I Don’t Have Time For Social Media!
The belief that social media is a waste of time is one of the biggest objections I hear when talking to people about the subject.
Social media is a communication platform. A cell-phone is also a communication tool. I can assure you my teenager doesn’t use it very efficiently, but this doesn’t diminish the fact that it’s an important part of my business.
Social media Web sites are the training wheels for how we will be doing business in the future. Corporations are employing and implementing collaborative business models to support creativity, efficiency and improve their bottom line. Social media platforms are the foundation of these new models. Photographers will need to know how to plug in.
As mass media continues to decline, word of mouth and referrals become more important to business. Social media offers the tools for a photographer to establish themselves as expert to a larger audience.
Social media networking allows photographers the ability to communicate effectively and develop deeper relationships with current clients. Even more impressive is the ability to earn new prospects, evangelists and clients well beyond the borders of your local community.
Who doesn’t have time for that?
10 Responses to 'I Don’t Have Time For Social Media!'
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Great counterpoint to yesterday’s post – thanks Rosh.
While I understand the importance of working social media (and any outreach activities) in to a larger marketing plan as Judy recommended yesterday, I feel like social media is a case where just jumping in and trying some stuff for a little while makes sense. Once things mature a little bit, then there can be best practices established and larger strategies executed.
For the time being, I think signing up on a couple sites and seeing what social media is all about is a good investment of a little time. It’s a great way to build some community, which ASMP is so incredible at facilitating.
(BTW, you can follow me if you like @chrisbohnhoff)
I’m not sure that I agree Chris. First off, I think, like most marketing ideas, seeing a payback from social media will require a concerted, sustained effort over a long period. I am not sure trying things for a while will yield much. I think it is necessary to build up a following and name recognition in that space, and to do so by creating specific content and commenting much and well about the writing of others. Twitter and Facebook are full of people who blather about politics, what they are having for breakfast, or even about their latest gear acquisition, none of which is of much interest to a potential client. My point being, one needs to think about the message, convey it effectively to the right audience, and to do so over a sustained period of time.
You make a few generalizations in this post and the first large one is to use the word “photographer” like someone uses the word “doctor”. We all know that there are physicians who specialize in a given area and this is true of photographers as well. Saying that photographers should engage in social media because their clients are there is misleading for many types of photographers such as myself. For my corporate communications photography, I deal with large Fortune 500 firms who if they are involved in social media are mainly involved from a marketing perspective and this is a team who works on these initiatives. My clients at these large firms are PR people who hire me and most large corporations don’t put people into social media positions without testing the waters in a big way because they want to see concrete dollar results before they will jump on Twitter or any other social media vehicle. Companies like Dell who I work for, have many people online but they deal with sales and damage control and the chance that our paths would cross is incredibly rare, even though we are both working for the same organizations. In my experience ,the businesses who are on the social media bandwagon are those who are in small firms who read that if you are not on Twitter you are missing the boat. Therefore why take any chances and smaller business often make the mistake of spreading their resources thin and losing sight of where the money comes from The other possible clients who are involved in social media are the general public, but generally they don’t stray far from Facebook. You can engage these clients this way and it is a terrific way to make friends and get a possible referral for a wedding. Making photographers in general feel they need to be involved in social media or they are missing the boat or possible clients is like telling a salesperson to go and visit a brain surgeon’s office to see if they want to buy fridge magnets to help increase their business. May work for some but not everyone.
Cliff
I struggle still with how this benefits my business. Sites like Linkedin and Facebook seem to have a clear selling point for me. I struggle to take proper advantage of it but I do see it. Twitter on the other hand…really?
Chris,
I think that social media marketing can help photographers. Like anything else though in your marketing plan – you need to define who your target is and your message or mission.
It’s a very real fact the even though Facebook is a “personal” site – it gives one the opportunity to add something about themselves – beyond what a client would see in their website. In these days of limited face to face meetings – it allows one to show a “personality”. And FB is way up there in the rankings for SEO – I see many referrals coming to my website – right from FB or Linkedin etc.
As far as time consumption – it’s like any other regimen – you need to schedule it into your day and streamline it.
I also find it’s a great way to get out messages about personal work or exhibits etc. – all the stuff clients love to hear that you’re doing.
First I wrote brief general post on the topic as requested. Second I used the word photographer because I’m addressing photographers. Third I’m also a corporate and media photographer and find social media very effective for my business.
The belief that success in social media is about utilizing large teams, is 100% wrong. Social media as brought the goals of large public relations within easier grasp of the individual and small business.
You seem to be mistaking hard marketing and soft marketing. Hard marketing is direct sales or advertising. Social media is soft marketing (public relations). Developing relationships and becoming and expert. The last thing I would do is base my marketing plan on how large corporations approach it.
But, you use an excellent example non-the-less. Dell has done a great job using social media. I don’t recommend social media as a main source for direct sales. But, Dell as sold over a million dollars worth of computers and has improved trust and their reputation via Twitter. Dell does use social media for damage control and customer service. I don’t know about you, but I believe every photographer should be involved in sales, customer service and reputation development.
I believe you are missing the fact that many traditional forms of advertising and communication are dying. 80% of people look online for our products and services. Search engine optimization (SEO) plays a major roll, for me, in gaining new clients. The search engines look to social media as part of their algorithm to help figure out who is considered an expert in their field. I want to be that expert.
The bottom line is business is about people. I’ve built my business on networking. Social media is not a replacement for the activities that work well in my business; it’s a positive addition.
It is true it may not work for everyone. It takes a long-term plan, knowledge, goals and skills in the area of networking. But, online collaboration is our future. I’ve been screaming loudly across the country that it is coming and photographers need to plug-in. Exhibit one http://wave.google.com and platforms like are on the way. Today’s social media platforms are the training wheels of how we will do business in the future.
You can ignore social media. Many will. I know many photographers who said I don’t need email; I can use the phone. I don’t want a web site; my portfolio and brochure are all I need. And of course my favorite: I’ll never switch to digital.
Rosh
http://www.newmediaphotographer.com
Twitter could be another long response. but, I’ll try to keep it simple. Twitter is not for chatting. It’s a media stream. Think of it as the peoples AP wire. Once you develop a community and relationships – you can move information around the world that is extremely beneficial to your blog, web site and business.
Plus, the incredible amount of information you receive from Twitter is amazing.
Remember, if we don’t like what we see on Twitter or any social media site the only people to blame are ourselves. Because you and I are the editors.
Rosh
I’ve been on Flickr for about 9 months, and while I have had to put some work into it, most of my business is happening because of Flickr. I get 8,000 views per day from my 48 uploads, and I get requests from gallery owners to stock people every day.
Patrick
@PatrickSmith1
You Made Some Good Points There. I Did a Search on the Topic and Found Most People Will Agree with Your Words. Thank You!
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