Lessons

Lesson Info

How to Do Social Media Marketing Q&A

We'll be focusing on social media, but less about perhaps my approach because I want to hear more about what you are going through and how you're applying it to your business. I will start with a cursory outline of how I approach social media for my business. But running a business today is fantastic and it's wonderful because we are the owners of our content. We are the captains of our ship. We choose the direction in which we want to go. And for so many years marketing took on one shape and it was very formal. This was how you marketed. You bought a radio ad or a TV ad. You bought a print ad. You advertised in the Penny Saver. I mean, these are the things that people pursued. Then social media happened and it completely changed the game. It leveraged the playing field in ways that people have a very hard time understanding. Now on that note, social media is wonderful, but it can also be very daunting because there are so many different ways to use social media and so many different p...

latforms that what I see quite often amongst photographers are photographers doing every form of social media. But doing them all a little bit not so great. My opinion is that I see common mistakes that are easy fixes that photographers should stay away from. For instance, when a photographer says, oh I don't use Twitter. I have a Twitter account, but I don't use it. I just sync up my Facebook with Twitter. I think big mistake. Because Twitter, why I went like this, no idea. Big mistake. Later on if I make a mistake, I want you guys to go like this. Big mistake. Why I think it's not so great is because Twitter is limited to 140 characters. And traditionally on Facebook, our status updates are a little bit more verbose. So what it parlays to on Twitter is I had such a great Saturday. Flew a kite, hang our with the kids... Nobody ever clicks to the Facebook link to read the rest of your thought. Not when they're in Twitter. And what I see quite often happening as well is people are syncing from Instagram the photos to go to their Facebook account and to go to Twitter. Now syncing your Instagram to Facebook is not so much a bad thing because Facebook bought Instagram. They make it very friendly these days. Now when you are following somebody on Twitter and they update with an Instagram link, fewer and fewer people are actually clicking on the link. So all of this just begs me to say respect the platform. If you are using Twitter, use it in the way that it should be used. It's so much more powerful, a photo update on Twitter when it's actually updated as a pictwit because people can see the preview. One of the greatest uses of Instagram and linking Twitter was when Instagram actually uploaded a picture within Twitter. It no longer happens that way. It's just the link. So respect the platform. Dwell in that space and be okay knowing what that space is. Now sometimes photographers ask me, am I missing out if I'm not on Facebook? Am I missing out if I'm not using Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat, Vine, Tumblr, I mean there are so many. So they ask me, am I missing out? And my quickest answer would be yes and no. Yes you are missing out on potential marketing opportunities. But no you are not missing out if that is not the target audience you want to reach. So take a step back, and this goes back to a previous lesson that we had discussed, who is your market? Who is your client? Because once you know that, you know where those clients reside. Now for me the key is to focus on platforms that I feel make me stronger, that I feel make me better. For example, I have selected three types of social media platforms that I will heavily get into. First and foremost is Facebook. Secondly is Instagram. Thirdly is Twitter. Now, a very very close fourth, but it's for different reasons, is YouTube and Periscope. Now what happens with YouTube and Periscope is that video has changed the dynamic in which I am able to interact. However, video is a different machine in its entirety. It takes more time to think about. You have to use it with intention. And you have to be really smart about the things that you're saying and how you're saying it. So what we've seen now is people and photographers using more of Periscope and I love it. But I think that people, if they're going to invest time watching you, it should be with intention. So when somebody follows me on Periscope, I want them to know the voice in which I possess. And the voice in which I possess is I'm going to share something with you because while I'm watching a great sunset, I don't think it's all that great and interesting to show you the great sunset that I'm looking at because I could just take a picture, right. You don't need to see the sunset under every single dropping along the horizon. So when somebody follows me on Periscope, I have used it at a wedding. And I say, this is how I shoot reception details. I've used it at a rehearsal dinner. I said I'm at the rehearsal dinner. Everybody's eating. Nobody wants to have a photograph taken, so I'm gonna show you some of the details and how I'm shooting it. I used Periscope as I shot The Knot dream wedding as well because I want people to be part of that. But furthermore, I have used Periscope just last week. I was in my studio, not my studio, the studio. It's a shared studio space. And I happened to be working there on content for Creative Live and the studio was empty and so I said, okay I'm going to Periscope. And so I had updated and I said, if anybody would like to see my studio space, I'm walking you through it. It was with intention. I could've just said, at the studio. Here I am. Yeah, so I'm just talking about stuff. Taking a sip of my coffee. That's not valuable to most people. The value showed what the experience looked like. I could've started it in the studio where I meet my clients, but that would've only mostly been interesting to photographers. If I'd backed out of the studio and actually showed myself walking into the studio, up the stairs where I meet my clients, the lounging area, that might also appeal to brides. They might want to know my voice. They might want to know, where do you work? They might want to know the value of spaces that I work in. So for me, Periscope was used strategically in two ways for two different audiences. Photographers and brides. When it comes to choosing the right form of social media for you, you want to leverage things that work with intention. Sometimes people ask why I don't use Vine or why I'm not really active on Snapchat. I think, for me, my client does not reside in the Vine demographic. The Vine demographic is that 18 to 24 range and that's not my client. However, if you're just starting out and you have a tendency or proclivity or desire to shoot younger brides and you're in that price range, maybe posting a short video to Vine might be beneficial. I don't know. I know that my strength isn't leveraged in a six second video. I'm just not that witty or funny and I just feel like it would be a waste of time as a result. So am I missing out? Possibly. But, one thing that I want people to always focus on when it comes to social media, leverage what you're good at, go after it to use your target clientele, and respect the platform. On that note, why I think Facebook wins in regards to social media is that it is powerful for photography resources and leverage. The thing about it is that the algorithm works in our favor if we use it right. So my brides will share their photos on Facebook, hopefully, preferably, by first sharing the link. The link to the album within Facebook. It's very strategic when I release their images. I don't want to release all of their images on the same day, do a blog post, and share an album of my own images on Facebook because they're not incentivized in sharing mine. They want to curate their day from the gallery that they so chose. So if I first tease them with a gallery, usually an engagement album on Facebook is eight to 10 images and an album of wedding photos about 20 to 25 after a wedding. I want them to share those because that is what I feel is the best representation of my voice and my work. When they share it, it's great because then their bridesmaids will usually say, oh what a fun day or oh it was so beautiful. Yay, yay, yay. That's great. The more people that comment on their status, the more it ends up in other people's feeds naturally. This is how I get the most word of mouth/word of mouse referrals. Most often I am getting inquiries via Facebook, not by people who were at the wedding. I'm getting that third ring removal. Yes, they're friends on Facebook, but they're not close enough to have been invited. And so just recently I booked a wedding based on a referral from a gentleman who went to school in the fourth grade with the bride. He wasn't invited to the wedding, but when he saw the photos, he sent them to his fiance and she said, I really like her, let's fly her up to the Bay area for our wedding. We didn't meet. Same thing. I recently was booked by a client via email. We didn't Skype. We didn't meet. We didn't call. But she felt confident sending me thousands of dollars based on what? She saw a friend of a friend tagged on Facebook from my photos. Then she visited my Facebook page 'cause she wanted to see who I was. After she went to the Facebook page, I also included a link to my blog within the album so she went to my blog. When she went to my blog, she looked around the blog. Then she had noticed that I had uploaded a YouTube video. And that YouTube video was how I work with my clients on an engagement session. It was intended for photographers, but she wanted to know what my clients were doing, what they looked like, how I spoke. She admitted this in an email. Then she went to my Twitter account to see my personality. And it made me think, what were the first four tweets that I had written when she had read it? I ask you. If somebody were to go to your Twitter account right now, what are the first four tweets that they see? Are they negative? Are they funny? Are they boring? Are they self-promotional? And if that's the pattern, if three out of four are one thing and that one thing doesn't resonate with you, I challenge you to change the scope of your social media because people are doing so much work. She really got to know me because she did all the work on the front end. She sent me an email. She admitted to the path in which she found me. She said, I feel confident, sent me a retainer, and that was it. I think that is social media done right. Yes it requires a lot of time. A lot of the questions, a couple days ago, I posted on Facebook and I said, I'm at Creative Live, if you have any questions in regard to social media, please ask me and we'll address them. And somebody has asked, I have a list of those questions, but somebody had asked, how do you find time to blog and Facebook and tweet? My question is, I make time because I don't want to spend the money on traditional forms of marketing. I'm given the option. We both need to grow our business. Now there's the easy expensive way or there's the harder, more time consuming way. But at the end, if they both yield the same result, I'm going to choose this one a thousand times over because it doesn't cost me money. It costs me time. And I enjoy it. And I think I'm good at it. And I wanna tell people how easy it is when you just put your heart into it 'cause if you're just like, I just want one app that I can do one update and go everywhere, it's like, you're missing the point of social media. People follow different avenues, different mediums for different reasons. So make sure that you're respecting their time as a result. So now that we have a better sense of my approach, I'm gonna give you a global idea about how I use social media and the consistency in which I do. So I use Facebook and I update my status three or four times a day. I update Twitter three or four times a day. I update Instagram once a day and I Periscope once a week. When it comes to YouTube, it's a lot more strategic and because it's direct reflective of my brand, I wanted to make sure that it looks right, I YouTube once a month. Now video is a lot more strategic. It takes more time for me to do it, but I think the benefits are there, but I don't do it with as much frequency via YouTube because of how much time it takes. I want there to be a purpose. On that note, I want to kind of just clarify a few things when it comes to updates. In our office, like our office is like me and J.D. at the house in our bedroom. (audience laughs) In our space we have a vernacular that we use to ensure that we're staying tethered to the thing that we want to be tethered to. So often times people say, well why aren't people engaging on my Facebook page? And then they click over to the Facebook page and it's being updated once every four or five days and the only updates are, shot an engagement session in Ballard, I'm here at an engagement session selfie. Go check out the wedding day blog post. At a wedding day. Click here to see more photos. Would you ever tune into a radio station and be like, buy our socks. Buy our socks. Buy our socks. So blessed to be buying our socks. Of course not. We wouldn't. But that's what social media is and yet we as business people are like, why isn't anybody interacting? Well why don't you put content on the radio station? People sometimes ask me, this was another question that somebody had asked and I wanna make sure that I am bringing our their names, is Stephanie Dwayne. How do you get people to follow you on Instagram or Facebook? People will like the post and people may even comment, but they won't follow you. That makes me take a step back and think, if they're not following you, you're probably not putting out the content that's worth their time. And is that tough and is that mean to say? Yes. But it's also the truth. So can you take a step back and think, what does my feed say about me? Then, what do I want my feed to say about me? And then what are the changes that you need to get there? On that note, I wanna open this Q&A, this forum, to you. You are my core. You will get the most time. If you feel like, if I'm not getting questions from you guys, I have wonderful lists of amazing questions that people I've printed out from Facebook. So we're gonna start with the mic here. We'll take the mic back there and then we'll pass the mic here. Awesome. Thanks so much you guys. I appreciate this. I've been following you for like five years on Facebook and only Facebook So we're like old friends. I feel that way. And you're very sharing about certain personal things about you. And I'm wondering if you use that same approach on other platforms. Yes. Yes, so first let's take a step back. Is that people will say, well that's good for you. And I'm not saying that you say this, but I'm just gonna address something that I think is ancillary. People say, oh that's good for you that you feel comfortable sharing personal things. And let me take a step back and say, the things that I share make up .001 percent of my life. So people assume that I'm a lot more comfortable with sharing things, but I use what I call the man on the airplane rule. What I share on social media would be exactly what I would share to somebody I just met on the airplane. And maybe some people are not comfortable sharing that their mom is a cancer survivor. And I am comfortable with that. Maybe people aren't comfortable sharing an inspirational quote that their dad might've made in regards to their relationship with God. I am. But what is okay for me might not be okay for you. And that's okay. But to shy away entirely from personalizing it is doing yourself a disservice because, I bring up this story often. I probably have brought it up on Creative Live like four years ago because it was such a pivotal thing for me to see one thing. I was blogging and people would say, oh we're meeting you by way of your blog and it's been great and thank you so much, and I didn't get it because I just thought, well I'm just writing, you know. I'm just sharing what it is that I do. And then late one night I stumbled across somebody's blog and his blog post was really short and he just took a picture of a bag of Reese's Pieces and he just kinda created a limerick on his love for Reese's Pieces and it was silly and it was trite. And I like Reese's Pieces. I liked him more because he wrote something small. It was witty and he likes the same candy that I like. Did he share anything personal about his life outside of the fact of his candy preferences? No. But it was personalized. And that was when I started seeing the profound effect by putting things out online. Having said that, you need to draw a line in the sand and you need to understand that the more of yourself that you put out there, the higher percentage you will push somebody away. And I believe that I want to do one of two things with social media. I want to attract a person or I want to repel a person. Ideally the people I am repelling stop paying attention to me. That has not always been the case. But the people who I attract become ardent supporters because they know pictures of my dog. They celebrate when my mom is healthy. They are happy when I celebrate an anniversary. They wish my husband happy birthday. These are personal elements, but they're not so revealing. And to create that personal connection with people who express love on the internet is this fundamental shift in how we interact as humans because we as entrepreneurs, especially solo entrepreneurs, we're lonely. Or we work alone and some of us are lonely. Those are two different things. But for the people who work alone, for the people who are lonely, to reach out across and take three seconds and put a little emoji and say, thumbs up great photo or hey good job, happy anniversary, happy birthday that changes things. And it's a personal connection by way of marketing. So don't shy away from it, but also be comfortable with it. Did that work? Yeah. Okay, cool. There was, oh yes. We're gonna go back there. Question two and question three. So wondering how Pinterest fits in the marketing mix for you and if you feel there's value in spending time working within the platform or not so much. Oh goodness. I'm sure there's gonna be some social media specialist who's like, that girl is so wrong. Okay, so I started off by saying that I choose platforms that show strength in what I do. I'm not good at pinning. I personally feel, and I know that I am the .005 percent of people who don't like to pin. It's just not my thing. I don't like to create boards. To me that's a waste of time. Now people could say, oh well Twitter's an epic waste of time and I'd be like, you are right. But I choose to waste my time there. Now, part of the reason why I'm not, why I've made a cognizant decision is that when it comes to Pinterest, we as photographers are content creators. I would feel at a disadvantage if I wanted to grow in marketing and I wasn't doing it if I wasn't creating content. But I know that my pictures are getting pinned. I see them. I get leads from Pinterest. But I don't necessarily think it would be a strength to say, here's all the photos that I shot at this one venue. That would take me so much time to actually do that. I wouldn't enjoy it, so I'd probably abdicate that. And if I abdicate an arm of social media that's not personalized, I run the risk of it just looking inauthentic and a waste of time and money. I know Pinterest works. I know it's valuable. But since my pictures are still in it, I feel like I'm an ancillary participant to that form of social media without me leading that particular ship. Personal decision. Thanks Thank you. That was a great question, thank you. Hi, I have two questions. One's a simple one, one's a long one. The simple question, do you use a Facebook person's page or do you use a business page 'cause I find there's a lot of limitations on adding friends and tagging people when you're a business page. Yes And then the second question is unrelated, but you're kind of an amazing writer. I don't know if you guys have read her blog, but you have very beautiful words. Do you have a book or a suggestion for people who aren't as great about writing to learn how to write more eloquently like you do? Thank you and thank you. First thing's first, when I got onto Facebook, I started with a personal page. And I would friend my friends and then I would friend clients. And then something shifted in my career and I started going out and meeting a lot more photographers and they were like, oh hey we met at this event. And I started accepting everybody's friend request because I was like, oh I spoke at that event. I'm not sure if we met in person, but we'll be friends for connecting in the industry. And I think if I could do it over again, I would not have done it that way because there needed to be a clear distinction of what it was. But it's done and over. Facebook has a personal friends limit that goes up to 5,000 people. I got there and I was like, why can't I have anymore friends? And it was at that time that I decided to create a Facebook business page. Some people were like, you should merge the two and I thought about that until I realized that I couldn't tag my clients from my Facebook page unless I was friends with them on my personal page. So that's why I still keep my personal page. I don't update it with as much frequency. I really pour all my attention into the business page because, and this is where some people disagree, it's a personal decision. I have decided to use social media entirely for business purposes. I don't post pictures of me dancing on a table in Cabo San Lucas, you know. That is not, not that I do, I mean. That's not what that page is about. My personal page is still business. My business page is business, but updated with frequency. So it's very strategic in regards to what I do. In regards to books that I have found helpful, well first and foremost, reading anything is the best form of writing education that you can do. If you're reading comic books, the back of cereal boxes, magazines, it doesn't matter. As long as you're just not on a mobile device watching TV. You're not feeding your brain. Anne Lamott wrote a wonderful book called Bird By Bird. On Writing by Stephen King is a wonderful book. It's more autobiographical in nature, but he talks about what he does in his creative process. And another one called Still Writing by ugh, her name just left me. But if you go to Instagram and you hashtag jstarreads, you will find the book Still Writing and I think her name is Ellis, I'm not sure. But she wrote an amazing book about her writing process, but I just substituted writing with photography because she talks about how sometimes you get so tired and you get so burnt out, but the act of actually still doing it is the thing you need to replenish. It's not completely walking away from it because you end up beating yourself up about that. And I was just like, yes, yes. So those three books would be great starts. But then read anything. Read a magazine. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Yes. I know you've touched a lot on getting input, people coming to you. Is there any strategy you apply towards who you choose to follow and who you're reaching out to as far as how it works into your plans? All right. Because I felt like with social media, with Facebook, that I wasn't as strategic as I should've been and I just let my personal page just go everywhere and now when I go to my feed, it's filled with people I don't even know. And so I just don't have the heart to be like unfriend, unfriend, unfriend, unfriend, you know. So I'm just like ugh. So Facebook feeds are very limiting to me. And so when it comes to other forms of social media like Twitter or Instagram, it's really personal driven. I really just follow people that are my friends in real life. And I know that that could be kind of like I'm trying to stiff arm other professionals in the field, and it's not that. It's just with this, I wanna protect Instagram 'cause the people that I wanna see in my feed are my friends and I don't follow a lot of other, I follow like Mindy Kaling. Love her. Okay, amen. Because she is like an All-American Indian girl who's a good writer and she's self-deprecating, but she feels good in her own skin. And her updates are just really fun and light-hearted. I follow, mostly I follow like fashion, not fashion models. I follow the girls who would just take selfies in their outfits 'cause I don't know how to dress. And so I look at that and I'm like, okay that's what she did, okay. So it's actually educational purposes. So the scope in which that works, or sometimes I follow, one of my favorite feeds is Marnie the Dog. If you guys don't follow Marnie on Instagram, your life is not complete. I tried convincing J.D. and he's like, it's a weird looking dog. It's a weird looking dog who walks funny and has her face in a little tortilla and says, I'm a burrito. For me, those forms of social media are just stuff that's going to make me laugh and keep it really light. Because I think that if I put in a lot of social media that I'm following a lot of other photographers, it's easy to use it as a form of measurement. Like I'm at the beach or I'm walking my dog and feeling good and then I'm like, oh well that person's in Ireland shooting a wedding. Oh well look at how great her kid looks. Look at those crafts that she makes her kid. You know I follow some of these other moms on Instagram and I'm not even a mom and I feel intimidated. I was like, oh my gosh. So for me, when I follow my personal stuff, it's really just a form of entertainment, keeping it light and a really close knit of people. There seems to be a lot of conversation out there about watermarking or no watermarking. Great question. And I see that yours is lovely and subtle, but I think I noticed you don't use it on Instagram. Unless I didn't see it. It's kinda hard from back here. But then the other question quickly is do you use a pre-scheduling platform? So there's options to preschedule So there's three questions there? There's two. Watermarking no? And do you pre-schedule all of these things? No because you asked whether or not I use a watermark on Instagram? Okay, there were three. Three, yes you're correct. I defer to the pro. (laughter) Okay, so I'm so sorry I'm slow. What was the first one? Watermark or no Thank you. Watermark, okay. Watermarking. Yes I watermark all photos that go online from me. Now I need to understand that my clients will put out their images and that's okay. And I understand that the creative team will put out images without watermarking. But I request on both ends that I am mentioned as the source and the originator. I do not hold my clients responsible. I ask for it. But whether or not they do it, that's fine. They invested in me. They are owners of their images. You rock that. I hope you mention me. If not, I'm not gonna push it. For vendors, for creative teams, I request it and then I do get irked if they do not mention. But so far, mostly, those people say image by and that's very powerful. So watermarking I absolutely do. The internet is like the wild west right now and so I have seen a photo of my own on Buzzfeed where my name was cropped out of it and I'm just kind of like, ugh, it's what it is. It's what it is these days. But I wanna do everything I can to kind of protect that. And especially on Pinterest. It's like re-pinned, re-pinned, re-pinned and the original source changes all the time. If my name is on it, we know the originator of the original source. In regards to Instagram, I was kind of playing with it. I was kind of playing with whether or not, what I've noticed is that a lot of times when people are sharing on Instagram, they will do like an Instagram reshare, you know. And so then you're still listed as it. People can screen grab and take it out. I just felt because of the square format of Instagram, and even when I tried putting borders on it, my name either just was completely obscured or lost or it degredated looking at the photo in the square format. Aesthetically, and if you go back into my feed, you will see that I was watermarking and then I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna make the creative decision to let this one go for the sake of respecting the platform. Lastly, Do you preschedule? Ah yes, there we go. No, I don't. I don't Now, there have been times where I go on vacation and I'm a constant worker. I actually think I derive joy from working. It drives my husband bananas. I'm like, you wanna see me happy? Give me a pile of stuff to file, okay. (audience laughs) When we go on vacation his only request is we're off. You're off, we're off. And in that time, I will use Hootsuite to update Twitter and I'm only really being strategic about, oh I blogged today via Twitter. Now Facebook has a wonderful prescheduling program. I used to use Hootsuite for Twitter and Facebook, but Facebook works so much better for the prescheduling now. And when I go on vacation, that is what I use. But other times, like real time updates, no I'm not gonna plan like, such a great day. I don't know. I always think to myself, what if I got into a car crash and then an hour later, such a great day, you know. It's like inauthentic. I know, is that weird? And I totally dark? Am I dark? I'm dark on the inside. No, I just worry and I think about what that could potentially turn into. Okay, thank you so much. Thank you. Awesome. We're gonna pass it back there, yes. You kind of just touched on this, but I wanted to clarify a little bit. Do you give any instruction or encouragement to your brides on posting their images, crediting you or following you on social media. I think that was like four questions. I don't ask them to follow me on social media, but most of them are following me on, now here's the thing, Twitter is not for brides. I'm on Twitter for other wedding professionals and venues. Venues seem to think that Twitter's the jam. And so I do that to you know, elevate, like if I shoot a wedding, I'm usually tweeting at the venue, but I'm not using it to connect with brides. I don't think brides are on Twitter the way that they maybe were. For me, my brides are on Facebook and Instagram and they are following me on those, but I do not ask for it. When it comes to asking for credit, I include it in part of the post-wedding email. I sell this template in the store as well because it's a difficult kind of wording to navigate, like how do you ask for photo credit, you know? But if you want it, you have to ask for it. So yes I do, but I do not hold them accountable to it. And there was another question. Was there? I think that covered it. Okay. Just do you give them any instruction? Okay, yes. So I love the idea that you were talking about when it comes to really repelling or attracting a client. And I feel like my personality is like that, like people either, it resonates with them or not so much. But as soon as I go to write something, I freak out and I think, oh my gosh I'm gonna offend somebody or it doesn't really make sense. It's not as funny. And when you see it written, it's there on Facebook forever. So do you have any advice for someone like me, maybe other people? Yeah. Okay, so ahhh. Okay. Oh social media, this beast that it is. Okay, coming to Creative Live, talking about social media always me a little bit nervous because it's been a pretty rough two years in regard to the social media land. For those of you who aren't familiar with what happened, social media just was not a really good place for me. As a result, I have unknowingly/knowingly peeled back on very personal aspects of my life. The blog has become very informational and very functional. I used to just write a lot more about the things that I was doing until I realized that the things that I was doing was being used in a way to make me feel really really awful about myself and about the decisions that I had made. And so what happens as a result is that I stopped being me online and I felt it. And I wasn't developing the type of conversations that I used to have. So much so that a couple days ago I had a conversation with J.D. and I had said, you know what, the pattern has changed. Four years ago, five years ago, when people would meet me, they would say, you're just how we expected. Or they would say, you're nicer than what we expected or you're just as we expected. That was the verb, that's the thing that people would say. And now when people meet me they say, you're even nicer than what we had expected. And that little qualifier even was so revealing to me 'cause it didn't happen once, it didn't happen twice, it was happening with frequency, made me think that them saying you're even nicer was showing that I wasn't being who I am online. And so you have this vision and idea of me so that when you meet me you're like, oh okay, you're not just functional blogger, you're not just a functional Instagrammer, you're showing yourself and who you are. So a couple weeks ago, I just started thinking that I did not want to be vulnerable anymore because of how bad I was hurt. My own decisions to get that hurt. I put myself in that position. I make no qualms about the mistakes I made, the apologies that I had to issue. I ruined so much of who I was as a person as a result. But I had no other choice but to move on. My choices were quit, stop doing what I do or move on. I chose to move on. And as a result, I can't live in a half life anymore. I have to go back and say, I'm going to be blogging about the dates that I go on. I'll be blogging about the vacations I go on. I'm gonna be blogging about where my mom's health is. I'm gonna be blogging about a lot of stuff and if you don't like it, I don't care because if you are thinking about what other people are gonna say about you, you're giving them the power to hurt you. If you say I don't care about what you say about me, you retain all the power and I say, if you don't like what I'm doing, if you don't like who I am, stop looking. I don't come to you, you come to me. How 'bout I refund you the cost that it took for you to read my blog? Oh that's right, it was free. You gonna complain about that? (audience laughs) Don't live in the shadow of what other people are gonna think about you. You will be perpetually unhappy. And I can tell you for the past two years, that was I've had to learn on my own. And it has been hard, but I'm stronger as a result. Dang. (laughs) dang. Whoa. Okay, I'm gonna go to that question. I think my biggest issue with social media is that I feel like it can be very redundant. And I'm just wondering for each avenue, do you have like a little bit different styles of personality that go into each. Like are you just a little bit more clever and witty on Twitter or. Well let me tell you, Twitter is hard. Twitter is really hard because it's like you think, oh I wanna be funny and then you're at like 161 characters. And then when you peel back those 21 characters, all of a sudden it's like (blows raspberry). And so then there have been times when I'm just like, no no I think I can make this, ugh. So the pattern for us, for the way that I approach it is I do one, what I call a push update. A push update is when I'm asking somebody to leave the native arena that they're in, out somewhere else. I do one push update a day because if you're always asking people to leave the native space, they get tired of you, right. So on Facebook, I make one request a day which is usually I just blogged this engagement session, go here. Then the other two or three posts that day might be a photo. So photos do really well in regards to getting organic traction by the Facebook algorithm. I update a photo. I may or may not include the metadata if I'm attracting photographers. Or I might just say something along the lines of, give me good light, beautiful space, and if the bride wants to dress outdoors. I'm using with intentionality. I'm telling people I want to shoot outdoor weddings. I like natural light. And if you're a bride and you want to dress outside, I'm your photographer. And I'm doing that without really saying that. Another one might be a personal update. So I try to do three or four updates on Facebook and Twitter. One push, one photo, two personal. Yes. Do you hashtag? Do I hashtag? Not as much as I should. Now hashtags, now let's just be real. Hashtags are phenomenal on Instagram, terrible on Facebook, and mediocre on Twitter, you know because I think that people, I love you dad, but my dad just hashtags for stuff that, it's a searchability thing dad. Nobody's looking for where to find the best burrito LA. You know, like Dad no. And now there's gonna be a hashtag and I know my dad's gonna text me and be like, look at this hashtag. Four people used it because of me. Okay, my dad is. (audience laughs) So anyway, so in regards to hashtagging, it's a great way to gain traction. I personally, it's an aesthetic thing. It's like when I go and I see like #mom, #mothersday, #flowers, #tulips, #instagram, it's like (distressed noise). But if that works for you, then that's okay. There have been times where I will hashtag wedding, wedding photo and I will hashtag the venue 'cause hashtagging venues are really powerful in Instagram as well as using the geotag location. I'm kind of leery about geotagging in real time because I don't really like for people to know where I am in real time, but post or after or if I'm at a wedding and I'm working, yeah that's fine. I can let people know. Just really quick, my brother, he's an artist. He does woodworking. And he started his Instagram just doing random stuff and in one week he put a photo up and the hashtag he used was like weld porn. And he got 1,000 followers within one week just from that hashtag. And that was unbelievable to me. Yeah, I wonder of all the posts that were in the hashtag wood porn, they probably, because it was so so so finite, they probably were like, oh new post (tongue click). Right? (audience laughs) So I think that that works. I think that that hashtag could work. The hashtags that are very very very difficult, the more obscure the hashtag in Instagram, it could be powerful if there's a bunch of woodworkers who are looking for something. But when you put like wedding or wedding photo, it's like you're buried in like two minutes. So it's kind of like yes they're effective, but they're more effective in that middle ground. Stay away from those hashtags that my dad uses, but try to stay away from those really really really really saturated ones. Finding something in the middle. I mean I think I'm just probably gonna use that story for the rest of my life. It's pretty darn amazing. But yeah, it's kind of like finding your rhythm the more you do it. But I mean, stay away from like the 50. I see hashtags it's like paint, neon, 80s, teenager, wedding inspiration and I'm like, what? So yeah, that's my answer in regards to hashtag. There was, yes. I work as part of a business with me and my husband so if I'm trying to find the voice that we write on social media, I'm the one who updates almost all the time on social media, what kind of voice do I use? We or I and what's more authentic if I wanna do some personalized posts like you do? What's your business name? It's Love 2 Media. Okay. I think that if you take, well who's kind of like the lead? Who does like client meetings? I mostly, 90%. Oh that's great. He helps. It's kind of the same relationship. Girl, own it. (laughs) Own it. I think you should just own it and every so often if you do a personal update, you can say we or use your partner's name. That's fantastic. But as far as everything else, don't hesitate to be like, this is your voice. And even though it's not your name specifically that you become the voice of that brand. I think it's fantastic. Second question, sorry. In terms of if you're at a wedding and you're updating something on Instagram or Twitter, do you do any post processing on that photo that you take that day? No but I hashtag iPhone because people would be like, this is so terrible. Look at her lighting. And I'm like, you guys, it's an iPhone. So I will use the hashtag iPhone just to let people know so that it doesn't turn into something that it's no supposed to. But no, I'll just, I use either Afterlight or Visco to treat iPhone photos and then I'll update without that pressure. And when I do the updates, I want to clarify, when I do the updates, guests are usually seated at dinner and I step out so that I'm not in the corner, you know, updating my status. Although J.D. thinks to find it very funny, I turn my back and I'm outside in the corner and he'll be like, oh excuse me, can I ask you. And I'm like, oh God. And it's always him and I always fall for it. And I'm just like, that's so annoying. I'm trying to be professional here. There was another question right here and then we'll go back to Christie. So there's been a new word in the industry called momtographer and I don't mean to offend anybody but it boils my blood. I'm a full time photographer. This is my whole job and yes I have children. So I wanna be personal and share pictures of my kids online. But at the same time, I don't want to be confused with, you know, a person who, you know, is just doing this as a hobby. So do you have any suggestions on that whole, I find a lot of male photographers throw that out, like oh well she's a momtographer. Do you have any suggestions about, yes I'm a full time photographer? This is what I do. This is my profession. And battling those waters? I'm going to be very careful as I tread these waters because I am not a mom. So the thing that I say could be purely speculative because when the time comes for us to have a family, I might totally flip the script and be like, everyday 10 photos. I have thought about it very strategically. Is I think that I would treat our child very similar to how I incorporate, and they are not the same, okay. I know this. A child is nothing like a dog. Nothing. But my approach would be the same. I am a photographer. And because I use social media as a business thing, I would probably blog once every two weeks about my child, an update on social media once every two weeks. If I felt so inclined to share how great looking my kid was, I would have a separate private Instagram not related to my business because you do run the risk of putting out, and another thing is that if you have clients and they're waiting for their images and you're like, with Parker at the park today and they're like, well it must be nice. I'm still waiting for my photos. I don't want that pressure. I really really don't. So social media keeps you very accountable in the best and worst ways. We'll go back to Christie. So I'm another one who's followed you for years and as far as your blog goes, you're regular and active and always blogging and I know in one of Sue Bryce's previous courses, she talked about sort of a formula of old, new, borrowed, blue as you know, a formula of posts to do, whether on Facebook or on your blog so do you have maybe a formula that you follow like that and maybe one for blog posts or kind of like you talked about on Twitter, you know, you do personal, you know, two personal and a push post or things like that. So you're asking if I have like a formula in regards to blogging. Right. No. I think it would make it so much easier. But I will say that I at least take time the previous Friday to think about what I'm blogging for the next week because there's nothing more daunting to be sitting and be like, I need a blog, what am I gonna blog. I need a blog, what am I gonna blog about. Give yourself the time and space. So on Friday, like midday around two, kinda take a step back and I think, okay, what am I going to be blogging about next week. I plan all the blogs. I preset the things that I would need for those blogs so that the following week when the blogs go live, at least I have a direction of where I'm going. But as far as like an equation, no because I'm blogging, you know, well the trajectory of the blog in this year will be one to two personal posts, one business related post, two photographers. When I say business, it's photographers and then like a recent shoot that I've been on or a feature or something of that capacity. So I need to make sure that, I am a lifestyle photographer, so I want to showcase lifestyle of who I am. Think then two different ways. And we haven't announced it publicly yet, but we bought a new home. And we're very excited. And I've decided to say I am okay. I'm going to own my space. There will be people very upset, the fact that we bought a home in Newport Beach. They will. I will get heat for it. And you know what? I'm going to say it's okay. Because we have worked long and hard. And we are going to fix up the house and we're gonna build a bedroom. And I'm gonna talk about that. I'm gonna redo our kitchen and I'm not gonna apologize for it. Why? It's a lifestyle. That is what I'm selling. So that is going to be the trajectory of what that kind of fifth post will be that week. So we'll see. We have a mic. Oh Tara. I wanted to talk about some tactics for Instagram. So I know that recently you did a giveaway where you linked with other people. Yes. I wanna know how successful was that for you and then also have you seen any other, or enacted I guess, any other tactics for Instagram, but particularly with that giveaway, did you get any inquiries from that or how many new followers did you get? And how did you start that? That's great. So for those of you who are not familiar, I teamed up with 11 other female online entrepreneurs. We all came from different walks of life which for me was the most valuable component because it is tempting to have an Instagram connection with other photographers, but I wouldn't be dipping into new markets. And so for me it was a strategic marketing decision. So we had launched the giveaway as 12 of us are giving away $1,000 to one lucky winner to Nordstrom. Now all of us had different size audiences, but close enough. Close enough so that it was gonna be mutually beneficial. And I ended up picking, and this is my worry. The worry was that people would follow and then unfollow. And we wanted to see what those retention rates were. So if I'm spending money, so I viewed that as a marketing expense. It was itemized as marketing, strictly fully. So we bought into it. And another thing, these aren't strangers. I've met the majority of the girls in which I had participated in real life at a different point in time. And they're all amazing. So there's a fashion bloggers, home decor, artist, watercolors, okay. Watercolorist? A painter. And so we all got in and we joined. The pick up for me initially was around 13,000 followers. The retention for me ended up being closer to 9.5. And so I started tracking. But I will say that the retention rate for other Instagrammers was not as high as mine. Now other people had higher than mine, so I'm not saying, my posts are so amazing. No, there are other people who are a lot more successful at it. So you run that risk, is that if you're not following up with the type of content that those people are following to you, it might not be worth it. So when I divided out the money that it cost for me to participate and then the amount of people that I got as a result, it ended up being amazing. But then because I was tracking it, I had to bring it back down. And it settled about after a month. After a month, if they were staying with me for a month at that time and I'm posting everyday, chances are they're gonna stay with me for a while. So that was the number that I took and then I divided it out per person. For every new follower I gained, it cost me this much money. Which is fantastic. So you get, I'm totally being geeky, right. I see it in your face. I don't care, I love it. I'm like numbers, numbers, numbers. But it was so successful that I'm doing the Instagram share again. By and large, about 80% of us are the same. So do I think I'm gonna have a pick up as many as 13 or 14 again? No because the crossover is there. So this investment I know is not gonna pay off as much as the first one, but I'm doing it because I still like these girls. I still think that overall we're driven towards something bigger. And I love being connected in the creative community. For so long people would be like, Jasmine Star isn't an artist. Oh she's not doing art, she's doing fluff, blah, blah, blah. And it used to make me cower and cower and cower. And now I feel like it's a shell. I've been doing this 10 years and I've been living in this shell of being like, you know what you're right. Maybe I'm not an artist. I'm not an artistic photographer. And now I'm just like, I don't care. I am a creative. I am a creative when it comes to a photographer. I'm a creative social media user. I'm a creative business person. I own that. And now I can rest in the fact that I'm good at that and I wanna hang out with other creatives. Other people who are doing and seeing things differently make me stronger. So I will participate in that event because I think that we're stronger together than we are apart. So it was valuable. Reach out to other people. You have nothing to lose. It's good. We're gonna pass the mic back there. So with having social media and all that, you run the risk of people saying negative things and negative comments on there, which I know you've dealt with. Do you leave those comments up on your Facebook No. or do you delete them and you send them a message? How do you professionally handle, like if another photographer gets on there and says something really disgusting about your picture? J.D. should answer this question because he is always like, he's the buffer okay. Because I am very emotional. Like you don't come into my house, pee on the carpet, and then walk out. Are you kidding me? You're gonna come to my Facebook page and you're gonna talk trash about me. Were you raised in a barn? This is a social trail. People see you doing that. You are making the worst business decisions. You don't like me? Put it on your own page. And when you do, link to me because people are gonna make up their own mind about what they think. Oh look at me, I'm getting Puerto Rican. Woo I need to bring it down. (audience laughs) Woo, okay. The answer is do I delete, yes and yes. And I just don't delete, I delete and ban. So I delete and ban because Facebook is my Cuba and I am Castro. I get to make the rules. That is what it is. When people talk trash to me on Twitter, I block you. You're in a black hole. I'm not gonna deal with anything. For years I have dealt with that negativity and finally I have developed a spine to say, you don't own me and I owe nothing to you. I have made mistakes. I stand by the apologies and I must move forward. But you talking about my clients on my page uh-uh, big mistake. (audience laughs) Yes. Okay, so what if, I had this situation happen where I posted like a sneak peek for a bride and then the mom from another wedding that I had just shot the night before gets on there and was all, where the heck are my photos blah, blah, blah, and goes off. How would you handle that type of negative. I would hide it. You hide it so that her feed can see it, but people on your, so you wouldn't delete it 'cause then she's gonna be like, she's so rude. You just hide it and you run the risk of being like, okay, her friends and her network will potentially see it. But then I have to caution you, if you're going to be doing sneak peeks, you have to create a level playing field. Especially in the very public sector. If you posted a sneak peek from one wedding and did not post a sneak peek from another, you run that risk of somebody calling you out publicly and you have to sit in that. Yeah. Great, move it here. I have a couple questions here. Because we're coming up to the end, why don't you pick your most favorite best questions so that we can make sure that. Yeah so my biggest question would be right now I'm having a really hard time with engaging my followers. I know I don't maybe post the best content, and I understand that, but when I do get followers because I posted something good and valuable, I feel like I should be utilizing that and run with it and keep it going because that's how Facebook works now with the algorithm. My trouble is some of those viewers might be following because of a certain bride and because of her wedding and because they're her friends. How do I tap into that network and truly utilize it. Another thing I was thinking was would you think that trendy things are a great way to utilize that because it's in the now, it's hit, and other people who maybe have nothing to do with that wedding can still relate because you brought in a trendy vibe. Something like, let's say, the dress was huge and in photography it's big because we understand white balance, we understand lighting, and that can all affect that kinda thing. And maybe if I could incorporate that trend in with that powerful wedding photo, I can still bring in other followers or something. Do you know my question? Let me try to answer it the best I can 'cause there's two very separate things. Let me see if we can bring them together. We have to understand that social media is not like this thing, it's not nebulous. They're actually people. So when you see something, you get a follower. It's as if somebody had walked into your home. So if your thought of me walking into your home is, oh she's here in my house, what can I do? Do you wanna water the grass? Do you wanna go for a swim? Let's go for a ride. You wanna get in my car? When somebody were to come into your house, the first thing is you want to do, as a stranger, is create trust. How do we create trust? By way of conversation. By way of vulnerability. You don't wanna immediately say, you come into my house, how can I leverage you? People feel that and they walk away. So when I talk about creating trust, it's revealing behind the scenes photos of us here. It is taking a picture of the food that you're eating at dinner. It's talking about something embarrassing that might've happened on your way here elsewhere. Letting people know and having conversations without any expectation is the way that you keep people. So I understand that I get bridesmaids friends to like my page and to follow my Instagram, but they will stop following if all I am posting are just pictures of brides, brides, brides, brides because most of them aren't planning their wedding at the time, so it's not applicable. I think that a lot of the people that retain, they like the idea of lifestyle. They like the idea that J.D. and I were in Amsterdam a few weeks ago and I took people, viewers along with me for what that adventure looked like. I posted a picture of my dog when he gets a haircut and he's wearing a little red bandana. Most people might think it's crazy. They might not like it. That's okay. I am not doing it for photographers. I'm doing it for potential clients. The second part of your question was The dress. The dress. I will participate in big conversations like the dress or the llama escape because I do think that it is very valuable to stay current, but it's a one time thing for me. I don't be like trying to revisit like hashtag the dress when I change the white balance as I'm shooting a wedding dress. Is this blue or, you know, is this black and gold, you know what I'm saying? I don't participate in that way. Okay. Cool. Any other questions? We'll kind of wrap this up. We're gonna leave it here. That's great. I'm just curious. I know that you were part of like, I think it was called OP back in the day, the forum. OSP. Oh, OSP yeah That's old school. Yes. I know it's not up and running anymore so then there's other things like Facebook, like shoot and share and stuff like that. So how much, do you think it's beneficial to engage in those. And if so, how much time and I mean I always end up feeling like sometimes I see people on there and they're constantly commenting and then it's like , I don't wanna risk the thought of looking like desperate like I'm like, oh I need clients or anything like that. So I was just wondering how much time seems good to spend on those things and is it actually Valuable Valuable, yeah for my time when I could be doing other things with my time? That's the golden question. I mean that really is a balance. So OSP was a free online forum. And so this is pre Facebook groups. I think Facebook groups are so incredibly valuable. I don't know if I find the value in paying to be a part of Facebook group, but that is an entirely personal decision. I believe that the newer you are, the more you can gain by being a part of a group, paid or unpaid. But you have to be very careful because social media also masks productivity. You think, I'm working. I'm really learning. I'm really learning in this group and you know, half the posts are education, a third of the posts are educational, a third of the posts are complaining, and we all like the drama. We do, like ooh she just got the worst client. Sometimes you will post text messages from an unhappy client or they will post things like an email, can you believe this shot list? And I'm like, you guys, it might be a private group, but there's a thing called screen grab. It gets around. Do not talk trash about clients online. Furthermore, spending as much time as you do, you must go in with intention. So I use social media, I know it sounds ridiculous, it does. I use social media as an emaciated carrot. I keep it in front of me on my workday. I do not allow myself to get on social media until I have finished x, y, and z and then I say, I can surf and be guiltless surfing for 10 to 15 minutes. I close it, I get back in what I'm doing. And then I have to just turn it off. I don't have push updates to my phone on any source of social media. I have no notifications. I keep my Twitter off, like I have Tweet Deck, which is just like, you don't have to be on Twitter. So I keep that closed. It is work and I think that the temptation of those groups is to think that you're offering help to other people and you think that you're learning, but in all actuality you're taking a lot of time. So indulge, but have very strict parameters in that regard. Awesome. Thank you guys. So that's going to conclude our social media Q&A. You guys asked some really good ones. You guys see me get a little teary eyed there. I was like, keep it together. No, not here. Thank you guys so much. Thank you guys for being open. Thank you guys for allowing me to be open and I look forward to see how you guys change the trajectory of your guys' social media. Thank you. (audience applause)