Let’s talk social media as a Colorado Photographer. I’m going to be honest- I hate it. Super hate it.
I disagree with so much of what our lives have become because of social media. I struggle daily as a business owner and just a normal person with what I want people to see. As a small business owner, running my social media accounts is a full time job that I just don’t have time for. It is incredibly time consuming and makes my brain hurt! As a mom, a wife, a friend, and a human- I struggle with wanting to stay private. The complete opposite than what the business side of social media requires.
My business accounts (@yourmodernstory) might not seem like it’s a lot of work, but they are! I have a Facebook Business Page, a Facebook VIP Boudoir Group, a business Instagram, a boudoir Instagram, and Pinterest. Four. Less than a whole hand, but let me tell you why it seems like so much more.
My Facebook Business page requires a ton of work to stay relevant to my followers. I post photos, upcoming specials, and recent blogs. All of that work gains roughly 20 views per post. Twenty. Isn’t that sad? Since it doesn’t gain a lot of traction, it makes me not want to post. But according to the Zuck, I should be. I should be paying for ads, boosting posts, and targeting who I want to see my posts. I’ve done all of that before and gained 30 views. I now post to Facebook when I remember- plain and simple.
However- my VIP Boudoir Facebook group is a baby and I need to treat it very differently than my business page. It’s new, it’s fragile, and needs a lot of attention. And by a lot of attention, I mean a lot of freakin’ attention. I only post a few times per day in that group, but again, according to the Facebook Gods, I should be posting roughly 15-20 times. PER. DAY! I can’t even imagine doing that. Posting here and posting there is already time consuming. I also feel like my members and future clients might get sick of that stuff. What do you think?
It’s become a fun group and I’ve met the absolute coolest women from there. They’ve learned who I am from our engagement and that is something truly special. I don’t mind putting the work in there even though it’s a lot more than I thought it would be.
Instagram. Boy, this is a whole ‘nother Oprah. It is a total Love/Hate relationship. I love seeing your faces, your kids, your photo shoots, and your advice. I cherish the relationships I’ve made from it. I’m blown away at how much I’ve learned about it. But I hate it. It is, by far, the most time consuming social media platform. Within each Instagram account, there are so many avenues to post, and working parts that will make your head spin. Regular posts, reels, lives, comments, hashtags, saves, shares, likes, tags, and insights. All of THAT times two.
Instagram Gods want to see your FACE, your actual FACE, more than anything. You should be posting a minimum of five to ten times a day in your story, and don’t forget to add engagement options to those stories. Polls, questions, swipes -Ay yi yi! I often question myself if it’s worth it or not. Would I rather not have an Instagram? No. I would rather be exhausted and still have it just for the relationships I make from it. I have met some of the best in the biz and have traveled to locations that I never would be able to if I didn’t have Insta to tell me about it.
Pinterest. People don’t realize that Pinterest is just another search engine that has a social media aspect. Over the last won years I’ve poured a ton of time into this one. I took several classes on the importance of Pinterest and how to gain the most leads from pins. It was fascinating to me. I was able to grow my Pinterest to almost a million monthly views and had hundreds of thousands of pins. Under specific search terms such as Colorado Photographer, Family Photos in Colorado, and any combinations of those words, I was always appearing within the first couple of photos! Sounds great, right m? Wrong! With each and every pin, it’s best practice to have it linked to a blog post. Enter WordPress.
WordPress isn’t exactly a social media platform, but it’s where my blogs are housed because the Blog Gods say that WordPress is best. Is it? I dunno. But I blog my butt off, just to have a link, just to make a pin, just to maybe get one booking.
Social Media planner apps have been sent from actual Heaven. They’ve helped automate this entire system I have now. Without that, I would seem non existent on social media (which is what non-business-owner-me wants) But, now guess what? Instagram has changed their algorithm, and don’t allow your accounts to get much engagement if your posts come from a third party app. Can you sense my frustration? Haha!
Care to guess the percentage of bookings so get from all social media platforms combined? Take a wild guess. Okay, I’ll tell you. One. One percent.
Good ol’ word of mouth, guys. It’s old school but it works. What the hell is social media doing to us?!
I just want to make a very very clear statement that the relationships and clients I’ve met from any social media platform is 100% worth it. All day every day.