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If you’re like many photographers you’ve already experimented with social media, either on a personal or professional level.  For many, the challenge is how to use social media more effectively; where to begin? Our goal this week is to highlight ways you can use Facebook and Twitter to get more business as a photographer. We will introduce how other photographers use Facebook and Twitter, discuss features of both platforms and conclude with suggestions on how to best manage your social media time.

An Introduction to Facebook and Twitter for Photographers

Social media is an invaluable tool for any business because it enables the free and easy distribution of content in real time. For photographers, using Facebook as a platform provides an easy way to share one’s work with friends, clients and future clients. On the back-end of Facebook are analytic tools that provide valuable insights on how effective your different efforts are. One major advantage of using Facebook is that you can learn what types of content your target audience is interested in and craft your future messages around these subjects.

Wedding photographers at Emilie Inc. use their Facebook pages to post album previews of the weddings that they capture. By including links with these albums they can drive traffic back to their blog page and increase their SEO presence. Fraenkel Gallery uses their Facebook page to keep members abreast of different events and photo openings. As a photo-centric platform, Facebook provides the opportunity to be very creative with how you market your content. According to Facebook, posts that include links, photos and albums receive 100-200% more engagement than those that don’t.

Twitter is an exciting platform that allows you to share short messages, including photos, links and other media content. liveBooks client Chase Jarvis uses Twitter to supplement his video brand and share exclusive, on-scene content. Sport photographer Brad Mangin uses Twitter to energize his followers and talk about sports in real time. The key to using Twitter effectively is to keep your content catchy and interesting. You only have 140 characters to convey your message; research suggests that the most successful tweets are less than 100 characters.

Regardless of how you use each platform, doing social media well takes time. Below are three simple tips for being more effective with your social media presence.

• Start small: It’s easy to get excited about social media, and just as easy to burn yourself out on it. Only expand once you have a good handle on one or two platforms.
• Focus your time: Set a daily goal for something you want to accomplish through social media. Maybe you announce exciting news every Monday or add 10 new followers throughout the week. Setting small goals will help you stay focused on improving your business.
• Have fun: If you aren’t enjoying creating content, chances are people aren’t enjoying reading it. Use your abilities as a photographer to create energy around what you do.

A Final Word on Social Media for Photographers

From this point, liveBooks wants to help you build your social media strategy. Tune in next week as we take you through developing your social media goals. Each blog post in this series will build on the last one and help you get a little bit closer to achieving an effective social media strategy.

Be a part of our Social Community! Like us on Facebook for unique photos and content you won’t find anywhere else, and follow us on Twitter.

If you are like many photographers, you understand the need to leverage social media in your marketing mix, but maybe you’re uncertain of where to begin.  Are your “tweets”, “pins”, or “posts” actually driving page views and business transactions?  If so liveBooks has good news for you. In addition to empowering you with the ability to present your work in a professional manner, we also know social media for photographers.

Beginning next Thursday and continuing throughout November, we will deliver a series of posts that detail how you can engage your audience through social media channels, and in the process build brand recognition, loyalty and trust in a way that drives quality, meaningful traffic back to your site.

Sound good? Okay! Here’s what we have in store:

Week 1 – “Social Media for Photographers: Where to Begin?”

This week we will focus on the two most popular Social Media platforms; Facebook and Twitter and why they are important to your web presence as a photographer.  You will learn the different uses for Facebook and Twitter, as well as some improvements you can make today with what you already have.  We will conclude with a discussion of how to fit social media into even the tightest of schedules.  This post will serve as a launchpad for our week two discussion of defining achievable goals for your social media strategy.

Week 2 – “Defining the Photographer’s Social Media Strategy”

The first step in any effective social media strategy is understanding what your needs are and defining what goals you want to achieve for your photography business through social media.  The next logical step is to define who your target audience is.  We will take you through this process and get you on your way to delivering relevant content that your audience actively engages with.

Week 3 – “Executing Your Social Media Strategy”

Now that you have your social media strategy defined, it’s time to ignite your social media wildfire.  We will help you understand how to pace your content, react to your community’s feedback, and understand what the appropriate level of engagement and energy is that you can consistently give to Social Media.  Even if you’re a professional photographer who can only devote 15 minutes a day, we can help you understand how to best manage your time and resources.  By the end of this post you should feel comfortable executing your defined social media strategy to meet your social media goals.

Week 4 – “Social Media Measurement Strategies”

There are many different ways to measure your social media impact.  We will begin by showing you how to track and understand basic social media data.  Based on the goals you set forth in week one we will help you make meaning out of this measured information and determine ways that you can refine your strategy.  To reach your goals faster and with a larger impact, you will learn which metrics are most relevant to your photography goals.

Week 5 – “Using Instagram To Promote Your Photography Business”

In week five we will discuss the value of introducing Instagram into your social media mix.  We will cover the ins and outs of how photographers can use Instagram to increase their business.  You will learn about mobile technologies and how Instagram may be your link to a larger photography audience.  Our conversation will conclude with a discussion of 5 simple ways you can effectively introduce Instagram into your social media mix.

liveBooks would love to hear your ideas, questions and comments so post a tweet to @livebooks. And while you’re on the social media forefront, “Like” us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter. For more information on how you can use social media channels, and in the process build brand recognition, loyalty and trust, click here or call: (888)458-3678.

Today, liveBooks is proud to announce the acquisition of Pinhole Pro and Pinhole Press. For creative professionals this acquisition presents a valuable opportunity to extend your brand through the combination of a premium online and offline product suite. You may be asking, what opportunities does this present for my business? To help, we put together this introductory blog post that tells you a little bit more about our new integrated company.

Exploring Opportunities in liveBooks acquisition of Pinhole Pro and Pinhole Press

United by a shared vision of elegant design, superior product quality and simplicity of use, liveBooks and Pinhole Pro are a powerful combination. liveBooks clients will now have a full line of professional quality photo books, calendars, cards and other highly valuable marketing materials at their finger tips. Have confidence producing a wedding album for your own clients–or perhaps promotional postcards–with the best digital print quality around. Pinhole Pro enhances your brand by extending your product offerings beyond your website. If you haven’t looked through the suite of Pinhole Pro products or downloaded the Pro Studio software, take a look here.

For current Pinhole Pro clients, the opportunity to expand into web media through liveBooks is invaluable. If you are new to using liveBooks, you will find our drag and drop platform simple to use and easy to update. Your work will be displayed on a platform that is as beautiful as it is powerful. Check out how Scaler presents your work in the most visually compelling way. Our industry–leading SEO will help you get more web traffic and our friendly customer support will be there if you have any issues.

And, for all clients and a wide variety of home consumers, Pinhole Press will meet personalized gifting needs with its full array of invitations, photo-books, frames, calendars and new children’s educational products. How about fun wine labels for your next party? The opportunities to customize are endless; visit Pinhole Press

Over the coming months you will begin to see the liveBooks and Pinhole brands integrate, making it easy for you to streamline your web, mobile and print design needs. As our two companies grow together you will experience a more intuitive, innovative and creative–product with lots more to come! To our new liveBooks and Pinhole clients, welcome. We look forward to the future of growing together!

Hear it first; join our Facebook and Twitter communities to receive real-time liveBooks news and updates.

How does one become a better photographer? To find the answer I decided to ask industry veteran Gerald Ratto. For over half a century Gerald has used film photography to capture the world. Gerald is a former student of Ansel Adams, Minor White, Imogen Cunningham and Edward Weston; the list of industry legends he has worked with is extensive. His work has been displayed at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and his client list includes some of the largest architectural firms in the world.

Gerald has worked with film since he was 12 and began photographing with a 15-cent box camera. Many of his most celebrated images (See his Children of the Fillmore and Vintage Collections) were shot traditionally. I began by inquiring about what differences exists between photographing with film and digital.

“Photography is really about seeing. We are in an age where people confuse photography with image capturing. When you hold up your phone or high megapixel camera are you really being a photographer? I don’t know. That depends on how intentional you are in the process. It’s easy to capture a huge amount of space today and then use Photoshop to retroactively tell a story, but something is lost in that process. You can make adjustments in Photoshop but you lose some of the expression because you didn’t really consider the content and the story that is being told.”

Is there any correlation between the physical developing process and the creation of an authentic photograph?

“Developing isn’t really a huge part of the process because of previsualization; seeing the story in your mind before you capture it with a camera. If you are doing it right you already know what the story is once you capture it. Then, it’s about going through a process to bring it from a small format to something people can see and display. Each camera is really the same. Each is simply a different instrument. If your process is the same then you can use different instruments to more accurately tell the story.”

Herein I realized the error of my initial question. The question is really not of whether we gain or lose something using film or digital methods, the question is how we remain intentional in an age where technology removes our limits. What are we doing as photographers to keep our content intentional and relevant?

I ask what advice Gerald can provide for how to stay relevant as a photographer.

“Photography is like discovery; every time you look in the viewfinder you’re closing in on an image that is part of something bigger—a little vignette of the greater world. You don’t want to go into any project with preconceived notions of what you are going to capture because by doing that you impose yourself upon the subject. Authenticity is the key to staying relevant. Allow the subject to tell the story and use your mastery of the instrument to capture it.”

Gerald’s work over the last 50 years showcases many different thematic elements; a testament to the depth of his abilities as photographer. I encourage you to take a look at Gerald’s portfolios and pay special attention to his mastery of light. From architecture models to portraiture, Gerald’s work showcases the breadth of his abilities as a photographer. As we finish up I ask Gerald what his favorite photo is. He smiles and replies, “The one I’m taking tomorrow.”

Gerald Ratto and his wife Marla manage a studio and reside in San Francisco, CA. You can view more of his work on his liveBooks site; www.geraldrattophotography.com.

liveBooks wants to know: how do you view your work as a photographer? What tools/best practices do you use to stay relevant? Share a comment on our blog and start a conversation. “Like” us on our facebook page and be the first to receive exciting liveBooks news and content.