Slides from Travel Photographer of the Year's photography festival at the Royal Geographical Society, London, 2012

1. Photography, Blogging &
Social Media
Abigail King
Travel Photography Live! October 2012

2. Abigail King
SOCIAL MEDIA
– Inside the Travel Lab
– Lonely Planet, National Geographic Traveller, Grazia
– Google, Klout, Peer Index, Invesp, Cision
TRADITIONAL MEDIA
– Lonely Planet, BBC, CNN, Red Magazine, UK Travel Daily, National
Geographic Traveler...
- @insidetravellab & @abigailking

3. How Social Media Can Help
YOU

4. Where We Are
• “New media” is no longer new
• People spend more time online than they do watching
television1
• Social networks and blogs are the most popular online
category4
• The average time spent on Facebook and Twitter
increased by 699% and 3712%, respectively in 20094
• 43% of Brits aged 55 to 74 use the internet frequently 5

5. Photography
• People love photos more than ever
• Instagram has more than 4.5 million images
uploaded to its app every single day
• Facebook prioritises images
• Google prioritises images
• Images work well on Twitter

6. Photographers
PROS
• Demand for good images is higher than ever before
• Opportunities for networking and promotion on a scale
never before imagined
• Geographical freedom
• Research easier than ever
• Online sales
• New line of work
• Easier to connect with colleagues
• Easier to learn new things

7. Photographers
PROS CONS
• Demand for good images is • Time consuming to
higher than ever before learn new skills
• Opportunities for
networking and promotion • Time consuming to
on a scale never before execute new skills
imagined
• Research easier than ever •Theft of work online
• Online sales • Easier than ever for
• New line of work “amateurs to steal the
• Easier to connect with
colleagues work of professionals”
• Easier to learn new things

8. Let’s Get Down to Business

9. Blogs

10. Blogs

11. Twitter

12. Example

13. Facebook

14. Google+

15. 500px

16. Flickr

17. Instagram

18. Mobile Photography
SHARING
• Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Eye Em
EDITING
• Snapseed, Camera Plus, Diptic, Photo Frames,
Squaready, Hipstamatic

19. Events: Irrive.com

20. FourSquare

21. RedBubble

22. Personality
• Personality matters in social media
• Keep your profile website and information pages
but also...
• Express yourself on social media as you would do
at work
- friendly
-authoritative
-professional
-approachable

23. Be Yourself
• Otherwise it will be too difficult to maintain
• People can sense authenticity
• You DO NOT need to be a teenager who talks
in text speak to use social media

24. Need Some Ideas?
• Think of social media as a radio station instead
of a novel
• Radio presenters stay on theme yet...
– They make unscripted comments
– They replay the same songs (to some extent)
– They interact with listeners on the phone

25. Need Inspiration?
• Follow the seasons – the Olympics,
Halloween, Christmas etc
• Follow the news – major sports events, heat
waves, celebrities etc
• Food & recipes – everyone has to eat
• Broadcast your news – workshops,
assignments, offers etc in moderation

26. Amplify Others
• Set up a twitter search for keywords that are
relevant to your business
• Retweet and reshare Facebook posts about
your area of expertise
• Invite submissions from readers

27. Hire Someone
• Social media has arrived. Take it seriously.
• Make sure that whoever you hire matches
your personality, your brand and your values
and knows enough to represent you and your
product.
• Don’t become a cautionary tale!

28. Photos on the Web
• Do not upload full size photographs
• DO NOT UPLOAD FULL SIZE PHOTOGRAPHS
• WHY?
• Slows down your website
• Irritates your readers
• Lowers your Google ranking
• Creates long term storage problems on your server

29. Photos for the Web
• Resize – 500 – 1000 px
• Label the following
– The title of the photo (filename)
– The alt tag (the text a reader sees if the
image does not appear)
– The caption

30. Pinterest

31. Pinterest

32. Remember
Change is inevitable.
Except from a vending machine.

33. Questions?

34. www.abigailking.co.uk
www.insidethetravellab.com
Slides will appear on slideshare...