Presented to the Professional Photographers of Southeast Ohio, Sept. 9, 2013, Kettering Ohio, by Chris Celek, Celek Media Consulting. (http://www.about.me/chriscelek)
A look at how professional photographers in Dayton and Cincinnati Ohio who rank on the first page of Google search results use social media to market their businesses.
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
How Social Does My Photography Business Need to Be?
1. How Social
Does Your
Business Need
To Be?
1Monday, September 9, 13
How social does your business need to be?
You put a lot of attention and effort into creating visual impact for your customers and for
your business.
Your social activity needs that same level of attention and effort.
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Ways to be social online are simple ... but require much of your time and thought, and
sometimes your money to achieve.
Simple includes understanding that all social activity online is first and foremost a search
game.
You want Google to find your business and show it to people who are searching for your
products and services.
Keywords are critical.
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First organic search result.
Determined by updates, website design and use, traffic to and from the site, relevancy of the
content to terms used in search.
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The business website relies on a blog for updates and new content to influence search
results.
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Search results lead to this business blog, where each project or customer’s shoot is
highlighted.
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This business owner also has an extensive social media presence that no doubt influences
the search rank of the business website.
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This Facebook page is smartly named ... keywords that a customer might use in a search.
The photo is a smart selection, too. Not the expected shot of the bride and groom.
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Facebook timeline is dominated by images.
That’s what works best on Facebook.
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Her business website links to her Pinterest page, where the owner shares more information
about her interests, tastes, hobbies and favorite places than she does about her photography.
But, she also includes examples of her work.
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You are visual businesses.
Some of your websites are strong visually. Why isn’t your social media presence dominated
by visuals as well?
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Use the cover photo position on Facebook to show your best work. Change it frequently.
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Fill out the About and Basic Info sections completely, including with URLs back to your
websites and social media profiles.
Joe Harrison makes good use of keywords to influence search rank inside Facebook and on
Google.
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Think visually.
That strikes me as an odd thing to say to a group of photographers. But take a look at your
websites and profiles. More text than images. Lots of thumbnails.
More photos, or videos. Fewer words.
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Anyone here think businesses don’t need to be online?
Here’s a simple search to show you the power of online activity.
Look’s who’s ranked first. How many of you want to be Andy Snow?
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Andy Snow Twitter page, customized wallpaper; not real active.
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Blush Boudoir Facebook homepage
Note the use of the Events tab page to promote a business event, seen by 669 Facebook fans.
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Note the use of the Events tab page to promote a business event, seen by 669 Facebook fans.
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Facebook to generate leads. Use a custom tab to create a contact box.
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A number of custom tab page tools — Tabsite, Short Stack are examples, provide tools to
create contact pages for lead generation.
Be sure to ask for just enough info but don’t overwhelm prospect with questions.
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Custom tab page to Schedule appointments for consultations and shooting. Put your
Facebook profile to work. Don’t assume that customers will call you or go to your website.
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How many likes do I need?
How cool would it be to have this many? For most businesses, the number will be much
smaller. But even 10 percent of this photo business’s number would be outstanding.
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Share your best images, and talk about why this is important to you. Or, how you created the
image.
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Be sure to rearrange the order of your custom tabs. What do you want me to do first.
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In this case, it’s sign up for a free newsletter. Terrific lead generation tool and way to keep in
touch with former customers.
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Not many people think of blogging as part of social media but it in fact is pure social — if
done well.
The power that’s waiting for you to take advantage of is that you can talk with your audience,
and they can talk with you, and with each other, and they can share your blog content.
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Blogging is powerful way for your business to be found in search, and for you to show what
you can do.
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Custom tab tools are available to display video, whether shot as digital video or created from
still images.
Either way, show your work and spot light your customers.
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The power of tab pages to customize your Facebook presence.
Highlight what you want visitors to see and do. Don’t hide your best content.
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In this case, the custom tab promotes this photographer’s Pinterest profile.
Why Pinterest? Fast-growing social site. It’s users are largely female. They’re looking on
Pinterest for things they plan to purchase.
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Make sure your contact info includes all of your social profiles. Pinterest is not included here.
Think carefully about services like RSS feeds and which social media your target customers
use.
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Add social sharing buttons, links to top-level navigation, and on every page.
Don’t be subtle or shy. Encourage sharing and interaction.
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Share examples of shoots ... highlight every customer ... invite them to see images on your
Facebook business page and to share them with their family and friends on Facebook.
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Thinking visually includes making full use of the custom tab pages and their thumbnail
previews along with the order in which they are displayed.
But also remember to tell people what’s behind these buttons, especially if you’re selling
something.
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Pinterest is your opportunity to be seen by women who are interested in products and
services.
Users are female, 25+
Huge sharing opportunities for your images and for topics, products, places you like.
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What about Google+ ?
Does it really work? It just seems like one more social media site I need to waste time on?
Maybe. But look at real results from a search you can anticipate one of your customers or
prospects conducting online. If I’m looking for a commercial photographer in Cincinnati, and
I’m a Google+ user ...
Note how outdated these 3 postings are ... 2011, 2012, June 23, 2013. That’s the most
recent so I picked it to review. Let’s see what Art Dickinson Photography is up to ...
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Google+. Why?
It’s a Google product. Your customers search it.
Google+ pages and updates show up in search results.
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Visuals drive web usage.
The most-viewed content on any website is photos and video.
Yours is a visual business. Tell your story with the images you already own!
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Opportunities — Use Google + to be found in search and to help customers see your work.
Most photographers are not using this.
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This is a default company page that’s created automatically.
Don’t leave your brand and image up to a default setting created by a robot.
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Don’t invite people to connect or contact with you ... and not have a clear way for them to do
that.
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Clicking on the Facebook icon takes the visitor not to the business page on Facebook for this
photographer but to the visitor’s personal Facebook profile.
In this case, it took me to my Photos galleries page. That’s not what I wanted to see.
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Don’t set up your business on a personal profile ... against FB TOS and does not have tools
available on a business page. Critical, it’s not indexed by Google and other search engines.
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Don’t set up and activate social media tools and then not use them.
Experiment, see how other people use them and then decide what’s best for your business.
If the answer is that the social site is not for you, turn it off. Don’t leave it to gather cobwebs
and leave an impression that you are inactive.
