Since the main product of a photographer is photography, it is logical that a photographer needs to promote his or her services on a social network that focuses specifically on visual content. This is, of course, about Instagram. Today, promotion on Instagram is a separate SMM discipline that requires a serious and thoughtful approach, as well as knowledge of the basics and consistency. In addition, you need to make allowances for the target audience, the personality of the photographer, and the range of his/her services.

In today’s article, we will try to understand the specifics of the target audience for a photographer on Instagram, positioning, as well as how to get the most out of it with minimal effort. Well, let’s get started.

Features of a photographer’s target audience

The target audience of a photographer entirely depends on what he or she is ready to offer:

  • wedding photography;
  • still life photography;
  • portrait;
  • thematic photo sessions;
  • nude;
  • baby …

Specialization in photography means, if not everything, then very, very much. At the same time, it would seem that the same client may want to see completely different services – a children’s photoshoot and nude photography, for example, when making a picture of a young mother. But if you provide these services, it would not be entirely correct to post photos of half-naked women and children’s cute pictures on the same account. In this case, it is better to create several accounts for different topics.

Next, we move on to collecting the target audience. To do this, you can analyze competitor accounts, similar accounts, thematic hashtags, and geotags.

For example, for a wedding photographer in Omsk, competitor accounts include those belonging to all wedding photographers and videographers and related to the topic: limousine rental, wedding dresses, wedding makeup, weddings; hashtags like #svadbaomks, #registersk, and so on.

Managing your content

First, you need to highlight several areas in which you need to work:

  • posts;
  • stories;
  • live broadcasts.

You need to publish your best pictures in your posts. Each publication is a separate story. Tell us about your customer, what happened during the shooting, how you prepared for it, and so on. Learn to tell stories, people love it. Divide all content into categories using hashtags. For example, #photo_wedding_your_nickname, #reporting_your_nickname. In place of “your_nickname” write the name or creative pseudonym under which you are promoting your services.

Using Stories

Stories are the perfect place to publish backstage from a photo shoot, share your mood, or show your workflow. Also, be sure to make sticky stories in which you answer frequently asked questions: cost, reviews, locations for filming, etc.

Photos posted in Stories

Using live broadcasts. The trend for live broadcasts on Instagram is going down a bit and whether or not to go live with subscribers is up to you. You can start broadcasting after there are more than 1000 people, so as not to talk to too small an audience. Topics for broadcasts are answers to questions.

Attracting subscribers

So, you have successfully gathered the target audience and started posting and making stories every day. The next step is to attract subscribers. To do this, we can use the functionality of services helping you grow your audience.

These services offer a number of methods to grow the subscriber base. Using them, you can:

  • gather live subscribers on Instagram (the program subscribes to users from a pre-assembled audience – users subscribe in response). For example, Media Mister service uses this method;
  • mass-like (the program (such as Kickliker) does not subscribe to anyone, but simply ‘likes’ the photos of users from the collected target audience);
  • use the auto commenting feature (the software can track both your subscribers and accounts from a certain selection – by hashtags or geotags, and comment on their posts) FollowAdder is an example of such a service.

Activity to attract subscribers

What contests and sweepstakes you should hold? To rock the audience, you can hold contests for the best photos, arrange polls in the comments, or a competition. Offer your products as prizes and gifts – a photo session for Instagrammers is one of the most desirable things.

Photo contests

Promotion of a photographer on Instagram is also possible through participation in Giveaway and other activities.

Advertising

A photographer should not order advertising from bloggers – you should cooperate with bloggers, including doing it on a mutually beneficial basis. For example, you may offer to arrange a short photoset (outdoors or in a cafe), so that the blogger will have new photos, and mark you in his/her posts when he/she shares fresh photos. The second point is attracting bloggers as models for shooting. This will be especially true if you will cooperate with clothing stores and showrooms.

Should you run targeted ads? At your discretion, if other sources of customer acquisition have exhausted themselves or you want, as they say, all at once, then it is advisable to launch targeting.

There is a section on setting up advertising on Instagram in our blog Likesfinder.

Minimize efforts and increase efficiency

As we said at the beginning of the article, the idea to minimize our efforts while increasing efficiency is great. Any helpful equipment, software, or strategy will do. You may use programs that will automate most of the actions.

Using the functionality of such a program will significantly reduce the time spent on the social network and let you concentrate on the main activity – photography.

Buying inexpensive but reliable equipment is also crucial. Going through lists of online reviews will help – for example, if you need to choose among mirrorless cameras under 1000, reading reviews will spare your time.

Analyze the result and make adjustments

What criteria should be used to evaluate the result? To record the results, it is better to create a table to record all the main figures:

  • the number of new subscribers;
  • the number of likes and comments;
  • the number of applications for services;
  • the number and time of publications;
  • new customers;
  • requests based on recommendations from customers you got via Instagram.

Earned money is the main criterion, but other indicators are equally important. By comparing the data, you will be able to keep track of which posts receive more requests, which posts generate more discussion, what your subscribers like, and so on. Further, it is necessary to make adjustments depending on the results obtained. For example, if you see that fewer people subscribe to you, then it may be worth starting a mass follow not in the morning, but in the evening. Posting posts not in the morning and in the evening, but at lunchtime. As they say, statistics is a stubborn thing, you just don’t have to argue with it, but learn to work with them.

We hope our today’s insight into the topic of promoting a photographer on Instagram was useful to you!

 
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Kimberly Atwood

Kimberly Atwood’s books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. Kimberly lives in the Rocky Mountains with her husband, an exceptionally perfect dog, and an attack cat. Before she started writing historical research, Kimberly got a graduate degree in theoretical physical chemistry from Ohio State University. After that, just to shake things up, she went to law school at the University of London and graduated summa cum laude. Then she did a handful of clerkships with some really important people who are way too dignified to be named here. She was a law professor for a while. She now writes full-time.