Showing posts with label Websites: Social Networking and Tools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Websites: Social Networking and Tools. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Key Tips: Using Social Media To Market Your Creative Business

I was at a seminar last night, hosted by the Pittsburgh local chapter of ASMP, on how to utilize social media to market your photography or creative business and I just wanted to post a few helpful tips I learned from attending. The seminar was hosted by Buffalo photographer and social media guru, Clark Dever.

Below is a list of a few key tips I got outta it:

- One of the key goals of Social Media is ADDING VALUE TO YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK.

- frequently change the main profile photo on your facebook fanpage when posting new content, events or uploading photos: this can be a key element that can jump out to your fans resulting in attracting frequent page visits.


- adding a facebook "like button" icon to your blog or website: this can help in getting new facebook fans who are frequent visitors to your blog or website. which helps your follows to see all of the content you are creating and publishing across your blog, facebook etc...


- "send an update" feature: this is a feature on your facebook fan page that allows you to send a message out to a specific range of your fans that fit the certain demographic criteria that you specify. this can be helpful if you wanna target specific fans about a business promotion or event.


- add the "reviews" application to your facebook fan page. this allows fans to write reviews about your business or specific work/project. people are more willing to fan your page if they see that you have been regarded to being a trustworthy and quality professional.


- if you have a gmail account, maintain that account as your main file archive for your email contracts. every time you send or receive an email that contact is automatically added to your gmail contacts. with that being said you can visit the "find a friend" section of facebook and import your gmail contacts into facebook to add as new friends and then fans of your fan page. repeat this process as you gain new gmail contacts from time to time.


- tag your photos in facebook: for example if you photographed a corporate event and you posted those photos on your fan page, you can tag people in those photos that are already your friends on facebook. when doing that your tag updates appear on their walls which gives their friends the chance to visit or become a fan of your fan page.

- zack arias, clark dever and scott bourne are a few photographs with great "content posts" that you should follow on twitter.


- make use of hash tagging in your twitter posts: adding a "#" symbol before a main word in your post helps your subject or topic to show up easily in twitter searches, potentially leading to new twitter followers. learn more about hash tagging here.

I hope these tips help. please feel free to comment and share if you have any tips as well !


In Addition, here some info on Clark Dever who was the guest speaker at the event:

Clark Dever is best known for his Twelve Hours in a City project. Utilizing only Twitter, a Facebook Fan Page and an "All-You-Can-Jet Pass," Clark and his crew flew over 65,000 miles around the United State during September 2009. Effective use of Social Media led to the project being featured on CNN, Time.com, ABC World News Tonight and in an internationally published article by the Associated Press. If you have a chance I recommend following Clark on twitter and facebook.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Facebook Profile vs. Fan Page ?


Whats the real difference between a Facebook Profile and a Facebook Fan Page and how can a Fan Page benefit your business as a photographer ? This is a question I asked myself a few weeks ago when I was interested in exploring new marketing avenues for my business. So I did some google surfing and came up with some answers that I wanted to share.

FaceBook Profile: This is for individuals where they can post their personal life and interests with the intent to connect to friends and family. They can post their status updates, videos, pictures, send messages, post comments on walls, and socialize within the Facebook community.

FaceBook Fan Page: This is where you can post business information about your company and or product or service you are selling. You can also create & administer Fan Pages for other individuals & businesses. A variety of items such as events, videos, photos, and promos can be posted on your page. To maintain a successful fan page you should also consistently post updates, news, and information related to your business and you should also encourage your fans to post testimonials and spread the word about your business. A Fan Page also has a feature that allows you to track metrics, allowing you to know the number of visitors that travel to your page along with their demographic information.

All and all, a Facebook Fan page is a great (free ! ) way to market your business and create a brand presence on the internet.

getting started with a facebook fan page:

www.facebook.com

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Instaproofs: Selling prints online made easy

I came across this great website I found called Instaproofs.com which allows you to upload your photos to online albums that make it easy for your clients to view and order prints. The best part of it is that Instaproofs provides a variety of services that make it easy for you without all the hassle on your end. The way it works is Instaproofs does not charge you setup cost, storage fees, or monthly fees for that matter, which makes it easy for you to get setup and start selling as quickly as possible. What they do charge you for is a fair commission on the prints you sell. Your commission then is paying credit card processing fees, merchant account fees, image storage costs, site improvements, unlimited uploading and downloading bandwidth, tech support, multiple order management tools, automated email marketing, etc. Its a streamline hassle free way to create galleries and sell your prints to clients. Check it out

view photographers using it:
http://www.instaproofs.com/home/featured-photographers.html?selected_id=5#content_area

view cost and benifits of it:
http://www.instaproofs.com/home/costs-and-benefits.html

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Posting Flickr images to your blog


Rivera Maya, originally uploaded by mblassey.

If you are using flickr to store your photos online and you have a blog (ex: blogger or wordpress) there is a way to post to your blog from directly within flickr. Once your blog is configured with flickr you can simply click on your flickr image and select to post it to your blog along with your text about the photo.

Here are the links to get started
to create a flickr account - www.flickr.com

to create a blog account - www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com

creating a connection between flickr & your blog.
http://www.flickr.com/help/faq/search/?q=blog

(the image above was taken while on a trip to Rivera Maya, Mexico - Jan 08)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Playlist.com - Create & Share Music Playlists

I came across a website that allows you to create free song playlists. Most of the time that I am working or web surfing on my computer, I am also streaming Pandora radio. So far its been great, allowing me to create stations of songs/artists that I like but I am at the mercy of Pandora when it comes to wanting to hear a favorite song that its stations play. The cool thing about Playlist.com is that I can search for songs, create custom playlists, and listen to those selected songs anytime I want. You can even share playlists with friends. Unfortunately you cant transfer songs to a portable device, but its a great tool if you listen to tunes on your computer a lot. Check it out. i have provided the links below.


PLAYLIST
http://www.playlist.com

ABOUT PLAYLIST
http://www.playlist.com/about

Monday, April 27, 2009

Cooliris: An Amazing Tool To Browse Photos & Videos

While I was attending a software seminar over the weekend, I learned of a new web tool to view photos and videos on your computer and throughout the web. The web tool is called Cooliris and it is an media browser application that provides you with a full screen 3D wall to view photo and video related searches on your computer of flickr, facebook, youtube, hulu and more. You can scroll through hundreds of web photos or videos quickly or you can show off a really cool interactive album of your personal photos and videos. You can launch Cooliris in the toolbar of your web browser. Download the application at http://www.cooliris.com

Definitely check it out, coolest web tool i've seen in awhile !