Using the social media to promote.....

[DFWRUSTY]

I am new here and I am actually not even a real photographer, my wife is. How ever, I do more of the behind the scenes stuff. I help make sure her camera is ready before the shoot, I take care of the business stuff.... The more boring part of photography! Anyways, we use social media (facebook) to gain probably 85% of all of our new clients. We are relatively new to professional photography, but are doing pretty good thanks to social media It takes a bit of give to earn new clients. My wife and I are always trying to come up with some new sales pitch, contest, or give away to drum up new clients.

So I thought it might be a good idea to join the forum and maybe pitch ideas between other photographers that also use social media to gain new clients. So, if you have a sales pitch that has worked for you in the past share it!

Our best one yet was probably:
We gave away 5 free outdoor 1 hour outdoor sessions. 1: a couples shoot, 2: a single shoot (guy or girl), 3: kids shoot, 4: maternity shoot, 5: I can't remember I think it was a family shoot or something.... It drummed up quite a bit of new clients as well as grew her fb a bunch.

We also do holiday specials:
We will do 50% off of a 1/2 hour shoot. Like right now is Valentines and we did a special for couples for a 1/2 hour shoot garunteed 12 pics and 1 free cd it was 50% off normal price! It did ok, given that Valentines isn't the biggest holiday, but quite a few guys bought the photoshoots for their gf's/ wifes.

After valentines is over we are going to do our first "like" campaign. We haven't smoothed out all of the details, but it will be something like this:
For every 100 likes we will give away one free photoshoot to a random person! Setting a goal of about 1000 likes!

 

[table1349]

Social Media to sell your business is a double edge sword. You might want to read this. http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/general-shop-talk/351659-please-help-unhappy-client.html

 

[ronlane]

I haven't seen this but heard about it the other day. I follow Colby on Google+ and he has some amazing photos.

Social Media for Photographers | KelbyOne

 

[DFWRUSTY]

Social Media to sell your business is a double edge sword. You might want to read this. http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/general-shop-talk/351659-please-help-unhappy-client.html

That is horrible, and I feel bad for the OP of that thread. However, I think we will take our chances. I think that is like the worst case scenario ever possible for an aspiring photographer. Something like that would end in court or atleast with a burning bag of doggy doo on her front door step :mrgreen: (JK....)!

However, even if you don't use social media, it doesn't mean that your clients don't. That could have happened even if the op wasn't on social media.

I didn't read the entire thread just the OP's first post, but I would say the best way to vindicate the situation would have been to post all documents, messages, txt's, and any other stuff on FB. I would have also just posted the pictures that she took on FB (unless there was a confidentiality agreement). The best way to get rid of a bad rumor is with the truth, once everyone would have seen that the OP was in the right they would have still used her business!

 

[KmH]

That thread demonstrates several photographer trying to start a photography business DON'T DO mistakes; shooting for free and without a contract.

You need to use moire than just Facebook.
Do you have a Google Public Profile? www.google.com/accounts
Do you have a Flickr account?
Do you post on YouTube?
Do you have a regularly updated blog?
Do you use Twitter?
Do you know how to enhance the search hits for your business by understanding SEO, keywording, image titles, links, etc.

Don't forget about good old-fashioned networking - looking people in the eye and hand shaking networking.
This inexpensive book is mostly about marketing A photography business today.
Going Pro: How to Make the Leap from Aspiring to Professional Photographer