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Anybody can sign up for a social media account and understand its general premise. Does that make you capable of using it for your photography business? Like anything in business, social media done the right way requires extensive experience and understanding of people, some technology, and — most importantly — marketing.

Primarily, social media users fall into one of two areas: understanding that social media fits into the larger part of a photographer’s overall marketing goals, and the ability to see correlations between activities on social media and quantifiable returns on investment. (Like in grade school math class, you don’t get credit if you don’t show your work.)

You — or your social media marketing ‘pro’ — might be using social media the wrong way if:

You don’t measure ROI (Return on investment or time spend.)

You should be utilizing basic tools like Google Analytics (which is free, by the way) to understand what your customers really respond to. Pay close attention to whatever seems to help you generate more likes, clicks, and reach. Then, use tools like Analytics to see how the traffic is converting on your website. If you want to get a bit more robust, try simple, yet powerful analysis tools like Simplymeasured.com. They will help you stay connected with your audience and keep them interested as long as you can interpret the results correctly.

You call yourself a ‘guru’ or something similar

Keep your titles professional. Using a term like ‘guru’ usually screams that you’re a refugee from another industry and don’t really know what you’re doing. Anybody who has been in the marketing industry wants to create a professional appearance. Let others call you a guru if they’d like.

You’re not working with other departments in the business

Social media marketing is most efficient and effective when it’s coordinated with your branding, email, advertising, and other various marketing concepts. For instance, your web marketing can help drive your social media communities’ growth by linking back to your social network. Alternatively, you can gain potential leads and clients that can convert into sales by driving traffic back to your website through content marketing. If you create original content and you work upon your fan base’s or clients’ demands, you will then be a social media rock star.

You use a tweet-by-tweet strategy

It’s easy to sign up for a social media account. The real magic happens when you have a strategy. To create a one, you must learn to understand what your audience or clients need through analytics, then implement a process that drives measurable ROI. With this strategy, you can plan out social media initiatives like contests. Ensure that they are successful by planning appropriately and implementing flawlessly. If you’re running a social media program but you don’t know what you’re going to accomplish next month, you are doing it wrong.

You don’t build relationships or listen

Social media is all about relationships — that’s why it’s called “social” media. It will draw engagement, encourage brand advocacy, and keep your customers happy. To build these key relationships you must listen to your fans’ needs. They will do some of the work for you but you need to treat them right. Some photographers talk too much on social media. This comes across as “spamvertisement,” and their fans tune out. If a proverbial tree (your content) falls in the woods (into the newsfeed) but nobody cares, did it really happen?

If you want to learn more about marketing for photographers, stay tuned as we are working on a program coming in the near future.

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