Is Photography dying on Instagram?
Instagram seems to have been on everyone’s minds these weeks - mine included.
For too long, it's been assumed that photographers can just have an Instagram profile and not bother updating their website or concentrate on other social media websites.
But a couple of weeks ago it seemed like everyone else was getting fed up with Instagram for suggested posts, and videos being shown to them far more than stills. The platform has since backtracked and is publicly saying that they're going to pull back on a few of the changes. But this latest update really showed me and other photographers once more that you cannot put all your eggs in one basket. It's felt for years like Instagram was the be-all and end-all of the marketing strategies.
But truly, it shouldn't. I'm so glad to be seeing more people realizing that you need to concentrate on other websites too — to show off your work and build your brand.
So let's talk about some ways you can do that without relying 100% on Instagram.
A Website. If you’re thinking at all about deprioritizing a website and waiting until you’re more established, think again. Creating a website should be one of the first things you do when you open a photography business. Your photography website should offer information about your business, and it should be the home-base for all your other marketing and promotions. That means you should be pointing people back to your website,
I personally use Squarespace and I think it is the best platform to host your photography work. It allows you to intuitively build your own website, showcase your portfolio, and sell your work, all without knowing a single line of code.
It is designed especially for photographers, graphic artists, and other creatives to showcase their work and help drive conversions, regardless of experience or technical ability.You simply create an account, choose a template, and then load your content into it. It’s possibly the fastest way you can find to get a great-looking photography site online.
Reasons Squarespace is good for photographers:
You want a visually stunning website without much fuss or hassle
You want all the technical aspects of website maintenance taken care of for you
You don’t want to deal with learning to code
You want to focus more on populating your website with content and less on how to get it to work
You’re comfortable paying a subscription
You’re looking for 24/7 support and an easy-to-reach support team who know their product inside and out
You want a website up quickly
You like working with platforms that are all-in-one: everything’s included and works seamlessly together.
Squarespace is offering a free 14-day trial right now and if you don’t have a website with them, should definitely sign up and see how you feel using their services. Click here to sign up for their trial.
LinkedIn is one of the most heavily used tools in the fashion industry for finding freelancers. I see studio managers looking for more e-comm photographers on LinkedIn almost daily. You're missing out on so many opportunities, ff you're not on LinkedIn, posting, engaging, and connecting.
TikTok. It is a video-first platform. But don't let that fool you into thinking there's no place for still images! If you are clever about what you're posting, your still images can still be seen on TikTok by the people who follow you! Try experimenting with different things and see what works for you—you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain!
Email. My favorite marketing strategy is still just a good old email introduction. If you've not tried it yet, do it! Start sending emails.
In the end, I think Instagram is having a teenage moment. We've all been there ourselves, so I think if we're patient, things will get better. It doesn't know where it fits in right now, and it's trying things out, getting them VERY wrong, and having to re-evaluate. Keep using Instagram, and keep posting still images. Still, images are going nowhere, and neither is Instagram (yet).
