Social Media 101

[Craig Alan Huber]

Greetings - I am looking for some help with optimizing my marketing reach to gain more exposure for my work on the primary social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). The platform I want to come up to speed mostly on is Instagram. Anyone considering themselves an 'Instagram Pro' willing to help?

Thanks,
Craig
www.veritaseditions.com

[h2oman]

I'm an Instagram beginner, not pro, but I think I can give you the gist of it. For starters, it is photo-based in that each post is a photo with some text. This is as opposed to Facebook, where one might post a photo, video, or just some text, a web link, etc.

You start a "feed," which is your account, where you will post your photos. Each time you post a photo, you can accompany it with some text, and with hashtags, which are the big deal in Instagram. For example (based on your work I saw at Veritas), you might add the hashtag #fineartblackandwhite or #saintjuniperoserra. Then anyone who searches for either of those hashtag will be taken to a page where your photograph will appear, along with all others having that hashtag. You can add as many hashtags as you'd like. For the photograph below, which was taken at the Klamath Marsh Wildlife Refuge I used the hashtags #blackandwhitelandscape, #klamathmarsh, #4x5film, #4x5photography.



Hashtags are added with a space but no comma between them and, as you can see, all the words in a hashtag are run together. The nice thing about hashtags is that you don't really need to know them. If you know a start and begin typing it in, Instagram will start giving you hashtags with that beginning, and how many posts there are with each choice. So when I type in #4x5 I see #4x5 with 162,584 posts (I should perhaps have used that one), #4x5film with 75,047 posts, etc. When you see one you want, just click on it and Instagram will finish typing it for you.

Initially Instagram was set up only for square images sized to 1080x1080 pixels. You can now post rectangular images. Horizontals (landscape) must have a long edge of 1080 pixels, and verticals (portrait) a long edge of 1350 pixels. There is some limit as to how extreme the aspect ratio can be, but I forget it. I think anything between square and about 3:2 works.

So now suppose that you post a photograph with a brief bit of commentary and some hashtags. People will only see it if (1) they search one of the attached hashtags, (2) they go to your feed because you have directed them there (maybe by putting an Instagram logo with link in a web page), or (3) because they follow you. So how do you get followers? One way is to follow other people, who will sometimes follow you in return. Or you can somehow ask people to follow you (by e-mail, business card, etc), or someone might search a hashtag, like one of your photos, and choose to follow you.

When you open Instagram each time, you get your "home stream," which is the photos of all the accounts you follow. You can then go to your feed and post by clicking the photo for your page in the upper right. I can't give you the details of how to post, because I think it varies with your operating system. I suspect it is easy with Windows or Mac. I use Ubuntu/Linux, so I had to download another app to load stuff to Instagram.

So is all of this worth the trouble? Hmmm... In maybe 9-12 months and very little effort put in, I've accumulated 65 followers, most of them friends or other photographers that I follow. I do believe that it has driven at least some traffic to my web page. I don't sell anything there, so I don't know if I would have seen any monetary benefit if I did sell. One strange thing is that when I first started my page I had some followers that, when I looked at their feeds, I would never have expected to be followers of what I offered. Those seem to be gone now - I think maybe some people follow any new page, in the hopes that they will get followed back. I still have one or two followers that I don't understand why they are following me.

So that's what I know about Instagram - you can click the link below to see what my page looks like.

https://www.instagram.com/greggwatermanphoto/

www.greggwaterman.com

[Tin Can]

Thanks for a good Instant explanation!

still never going to use it

[Mark Sawyer]

still never going to use it

But think how much better large format photography looks on a cell phone!

[Tin Can]

LOL but right now I am on an iPad Mini 5 which has a 4x6”+ screen so good enough for too small contact prints. I will squint.

When I grow up I will get an 8x10 iPad.

but I may never grow UP!

But think how much better large format photography looks on a cell phone!

[Corran]

But think how much better large format photography looks on a cell phone!

Just yesterday I was explaining my process and talking about my new 12x20, and showed off the first 12x20 image I made by pulling up my post on Instagram of the scan of the negative.

He is considering buying a print of it once I make a contact print, or maybe one of my other prints.

So...

[Thad Gerheim]

[QUOTE=Corran;1579208]Just yesterday I was explaining my process and talking about my new 12x20, and showed off the first 12x20 image I made by pulling up my post on Instagram of the scan of the negative.

With people spending more time in their homes this year and online shopping booming, more internet presence is probably wise. Although, even being a blissfully ignorant anachronism, I've been making sales from my website and it's not set up with the ubiquitous shopping cart. Most of my sales are from people who have seen my photos in person in the past. It's rare that I sell to the random internet surfer. Most of what I see on social media are photos from people saying look at me or my dog having this wonderful experience-don't you wish you were here- and very little art.

On different note, Bryan, I cruised your instagram and like your Idaho photos. Especially the Stanley lake photos. I live about 4 miles from the lake. Next time you're in the neighborhood get in touch.

[h2oman]

still never going to use it

You'll regret it when you are on your deathbed.

[Tin Can]

Already had a near death experience.

An angel saved me.

Glad to be back.

I think...

You'll regret it when you are on your deathbed.

[h2oman]

Yeah, so there! And now I'm going to follow Bryan on Instagram...