.

[Watchful]

Maybe its just me, but I don't see marketing on Facebook as being very professional to begin with. It's certainty not a venue I'd ever consider using to find a true professional photographer.
What ever happened to real paid advertising like TV, radio, newspapers and magazines? An ad in WSJ is more professional than a silly Facebook thing. Lol

Define true professional photographer? I don't think you have a clear concept of social networking.

Google will help with definitions for you.
If I were to use social networking as a professional, it would be LinkedIn, not facebook. Any kid and his pet can have a facebook page.

 

[Vtec44]

Google will help with definitions for you.
If I were to use social networking as a professional, it would be LinkedIn, not facebook. Any kid and his pet can have a facebook page.

I guess you don't really know what's the definition of a true professional photographer ?

For non-creative positions, yes LinkedIn is perfect. For creative positions, a bunch of words are meaningless. Show me your portfolio. I used to work for the world's largest marketing agency, WPP. Guess where the HR department goes to look for potential creative candidates?

 

[Derrel]

Over the last week or so,I have found it rather humorous to see so many out of touch people who have zero idea of what social media has become! Facebook has become as important as the telephone book used to be. I just did a quick Facebook search on the string of my city's name and added "wedding photographer" after the city name....up popped posts with hot links to portfolios and or web sites to 46 different wedding shooters (that I counted), including three I know personally, and who are VERY good...the major studios/shooters have huge play, with multiple posts they have done for the most recent big weddings...I grew tired of scrolling through the many,many posts from wedding photographers, all-in-one wedding planning outfits, and large, high-demand venues that work with selected wedding shooters. I stopped counting at 46, and closed the page before it even got past January 2016's listings...

The idea that Facebook is useless as a way to promote a wedding photography business is ridiculous! My gawd...there seems to be a hugely widespread delusion here on TPF that it is still the year 1985, and that people are looking in the Yellow Pages to find photographers!

The generation that has the highest percentage of people who will get married within the next year is on Facebook--in a simply huge proportion.

We don't need no stinking computers! We have the daily newspaper and the telephone!

Why in the he-double-toothpicks would anybody ever want to have a telephone that they had to carry with them and charge up on a battery charger every night, just to use?

 

[Watchful]

Google will help with definitions for you.
If I were to use social networking as a professional, it would be LinkedIn, not facebook. Any kid and his pet can have a facebook page.

I guess you don't really know what's the definition of a true professional photographer ?

For non-creative positions, yes LinkedIn is perfect. For creative positions, a bunch of words are meaningless. Show me your portfolio. I used to work for the world's largest marketing agency, WPP. Guess where the HR department goes to look for potential creative candidates?

Oh, then build a web site that showcases your portfolio, that's easy.

 

[Vtec44]

Oh, then build a web site that showcases your portfolio, that's easy.

Then advertise on TV, newspaper, and radio right? LOL

 

[Watchful]

Oh, then build a web site that showcases your portfolio, that's easy.

Then advertise on TV, newspaper, and radio right? LOL

Only if you want to be known. lol

 

[Vtec44]

Only if you want to be known. lol

And all the wonderful metrics that you get with TV, newspaper, and radio ads. LOL

 

[pixmedic]

im always kinda surprised when people seriously try to downplay social media as a legitimate marketing tool.
not making use of social media in today's market would be like insisting on only providing prints and refusing to sell digital files.
I mean, you could do that....and there's an undeniable truth to prints being a money maker...but if you refuse to update your methods of sales and service, and not recognize that a lot of people today are looking to share their photos over different platforms than in previous generations, then you are leaving just as much money on the table as those that think prints are a waste of time.

 

[Vtec44]

Online marketing/advertising on social networks like FB, IG, Twitter, blogs, etc has outpaced traditional advertising. Many things like metrics, efficiency, speed, and the ability be more fluid with the current trend where traditional methods can't keep up anymore. It's also an "equalizing" factor for smaller businesses to compete with bigger companies online. There is no going back. Most businesses will have a website, a FB page, Instagram account, and a Twitter account. It's a multipronged approach to reach potential clients, effectively and efficiently.

 

[Watchful]

Oh, then build a web site that showcases your portfolio, that's easy.

Then advertise on TV, newspaper, and radio right? LOL

Only if you want to be known. lol

So someone apparently disagrees that the reason to advertise is to become more well know to prospective customers. So What's the real reason companies advertise? Just to use it as a tax write off? lol

 

[pixmedic]

Oh, then build a web site that showcases your portfolio, that's easy.

Then advertise on TV, newspaper, and radio right? LOL

Only if you want to be known. lol

So someone apparently disagrees that the reason to advertise is to become more well know to prospective customers. So What's the real reason companies advertise? Just to use it as a tax write off? lol

I use the disagree when I disagree with the opinion expressed, is that not it's function?

 

[Vtec44]

So someone apparently disagrees that the reason to advertise is to become more well know to prospective customers. So What's the real reason companies advertise? Just to use it as a tax write off? lol

Yes, pretty much it's a tax right off.... hahaha

Or, it's part of their multipronged approach to build up that perceived value. I've seen Ford, Cisco, and Jaguar's marketing budget and strategies for both tradition and online.

 

[Watchful]

I use the disagree when I disagree with the opinion expressed, is that not it's function?

Perfect. Well thought out reply, I commend your intellect and reasoning power. You are a gentleman and a scholar and there are few of us left.

 

[pixmedic]

I use the disagree when I disagree with the opinion expressed, is that not it's function?

Perfect. Well thought out reply, I commend your intellect and reasoning power. You are a gentleman and a scholar and there are few of us left.

well, it may have been a tough road, but common ground has been reached at last.

 

[Wasp1]

In my area I done a google search for professional photographers.
I was so suprised to seen we have got over 20 of them and our whole area has just got over 30,000 people living in it.
I think there are maybe 15 too many here.
And yes, it is people go and buy a dSLR camera and set up a facebook page place a watermark on thier images and now they think they are professional's.
We have got a group of photographer on facebook group that you have to live here to get on it.
And we now have got 170 members and there are I think 6 that have got adds ofering their services for a fee.
But to look at some of their shots I am not too sure if I would give them my money.
I am nowhere close to being or even thinking I could turn my hobby into a business plus it was never about that.
Though many think that owning a good camera gives you the rights to get paid for your photos.

On this group one member asked if people would put down their names to give photo's we have taken so our local council can make an app of native birds to our area for the tourist. One said that it was unfair as he thought that he should be paid for his photo's. I on the other hand think its going to be a free app and if they use any of my shots just put my name next to it and I will be happy.
But there are too many who want to make money out of it without doing a lot of work.