I’ve heard this sentence time and time again “Acquiring new clients and marketing yourself as a photographer is incredibly hard”. But Facebook can be one of the best ways to promote yourself for free or with a very small budget.
With the rise of Instagram, many photographers have forgotten about Facebook, but it’s crucial to use each platform in your favour; Instagram is a perfect platform for a gallery, but Facebook is the perfect place to engage with your community.
So roll up your sleeves and go through each one of these hacks, many of which take no longer than 2 minutes. Trust me, this will make a massive difference.
1. Optimize your own profile (you are your brand)
Your profile is part of your brand. It’s crucial to use it in your favour. Start by having a great profile pic, something that might resonate with your potential customers. You don’t need to make it look super professional (this isn’t your LinkedIn profile).
Make sure your cover photo looks stunning, you can use a free online platform such as www.snappa.com in order to create graphics with a message that makes it clear that you’re a photographer.
Try to update your location, update your intro and make sure that you describe yourself and what you do in your bio.
2. Segment your friends
This is an easy hack that basically allows you to segment your friends so that only talk to the people that really care about what you’re going. You can gradually create a list that will be perfectly tailored to the type of content that you want to post.
3.Create a Business page
This is an absolute must, having a business page will make you look professional and also will allow you to get reviews, have an automated response, post things related to your business and have a location.
3. Make it look professional
Your profile needs to look the part, try to organise your pictures into folders. Delete anything that might not add any value and have part of your profile and images public so that people can see some of your content. Do the same with your Facebook business page, the more organized you are the better.
4. Ask for reviews
It’s pretty simple to ask for reviews on Facebook, every time you complete a job get a review. Try to guide your clients and give them a template or structure they can use. Don’t let them copy the template, but influence them with a positive message that gives them ideas on how to tell the world how amazing you are.
5. Create a posting schedule with high-quality posts
It’s easier to batch things into chunks and you can do this with your posts. Prepare your posts beforehand and make sure you have great quality content. Try to choose a time and day of the week where you get the most engagement with your posts. This way you can keep consistent and release yourself from the stress of thinking what to post all the time.
6. Create engaging captions
Try to be unique and personal with your captions. Remember what works by creating a folder with your best posts or screenshot what works and paste it in a google slides presentation. You’ll be amazed at what you can learn from what you post.
It’s also great if you can create a batch of good captions that go with your images. Always write down good ideas that come to you so you can post them when the timing is right.
7. Make an autoresponse on your Facebook page
This is incredibly easy to make and it will help you engage better with potential clients. Simply follow these steps:
1. Click Settings at the top of your Page.
2. Click Messaging in the left column.
3. Below Response Assistant, click on “go to automated responses” and write a personalised response.
8. Customize your page
1. Make a custom URL
2. Add a call to action button
3. Use customized images for your banner and profile pictures
4. Choose what tabs you want to display
9. Engage with your fans in a human way
This is a platform where you’re supposed to be yourself. If people can see you as a human, they will engage and connect with you. Try to keep this in mind when talking to potential clients and people that engage with your content.
10. Use groups
Groups are an amazing way to engage with people that have the same interests, find 50 groups that might like your content and join them. Try to stick to groups with high-quality content, good engagement, no spam and a large number of users. If you can engage with 5 quality groups you’ll be amazed at how much traction you can get.
Bonus. Link your Facebook business page or profile with other websites
It’s called the world wide web for a reason, the more webs you create the more chances you’ll have of people seeing your content. Link your profiles to as many of social platforms as you can, if there’s no link or bridge, people will never find you.
