.png)
This article was first published in the Professional Photographers of Michigan (PPM) newsletter, in August 2009.
It used to be that having a website was optional; you didn’t need a web presence. But today, a website isn’t just a necessity; it’s the absolute minimum. You probably have a blog (or have been told you should start one). And you may have heard about social sites like MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. What sort of strategies should you use? Is it worth putting all that effort into your web presence? In short: yes – your web presence can and does influence your studio’s bottom line. Here are 9 tips to help you refine your web presence.
Be in the Same Circles – If your clients are mostly consumers, you’ll want to be on Facebook or MySpace. If you cater to business professionals, check out LinkedIn. In order for your online presence to make a difference, you need to promote the right thing on the right site.
Consistent Branding – Make sure your identity is consistent from site to site. You don’t want to make your viewers wonder whether they’re in the right place. Once you find an identity that works, stick with it. People don’t like change, even if it’s better. Remember “New Coke”? In blind taste tests it beat Coca Cola Classic hands-down. But people identified so strongly with the Coca Cola brand that “New Coke” failed.
Manage Your Time – one of the downfalls of the internet age is the proliferation of wasted time. You might have been staying away from Facebook or Twitter because you’ve heard it is unproductive. Well, you can use these tools productively. For instance, I have my blog set up to “tell” Twitter and Facebook every time I write a blog post; plus, Twitter updates my Facebook status. The more efficiently you can use these different networks, the less time you’ll find yourself “wasting.”
Be Yourself – The best way to cultivate relationships isn’t to force feed everyone your marketing spiel. The “Gen Y” group (born 1982-2001) values personal interaction. You can bridge the generation gap — but don’t try to do it by selling from the soapbox or acting cool. Kids have a keen radar for “fake” coolness, so just be yourself. Be real, share helpful information, talk about the fun session you had.
Blog with a Purpose – blogging can be hard to do regularly, you say? Not if you have a plan. Make a point to blog about your clients or a special studio event at least once a week. Create an incentive for your clients — if they spend $XX, you’ll feature them on the blog. This not only gives you something to blog about, but gives them a reason to send all their friends and family to your website. Not a bad publicity stunt, eh? [Note: to avoid sabotaging your portrait order, wait to publish that blog post until after receiving payment.]
Use Aliases – While seniors may jump with joy to be featured on your blog, your baby plan clients might be a little more hesitant. And here’s part of the reason. Would you want your child’s name and photo plastered all over the internet? If your client seems hesitant, offer to put the images up with an alias.
Share Images – The fact of the matter is, if you don’t put your images online, your clients will. You can educate them all you want. If a senior “needs” to share their graduation portrait and you haven’t put it online, they are scanning that wallet. Would you rather have a poor quality scan or a professionally watermarked image “floating around?” Think of this: when a client shares those images with their friends, you’ll get extra publicity if you’ve included a studio watermark on the images.
Check Your Inbox – Today’s teens are more likely to send you a Facebook message than to call or even email you. So if you don’t check the inbox on your social networking site often — make sure you receive copies at your normal email address so you can stay on top of things. If a client (or “future” client) happens to leave a comment on a blog post… make sure to respond.
Media-Driven Society – We are living in a social media world. Printed media is falling by the wayside. News is being disseminated through the web (and Twitter), rather than a printed newspaper. Many people are happy to store a year’s worth of personal snapshots on the SD card in their digicam. As photographers, we can’t avoid acknowledging these trends. Thankfully, our society has been trying to go “paperless” for years, unsuccessfully. There still is a demand for printed portraits. We’re not completely digital… yet.
What it all comes down to is this: you need to be where your clients are. Even if you’re promoting the products your studio offers, you still need to be present online. Your images need to be visible in your clients’ world — both online and offline. Take the time to figure out these tools; before you know it you’ll be an “old pro!”
