I'm rather confused over the explosion of Facebook in the business world, now often replacing traditional www company websites. Many businesses in numerous industries now list only Facebook and Twitter sites and no longer list a traditional www url address.

For nature photographers marketing their work with websites and galleries, I do not see Facebook as a true replacement. Perhaps as a supplement to share images or penetrate new markets for sales, maybe.

But overall, why are so many businesses moving to only Facebook sites? They are giving up website control, locked into rather plain looking design, and subject to the financial well-being of one company.

In addition to alienating potential customers who refuse to sign up for social networking sites... I get enough garbage in my email already!

I tried Facebook as a tool to promote the website and all I got was a bunch of old high school friends and political stuff I didn't like. I blew it off after a short try.

jn

Perhaps not a replacement but certainly an enhancement. i drive more business off of my FB page these days than I do off of my website. You can get to it by clicking below my signature line in this post.

I don't have a FaceBook or Twitter account so maybe I'm not qualified to comment on the subject. Perhaps it's the bandwagon mentality. It is what's hot now..the cool thing to do. Companies go where people can be reached and if that's FaceBook and Twitter, then that's where they'll like to have a presence.

I don't think it's very confusing at all. Imagine a situation where 500 million people have gathered in one place and can all talk to each other. Wouldn't you want to give them the opportunity to talk about you business, especially if it didn't cost very much? You could spend a lot of ad money trying to get people to leave and visit your space, or you could just go where the people already are which already has an infrastructure designed to spread you message.

Like E.J. I get a tremendous amount of traffic to my website from facebook (link in the signature). While my regular profile is just a bunch of friends and acquaintances, my business page is mostly strangers from around the world. The interaction and ability to create connections with actual people is much more natural on facebook than it is on most websites. By comparison, my website seems disconnected like little islands off on it's own. Having said that, most of the facebook connections will probably never lead to more work, but the cost is quite small and it's fun.

Like anything else, it requires a commitment to understand the ecosystem and culture, and you need to be patient. I agree that facebook is not a replacement for an online photo gallery, but I do think it's foolish to ignore it.

It overstates the matter to say that Facebook is replacing www sites. This simply is not the case. It's equally inaccurate to say that a commercial presence on Facebook alienates anyone who chooses not to participate in social media. What is true is that companies in all sorts of industries are finding value in Facebook investments..."investment" being the critical term here.

You need to put time into making Facebook (and social media in general) work for you just as with any marketing tactic. Giving it a short try just won't work. In addition, there are specific ways to go about marketing on Facebook. There are differences, for example, between a Fan page, Group page, and Profile page that impact how you leverage your Facebook presence elsewhere (e.g. your website).

Bottomline is this: If you want to grow your business, Facebook is a viable tool that, to be effective, requires time along with a well-informed approach. If an organization makes the move to a Facebook-only digital presence, hopefully that's done after careful consideration. It doesn't mean that's what you need to do, but Facebook most certainly can be great adjunct to your marketing efforts.

Facebook, much like a blog, is a tool that can be used to drive traffic to your website. If part of your business model includes online sales via your website driving traffic there is obviously important. Portrait and wedding photographers have been successfully using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic to their sites for quite a long time. There's really little reason why nature and fine art photographers shouldn't be able to do the same.

Completely true, and I'd add that use of Facebook and other social media is not limited to online print sales. Awareness of products, workshops and other services can be driven through smart use of SM, too. The key is how you execute - how you build online community, how you engage while strategically promoting, and ultimately convert interest into a useful transaction.

Hey Folks,

The very fact that there's a discussion here, on naturescapes, about some thing called "facebook" illustrates the potential value of facebook.

I'm sure that, like AOL, Twitter, myspace, and probably like blogs, facebook will fade; but until then, why not?

Cheers

Carl

You need to know who your clients are, and how to use Facebook. Do your clients use Facebook? If so, how much? Facebook may be great for your business, or not. Just because it seems like everyone else is using it doesn't mean it's right for you.

I use it to get my name in front of people on a weekly basis who wouldn't go to my website weekly. But it's only part of my online marketing, which includes: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, my websites, my blog and forums.

As for businesses who only use Facebook, it's faster and easier to use than a website, they don't have to worry about technical problems and they don't have to learn about website creation and design. Is it the best solution for them? Only they know.

Have Fun,
Jeff

I'm with E.J. Facebook is driving more business for me right now than my webpage. Twitter, not so much, but I've met some great photographers and people I wouldn't have otherwise met.

I'm going to guess that social media probably succeeds as a business building tool for those that offer instruction, tours and/or workshops a bit better than for those only selling prints. My basis for that idea is a hunch that most of ones followers are fellow photographers, both pros and amatuers. I'd tend to believe the same thing about blogs. That's not to say a blog or social media cannot be used to drive print sales, I just find it hard to believe they'd be as efficient at driving that market.

Just a thought.

I've thought about this, as well. You can address just about any audience through social media. What's essential is a well-considered definition of who your audience is, and their needs and desires. You then need to develop an appropriate content strategy and prepare to test, learn and optimize.

Naturally, the print-buying audience is much smaller than one interested in workshops, etc. This will translate to your blog or Facebook page or whatever in the form of fewer fans or comments or likes, but it's not about numbers. It's about engaging a qualified audience. For those not terribly familiar with the tenets of social media, what is absolutely critical to successfully doing so is the content you produce.

If you're simply posting images on Facebook, Twitter or your blog, including perhaps a technical description or something about locale, you're not going to move the needle. I see this a lot with working photogs and call it the Me Great Syndrome. If you look at this person's Twitter stream or blog, it reads Me, Me, Me, Me.

This is not disingenuous on their part, but it's also not the way to build business through social media. I think it happens because the easiest thing to do is post your work, but ultimately if that's all you do, you come off as self-promotional and that doesn't work well in social.

What will build an audience of prospective customers is content developed from the perspective of buyers, editors, etc. -- however you define your audience -- that's useful or thought-provoking. You'll be surprised how effectively content that speaks to needs or desires develops loyalty, and this in conjunction with marketing-forward activities like newsletters, promotions, etc., will move people along the buying cycle.

But again, the core of an effective social media strategy is most likely not your photography, but rather content tailored to the needs and interests of your audience. And, an assumption here is that you're utilizing a blog.

There are tools and techniques that inform an understanding of your audience, and that then translate this understanding into an actionable content strategy. Perhaps you've heard of marketing personas? Personas are core tools in the user-centered Web development process, which is one that places the site visitor at the center of decisions about how a site is organized, functionality it provides, and content it presents.

Personas describe audience archetypes, and define needs and wants as pertains to your website (and content, etc.). There are also social personas, which demonstrate how audience archetypes use social media. Basically, a social persona provides a high-level overview of who you're creating content for, where and how they participate in social media, the type of content they seek, and the type of searches they perform to find it.

Of course, insights like this require research, which often has an associated cost. Now, this is by no means a plug, but I'm working on a series of articles that intend to teach small business people (read: photographers) how to develop low-cost to no-cost personas, and from there, a soup to nuts description of how to use that information to develop a customized content strategy. They're to be published on a marketing industry web site, but I'd be happy to share them with anyone who is interested (or just direct you to the articles once their up). Feel free to email me if this is the case.

Jeff, I highly recommend the book "Six Pixels of Separation" by Mitch Joel as a primer on the value of using social media as a business tool.

Essentially these social bookmarking type sites should just be used an extension of your marketing. It can bring work in but is limited.

Robert, I couldn't disagree more...it's not limited at all in what it can do for your marketing. I add only 20-30 blog subscribers a month to my blog, yet add almost 100 Facebook fan readers a month and it's growing in leaps and bounds, I may add several hundred this month. I've already booked a number of workshop and tour participants and sold stock strictly from my Twitter and Facebook pages.

I don't believe it's ever going to replace my website, but as E.J. said at the beginning, it's simply a tool (and a very good one, at that) to enhance your marketing efforts.

I find Facebook extremely helpful. I never post anything personal. I try to keep everything photography related and has been working well for me. Plus, I get to share images almost daily and stay in contact with others.

Care to share some tips on how you're expanding your numbers that well?

Hi Bob, I've been adding lots of content and photos and having the odd contest. I've got a contest on right now to help me pick my next ten greeting cards and since it started on Monday I've added 85 new fans (you can check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/john-e-marriott-wildlife-and-nature-photography/the-ggcc-great-greeting-card-contest/10150172680306778). I'm still at just 735, but considering I only started working on my fan page about six months ago, it's been leaps and bounds (by comparison, my blog started in 2008 and still has only 300 subscribers, though that's slightly misleading in that it does get about 1500 unique visitors a month).

But I'm a neophyte at some of this stuff compared to guys that have tens of thousands of fans already or thousands of blog subscribers -- and there are quite a few nature photographers that do!