Twitter, Facebook, etc. - how important?

A lot of photographers have been using Twitter, Facebook and other "social networking" websites in order to network with other photographers. I have a Facebook account and a Twitter account and find that I have mixed feelings about each of them....(Greg_Downing on Twitter and Facebook.com/naturescapes.net ) - There are some that "Tweet" all day long about everything from what they had for breakfast to a change of underwear and others who post links to articles and news items that they find relevant. I have found some long lost friends from childhood on FB so that is pretty cool. But I find that while I do use Twitter and FB on occasion, it does suck up a lot of time. When used as marketing tools it seems you really need to be regular about it and I wonder how others feel regarding how much "bang for the buck" it really is for photographers with something to market, be it workshops, equipment etc.

I personally think Twitter is a fad. I don't think it would have nearly the profile it does if organizations like CNN, MSNBC, etc hadn't been brought on board fairly early. Blogs are about as far as I think I'd be willing to go to follow someone's exploits or ramblings. I think the novelty of Twitter will wear off.

I have a Facebook account but only because a friend wanted me to see something he'd done and I needed to sign up to see it. I almost liken FB to something like Flickr. There's a decent number of professional photographers who have Flickr accounts in addition to their own websites because it's another avenue of displaying their work. FB seems to make more sense as part of a co-ordinated marketing effort and I think it seems a more 'legitimate' outlet than MySpace. There's also LinkedIn which is a business networking site and I know there are professionals from the 'art' side of things who are members.

I'm not sure - but have no evidence to support this, it's merely supposition - that any of these are avenues for a lot of direct opportunities. That is, I think the chances of someone seeing a Facebook or LinkedIn page and saying 'hey, I want to hire that person to shoot X' or 'hey, I want to buy a print of that' are fairly remote. But from an exposure standpoint, word of mouth, viral marketing standpoint they can probably be useful as secondary outlets. Look at all the attention Dave Carroll and his band have got from his "United Breaks Guitars" song/video (which is really funny if you haven't seen it).

Kind of interesting how a "social" website can be such a great tool for the independent, hermit nature photographers, eh?

I'm part of a small volunteer group doing research on social networking sites for conservation & fund raising. Several folks on here are involved with local organizations, and there are many parallels with that and commercial/professional business.

We've chosen to hone in on facebook, as we found it to be more of the 'megastream' with several other sites interlinking in some form (evidenced by the recent slew of software plugins that relay articles, media, etc.)

Given that, there appears to be X number of ways to skin the cat on that site alone. Personal profiles, pages, groups, causes, "fans", news feed, and many more channels. Mostly, I've noticed facebook greatly compliments existing social networks, specifically of interest to photographers - repeat customer base / word of mouth. Facebook is a great tool for solidifying existing business relationships, maintaining them, and forging some new along the way.

I've talked to / interviewed a number of folks, and find results mixed across the board. Some yield terrific success and reshape business / fundraising models around a central facebook presence, others fail miserably, yet still find themselves addicted to using the website (literally $0-$5 raised for a cause over the span of a year).

Sidenote, there are several studies (interesting reads) that look at the effectiveness of commercial advertising on facebook. In short, it's very weak- the numbers just don't happen with the "click ads", like they do on many other websites.

My feeling is that the devil is *not* in the details with marketing efforts on facbeook, but instead it's important to have a basic understanding for pro social marketing. However you choose to skin the cat and go about it is like your postprocessing choices in PS. I'm sure whatever I've looked at has just barely cracked the surface of the website

I have a FaceBook account as a few professional organizations I belong to are using it to "appeal" to the younger generation. For the most part I find it annoying with the stupid chatter that occurs. I also think the information put out there can be dangerously used if we are not careful.

Maybe Iam just showing my 62 years??

My wife and I live in Florida. My kids and their families are in Colorado Springs and Minneapolis. We have siblings in Milwaukee. I use Facebook for keeping in touch with family and friends. We travel a lot and everyone enjoys hearing and seeing where we are periodically.

I'm "friends" with Greg and Andy Biggs. I notice Greg posts relatively sparsely and mostly about business and Andy is the opposite. He is a prolific poster and pretty much posts what is on his mind at the moment.

It also seems like it could get "out of control" as facebook tries to make as many connections as it can, which becomes friends of friends of friends, etc.

It seems to me these sites can accomplish many different goals and can have some value.

Tens of thousands of folks are following Lance Armstrong in his current quest. He twitters, or is it tweets, a lot.

In any event, they don't replace the nightly iChat with the grandkids.
Mike

Greg, I'm already following you on Twitter, shall check out your FB page.

I think both could be useful ways of getting others to see your work. There is no denying that both Twitter and Facebook have a huge fanbase with many users so it makes sense to me to try and tap in to that. I have just started using both as a way of getting more people to see my work that otherwise may not have - after all even though I have a website and a blog, unless someone finds me by search engines or one of the few forums I visit, then there aren't many other ways of attracting new visitors. Using social sharing sites is a great way to get virtual word of mouth recommendations IMO.

Also, creating a Facebook 'page' for your photography is a much safer way of doing it rather than using your personal profile, as it keeps everythig seperate then - with strangers able to follow your photography entries but not your personal ones as it keeps it seperate.

I'm on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Richard Peters wrote:
Also, creating a Facebook 'page' for your photography is a much safer way of doing it rather than using your personal profile, as it keeps everythig seperate then - with strangers able to follow your photography entries but not your personal ones as it keeps it seperate.
HERE.

Definitely a business decision, with mileage that varies by situation. I agree, the insular approach is "safer", but I think it limits the potential (and purpose, really) of the social networking and ultimately hinders opportunity for growth (again, assumption as to why you're there).

If your work involves people ( ), chances are your clients look up to you, want to be more like you, and want to take pictures similar to how you do. While folks aren't going to come forth and say it, they're looking for the interpersonal connection that rings closer to home. If they want your portfolio and other work, maybe that's what the website and blog might be best used for.

Working outside of the comfort zone (e.g. personal information, frontline feedback, etc.) is likewise another tool in the toolbox for marketing.

I use FB and will eventually split the business from the personal a page. My experience so far is that FB has at least contributed to a huge spike in sales over the past few months I've been really using it.
Lately however, my family has also discovered my page, so I need to split off to a business page too.

Last month, I had more sales $ than I had all last year.


Keep in mind that my main business is now dog sport photography and I see a lot of the same people several times each month.

Here is what I do. I have "Find me on Facebook www.facebook.com/jimpoor" on the signature of all my business emails. I get clients adding me as a friend pretty regularly.
From there, I look through their friends for other clients or at least people I recognize. I send them a friend request and usually post a teaser image from one of the events.
So far, nobody has denied my request and I've had several "I found you on a friends page" requests as well. Basically, it is starting to snowball and I'm getting a lot of exposure.

milmoejoe wrote:
Definitely a business decision, with mileage that varies by situation. I agree, the insular approach is "safer", but I think it limits the potential (and purpose, really) of the social networking and ultimately hinders opportunity for growth (again, assumption as to why you're there).

But it doesn't limit you, thats the thing, a page will give you all the benifits of a normal Facebook account but more specificly aimed at the people who are interested in what you do.

milmoejoe wrote: If your work involves people ( ), chances are your clients look up to you, want to be more like you, and want to take pictures similar to how you do. While folks aren't going to come forth and say it, they're looking for the interpersonal connection that rings closer to home.

I don't know if I agree with that though. Imagine you wanted to have a photoshoot done and someone recommended two people on Facebook to you. One had a page set up for the business that concentrated on the content they felt portrayed them as a business, contact info, examples of work etc and the other person just used their personal profile...and you have to traw through all the content, the stupid applications, a wall full of random comments and personal jokes between friends and photo's of them drunk etc before you find the information related to their business that you're looking for.

I know who I'd choose out of the two...

Plus, using a page lets you promote yourself in a friendly and more personal manner, like I said it gives you all the benifits of a FB profile but with you fully in control of what they see with regards to your business.

But that's just the way I see, and what do I know, I've only just started up my page anyway lol

I agree with you on a number of things. Jim has great points also. However, both do seem to point more towards commercial & event photography services. I only do events as requested, and do notice the images immediately get posted to facebook afterward (by recipients).

There's definite overlap in function between the profile, page, group, cause, blog, website, etc., each with good opportunities for linkage. As you mentioned, things quickly creep in and become overwhelming, much like having a car dashboard with 150 gauges on it.

The learning curve, time consumption and need to prioritize are the biggest challenges, IMO.

Social networking sites really don't do anything for me at all.

Would that make you anti-social?
mike

Twitter is dead in my opinion, used it for a while and it is boring.

E.J. Peiker wrote:Social networking sites really don't do anything for me at all.

I agree.
If I want to socialize I want to do it face to face with real people not sit in front of a computer and socialize remotely.

E.J. Peiker wrote:Social networking sites really don't do anything for me at all.

Ditto . . . they do not interest me in the slightest.

I don't have a Twitter or Facebook account because I doubt I have 10 things a day to say that are interesting; certainly nothing that anyone would want to read. (I'm getting closer to actually using it because it looks like Lance Armstrong has been tweeting about what's happening during the Tour de France stages. I tried yesterday and the darn site came back with a "server busy" response. Probably too many Iranian dissidents tying things up. )

But I started a LinkedIn account awhile back and from a business networking perspective I'm amazed at the amount of information you can find about other companies and people. Of course, you have to jump through some hoops (it's not always possible to immediately get email addresses; you may have to join groups or send emails indirectly through existing contacts) but amazing amount of detail oftentimes. For learning about big, complex organizations it's very useful (it's probably even useful for people within firms looking to hook up with people in other divisions/groups.) I would think over time it would also be useful for individuals with photo websites. Kind of depends on how granular the search mechanism is (at the moment, for example, you can search for photogs but I don't think you can filter it by state or city) and, of course, the degree to which the public is aware of how to use the site; and it's quite easy.

I consider NSN to be a social networking site for photographers.

Good comment Greg. Wish I would have thought of it.
mike

You're exactly right Greg, these forums are a social network of people who share a common passion, photographing the natural things around us.

I use both facebook and twitter. Frankly I think online networking is an amazing tool but I don't use it much for photography. I use NSN for photography networking.

I find facebook to be an invaluable tool for organizing events, RSVPing for parties, and especially for staying in touch with friends. Facebook is great for that. I enjoy seeing what my friends are doing and there is no way I could keep track of of them without facebook.