I have a client who is a self-employed professional photographer. So obviously it’s all about the photos. I’m using Facebook, a website and Pinterest mainly. I have opened a Twitter business account but not sure how best to use it for this purpose. I don’t want to be repeating the same contents everywhere.Anyone have any tips or recommendations of other avenues to explore?

i wouldnt  bother with  google  +  yet…not many are on there….

facebook  could  be  really  good  for them…i would  put  most of your  effort t here…  getting that  going  and pinterest   would  be   a great  fuocus……. also   i would  try and  get something set up  for   email…like  constant  contact.

..also  check out all the local  directories  possible…..

the  best  education,imho , is  checking out the  competition  and see what they are doing  thats  working…

@lynnefellows Hi Lynne

Stick with Facebook and Pinterest for now. Build that up first – make those amazing and concentrate on getting them to where you and they want it to be.

Also, where are their customers? Who are their customers? These need to be answered first.

Russ

@lynnefellows

What type of photographer is s/he? That may determine the answer, too.

Professional headshots? Then maybe LinkedIn.

Weddings and occasions? Facebook for sure.

And I would definitely have a blog, or at least a tumblr account, because I’d want a space that I own.

I know a lot of photographers locally through Twitter…in fact I just hired one for some updated headshots, so that can work, too! Twitter would work just like any networking event. Get to know people, help them out.

Good luck!

@lynnefellows

He can display whatever he wants on his website as long as it is well designed and friendly to browse.

your use of twitter or whatever should also be along the lines with what sort of positioning he/she wants. Does he/she want to be a photographer for public (affordable by anyone) or he wants a different positioning that only people who earn a certain amount of money would be able to afford his services and then of course his target can be communication agencies who provide marketing and branding solutions for products targeting the same segment as his and you take it from there.

Behance is cool cause it is friendly to use and you can upload different projects related to different industries and quickly shows his / her diversity in the field.

Most of the creative people who would realise his/her talent are on Behance and they will be the people who will call him/her for potential photo-shooting projects.
NB:Make sure his rate card is ready and well prepared so he doesn’t panic if someone called and asked for a quote. he should know what his competitors are charging and find a solution to be more competitive. Help him to find his edge.
Cheers!Eddy

@eddysleiman – Thanks so much Eddy.

I’m checking out all my options now. Will post some links soon.

All the bestHasta luego!

Hi @lynnefellows. I know you’ve already gotten alot of good advice here, but I’ll just throw my two cents in about Twitter.  : )

I have a photographer client who is killing it with Facebook and just recently started a blog, which I’ve been nudging her to do for months now.  (Like someone else mentioned, it’s very important to have a piece of online real estate that you control.) So that’s all good.

But what she’s doing on Twitter is also working well.  What she does there is post more personal stuff about things she encounters on her photo shoots (people love the “behind-the-curtain” stuff!), where she’s shooting that day (she does lots of outdoor stuff), things that happen to she and her 4-year-old daughter in the course of their day (she brings the kid on photo shoots, since it’s beach and other fun-for-a-kid outdoor stuff), and so on.  This is really resonating with her followers so I say, Twitter can work for a photographer, if you post different kinds of content from your other platforms.

Hope that might help!

@lynnefellows — You betcha, so glad I could help!  : )

@LynneFellows G+ is a great place for photography…I get a lot of notice from my photos and I am an amateur, most of my circled friends have an interest in photography (including me!) …. it never hurts to have another outlet to display your work … if you are willing to interact with others, I think it is better than Pinterest!  :)

Not sure if this adds any value but I recently completely changed my thinking about social media and how to use it in my businesses. Up to recently I picked the network that I liked best, or that I understood best… but didn’t really have a lot of success with it – business wise.

That is when I started investigating where my clients are… where are they looking for professional development and eLearning? Where do they ask their friends about eBooks and publications?And although I love hanging out on Facebook.. I found that my target audience loves Linkedin. Bummer!! Because I really don’t like spending time on linkedin (always makes me feel dirty and sleazy, but that’s a different discussion all together).

For my horses-store the audience loves forums and Facebook, so I spend more time there..

I guess what I want to say is: turn the question around… if YOU were looking for recommendations for photos or a trustworthy photographer… where would you look? 

And yes, like @trudy said: WATERMARK each and every photo you place online to prevent other people from swiping it and selling them as their own.

Good luck!

@kc_kreative @kimberlyhouston @eddysleiman just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of you for your advice. My photographer client is over the moon with the Behance network and his approach to both Twitter and Tumblr has changed for the better. We both now have a sense of direction and also have seen much better responses and stats as a result. 

@lynnefellows That is so good to hear, glad you and your client are achieving your goals!  I’ll actually have to tell my photographer client about Behance because I don’t believe she’s checked it out yet, so this discussion has been really helpful to me too, for that tip alone.  : )