“Creating A Business Presence”
By Keith J. Fisher
Landscape/Rodeo Photographer
In order to be taken seriously in the world of photography, I wanted to make a strong business presence. I felt that social media was a great way create the foundation needed to begin looking like a business. The good thing about using social media is that it is completely FREE. The bad part is that it did take a lot of time to put the structures in place for me to have a solid foundation to build on. Because it is something that I love to do, I didn’t mind working on it.
Knowing that as a business, I had to look and act like one, my first step was to differentiate my personal life from my life as a photographer. The first thing I did was to set up a second profile account on Facebook.
On my personal account, I would never friend request anyone. It’s fear of rejection issue that I struggle with. However, if I was going to be a business, I had to get over that quickly. In order to build a following, I began by requesting all the people on the friends list of my personal account. Suddenly, people I know began popping up on the Friends You May know list. I made a rule to myself. If I have ever had a face-to-face conversation with someone on that list, I would request them. If any denied the request, I was never made aware of it. I just kept requesting and building my friends up.
If I was going to have a lot of friends that meant that there were a lot of different views. I didn’t want to offend anyone. I then made the decision that this account would ONLY post things related to my photography. It had to be completely devoid of any personal opinion especially in the areas of politics and religion. Those are two topics that will create animosity. If you play Switzerland and become neutral to any and all arguments, you will attract more people. Besides, who really cares what I think about current affairs? I am just a photographer. There is enough ugliness in the world. I wanted my work to be a great escape from all that junk.
After I set up the account, I worked on the looks. How did I want to represent myself professionally? I set up different photo folders to act as galleries. I thought of it in terms of a physical gallery and each folder acted as a different room for a different collection. I set each year I practice as its own gallery.
Now the question was how do I post when I will get the most views? I found that if I posted first thing in the morning, before anyone else wakes up, that I tend to get more feedback whether it be likes and/or comments. The only problem is, like most of us, I have a full-time job and can’t always get to the computer to post. I had to find a way to make the computer work FOR me.
I found the solution in way of a Facebook Business page. The business pages have the ability to schedule a post up to 10 weeks in advance. Facebook has a separate app for this called Business Suite. I took time to learn how it works and how I can get it to work for me. I set up the page and mirrored it as closely as possible to my photography profile. Once I had the look down, I began to invite people to like my page.
I will not cover my work flow right now as I see that is a topic all its own. After I prepare my photo to be posted, I go directly into Business Suite and schedule it to post. Most people would pick an even time to post like 6am. I wanted to give the feel that there is some personal touch to it. Instead of posting at 6:00am on the dot, I scheduled my posts for 6:04am. While having the look and feel of a professional business, the slightly off time gives the illusion that I am posting manually. It was only after I began to grow as a business that I went to scheduling at an even time. Wanting to be dedicated to working on my photography each day, I began getting up even earlier. Therefore, I began scheduling my posts for 4 am. As I get up at 4, by the time I got myself ready for the day and sat down at my desk, the post would be up and then I could easily mirror it on my profile page.
Although you can’t schedule posts on a profile page, I make sure that after my post on the business page gets posted, I post the same post to my profile page shortly after. By doing that, my post gets seen not only by followers of the page but also by friends of my profile; more eyes.
Because you can post up to 10 weeks in advance, I worked double time to make sure I had at least 10 posts ready to go. Once I hit that maximum, then I can relax a bit more and get 1 post done a week and still be scheduled 10 weeks out. I also made sure to pick a time and day to post. I don’t want to OVER post where people get tired of seeing my work. If I UNDER post, then I become irrelevant. I find that one post per week does the trick. I chose to post Monday mornings. Followers can get the week started off with a piece of beauty.
The only exception to this was when my post was seasonal. For instance, when It snowed, I was sure to go and capture it. When I was done processing it, I then stored it away until it snowed again. Once it did, I was sure to sit down the night before and schedule my post for the following morning. Because it was topical, it got more attention.
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Another way I promote myself is through face-to-face interactions. I designed a business card that had my information on it. www.vistaprint.com offers 500 cards for $30. I keep these cards on me when I am out shooting. I keep a stash in my camera bag as well as in my pocket. If I talk about my photography, I offer a card. A lot of times people will see my equipment and ask where I post my images. BAM hit them with a card. Sometimes, I will capture people doing things. Then I approach them, giving them a card. It is a great way to get your work seen.
I often shoot things in my surrounding area. If a subject has an interesting history, I like to learn more. What better way to find out information than from the locals? I will admit here that this plan does have a hidden agenda. I joined as many local neighborhood groups as I could find. When they approve my request, I have a prepared post explaining that I am a local photographer, not trying to spam or sell them anything. I would the ability to ask questions in the group from time to time about the area. I include my best photo as a way to show my credentials as well as wow the members. Usually, when I do this, I will get a few compliments which lead to conversation. By the end of the conversation, I politely ask if it would be ok to share my work each week. If they say yes, and they usually do, I take the name of the group and put it into a spreadsheet.
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In order to appear as one of the locals, I make sure that I read every single comment that is left. If they compliment me, I thank them. If they offer a relating anecdote, I engage them with conversation about it. It can be quite tedious and time consuming, but I make sure that everyone feels like they matter.
As a result, over the Christmas Season, of 2020, I had three people request three prints that had not been previously offered. I then had the prints made on canvas. If you print on canvas, it makes the print look a lot classier. You can also make more money from selling a canvas than you can a photo print. Prints are very nice to sell but canvases bring in more money.
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I also decided early on, that I would take photos of local business that I love. When I posted them, I would tag the business hoping that one of them would love what I did, share it and eventually ask to sell my work. That didn't happen. That's ok though. I just kept working my craft. At a favorite Bed & Breakfast in Lancaster, I was inspired to capture a certain scene. When I got to posting that photo, the owner of the Bed & Breakfast immodestly fell in love with the photo and asked for a print. Knowing that this could lead to sales from anyone who saw it, I gave her a print as a Christmas Gift. When I presented the print, it brought tears to her eyes. She then explained to me that she was in the midst of opening a gift shop and would love to sell my work there. I then realized that the photos can't be forced. I have to put my heart and soul into it. That was my first business endorsement.
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That's when I knew that this could really work. As long as my passion shows, this will never be work to me.
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