Instagram is a perfect, native place for photographers to promote their business and find new audience, as it’s the only social media platform that is based on photography and one of the leading digital marketing sites to date.
The platform is consistently growing the number of daily and monthly active users by seven figures and adding new abilities for visual expression on the regular. There is really no excuse for any photographer who wants make a living off their artistry or otherwise bring more attention to it, to not be present and active on Instagram.
1. Keep your bio looking simple and tidy
The first thing your Instagram profile visitor sees is your username, profile picture and description. The most important rule for usernames is to make them readable and as short as possible – it can (and needs to!) be used as a hashtag as well. Nobody has time for trying to read something long and hardly legible, moreover, in real life situations when you or your audience brings your Instagram to the conversation, it is much easier to pronounce a short and simple username and therefore easier for others to find.
User pictures that have a face on it proved to be more attention bringing, as well as more assuring that there is a real person behind the account. However, if you previously worked on branding your artistry and designed a logo, go right ahead and make it your Instagram profile picture! The bottom line is the more eye-catching and comprehensible your avatar is, the better.
As for the bio, it’s important to state your location and your field of photography interest and work. Specify whether your speciality is architectural, landscape, documentary photography, all of the listed, or something entirely different. Don’t go overboard with emoji and business-unrelated information. Turn your account from personal to business if you haven’t already, so future clients can easily send their inquiries.
Following all of the suggestions above can even free you from making and handing actual business cards – your account would contain all the needed information for potential customers!
2. Use Instagram stories to share backstage photos
Every photographer’s approach is different, and if you are not the kind to fill your profile with anything besides retouched, portfolio-worthy photos, you should fill the gap by sharing daily work life with your audience through Instagram stories. Show off new equipment, run polls to let followers participate and engage, tease the audience with sneak peeks of upcoming content, share where you are going and what are you up to work on next.
Overall, stories is a great way to gain more attention and show another side of both your personality and brand, don’t overlook this opportunity.
3. Make your content more visible and find inspiration through hashtags
Contrary to common belief, the most obvious and popular hashtags, such as #photographer #photography #landscape and the like are not working good for visibility because they are already way overcrowded and the chances your posts will be noticed are really, really low.
It’s better to use more niche hashtags and browse the posts containing them for new good hashtags ideas. Take a look at this list for suitable hashtags, and find new ones with the help of Combin tool. Launch Combin, create new hashtag search and insert one of the hashtags from the previously mentioned list. After receiving search results, sort the posts by either number of likes or number of comments to see the hottest content that was uploaded under the chosen keyword. Next, you need to click on one of the posts with the right mouse button and pick ‘Add a search’ from the drop-down menu, then click on one of the hashtags. (pic1)
This way you can not only gather new handy keywords, but also find new inspiration for your future work by exploring popular photography-related Instagram accounts and posts.
Tip: Use hashtags of the so-called feature accounts to get more exposure. Such accounts collect and share the most stunning pictures of professional photographers from all over the platform, they are like galleries for photography fans and have huge following.
Feature photography accounts, such as @thevisualscollective, @ourplanetdaily, @portraitpage, @canon_photos and the like, grab new photos by searching Instagram for posts tagged with the accounts’ own unique keywords. Those who want to be featured, need to use these tags on their content to get the chance.
4. Post on time and in the right size
You pick your own posting schedule, it could be a couple of specific, the most engaging days a week (read: Saturday and Sunday), every other day, or every three days, it’s entirely up to you. However, what should be always kept in mind is consistency – a rule of a thumb is to not break the pattern once you’ve started it, otherwise the following post after the break will get less attention. Don’t overshare either, most people find it annoying. The optimal is to post at least 2-3 times a week.
Speaking of the right size, fortunately, the days of mandatory square photos are long gone and Instagram expanded its size chart. Nevertheless, it still has specific image resolution rules and your beautiful photographs will be cropped in case they do not meet the following standards:
- 1080px in width by 1080px in height for square images
- 1080px by 1350px for vertical images
- 1080px by 566px for horizontal images
5. Interact with your audience
Engaging with your audience and replying to comments is a necessity when building a real community around your Instagram. Just like in real life, people on Instagram appreciate those who are polite, open to conversation, and ready to share knowledge and experience with others. The platform’s overall vibe is pretty informal and chill, so don’t over-brand – react to the comments the same way you would if a stranger came up to you on a street a said something nice.
In order to build a loyal community, it’s important to at least acknowledge nice comments by liking them from Instagram mobile application, and even better to reply to each. Do not only thank the commenter, but complement them too.
For maximum effect it’s recommended to track people who commented you, to like and comment their posts, so they know that the interest is mutual and you are not a machine that only posts sophisticated photographs and is numb to communication, but a human being and a down to earth one. Combin could be of enormous help once again on this task – it tracks Instagram accounts that commented you and lets follow, like, and comment either all of them or only specific ones you want. Launch Combin, open Search tab and click ‘Add new search’. Specify User search > Commenters, pick the number of accounts you’d wish to find and hit a Find button.
After receiving search results select all of them or click on the icons of particular accounts you’d like to comment, like, or follow, then proceed to the action sign at the top left corner of the window.
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