media, Social Networking