– In this video, I talk about how to build your business or brand with social media, and some specific tips for photographers, and a little bit of my story with some tips of getting started in video. Comin’ up. (camera shuttering) (camera lens focusing) Hey, what’s up guys? Sean here with THiNK Media TV. Helping you go further, faster in media. And on this channel, we do tech reviews, video gear reviews, but we also do Q and A episodes just like this one. So let’s get into the questions. Dave asks, “I’m a Portrait and Wedding Photographer, “how can I grow my influence in my industry?” Thanks for the question Dave. The first thing of course is to define what your actual target is. And so, based on the question it could, to me it means maybe two things. Number one, influencing your industry as a thought leader. Right? And so that would be growing as someone who’s helping other photographers, other wedding photographers, sharing your tips there. The second area would just be your influence being the most desirable wedding photographer, and portrait photographer, locally, or in your region.
I would recommend that you go the thought leader direction. Because when you do, you really win with both. Not only is there a lot of opportunities, and a lot of benefits of coming with being a thought leader in your industry, but then that also just raises your desirability to be hired for jobs and gigs. And then the biggest tip that I would have for just building your influence, is to work on two things, not four. Two things. I would recommend that you work on your content, and on your marketing. And so, both need to go up. If you already have great content, which I’m sure you do, amazing wedding photos, maybe some video clips, amazing portraits. But your marketing needs some help.
You have to learn the latest social media marketing tips. You have to learn online marketing. What works to really growth hack YouTube, or whatever platforms you’re gonna use. You gotta level up your marketing. Maybe you’re good at online marketing and some other things, but your content could get better. That’s just your skill, your mastery as a photographer. Those are the two areas that I would create a PDP, a Personal Development Plan, for developing your content and developing your marketing.
Huge influence in my life, Gary Vaynerchuk says this: “Content is king, but marketing is queen, “and she runs the household.” A tip that I would recommend is study Chase Jarvis. Maybe you already know him, but he does both and he’s got a great YouTube channel. I love his stuff. And is not only a really highly-paid photographer and has built his value there, working with big brands and whatnot, but also pumps out a ton of content helping photographers, plus creatives, entrepreneurs, and all kinds of things like that. Sydney asks, “What are some recommendations that you “have for driving traffic to a small business “that relies on social media to drive sales?” Thanks so much for the question.
The first thing that I would do is absolutely figure out who your target market is. You really wanna define your demographic, in marketing its called an avatar at times, some people have different names for it. So who is your audience? Then secondly, what platforms are they on? So if your demographic skews younger, Snapchat is definitely gonna be a strategy but if it doesn’t, then you maybe shouldn’t spend your time there. If it’s home decor, a little bit of fashion, different things like that, Pinterest is gonna be a major play potentially. Definitely defining your target demographic, then what social media platforms are they on, and then next, master those platforms. So then I would go as deep as possible when you really know where they are just Googling it. If you know they’re on Instagram, and that’s really gonna be a relevant platform, then spend a Saturday morning or spend an entire day Googling all the posts of best practices for Instagram, of consuming info on the specific platform that’s gonna work for you.
And then the last thing, is that I would really focus a ton not on push-marketing, but more on engaging with actual people. And this is where a lot of people mess up. In a small business, if you’re just posting on Twitter about your offerings, nobody’s seeing those. What you want to be doing is starting conversations, is going into almost stalking a little bit your target demographic and just engaging with them from your brand and really starting to create those conversations not in a sell-y, pushy way, but in a way to just create conversations and create engagement. And it takes a lot of work, it does take time. But once you’ve done those first steps, you know that there’s a good return on an investment because you’re in the right place. This Little Critic asks, “What camera are you currently using? “Its like a fish eye but its not so extreme.” Great question, and remember that I always link up the entire list of gear that I use for any video because I know that you might be curious.
You know, what is this exact setup? So that’s always in the YouTube description. So this specifically is a Canon 7DD DSLR with the Canon 10 to 18 millimeter wide angle lens, at 10 millimeters. Is it at 10? Zoom it all the way in. It’ll kind of mess with it. That’s 18! Go back to 10. – [Cameraman] That’s 10. – That’s 10. At 10, you’re right, it gives almost like a fish eye effect, but its definitely more of a wide angle. And I like that vibe, this office is really not that big, people when they get here they’re like, “It’s so small!” But it gives a cool effect, you can be creative with the lens, and then I’ve got a ring light, a little hair light back here, and a road microphone on the camera.
And Jonathan asks, “How did you get into video making?” Thanks so much for the question, Jonathan. It actually kinda happened by accident back in 2002. I was interning at my youth group, in a small town an hour north of Seattle. And the youth pastor said, “Hey, can you start making video announcements “for our youth group?” And so I had a mini DV camera, with mini DV tapes that would go into it, and I was editing on Premiere back in those days. And the cool thing was I had to do a video a week, 52 weeks a year. And because of that, I got a ton of experience, because no matter what happened, no matter what technical difficulties, no matter what I didn’t understand yet, I had to be on a schedule to learn video and get those videos published. And then, shortly thereafter, I started them for Sundays, as well as for the youth group. And so now I was doing two videos a week, that a hundred and four videos a year, before YouTube even started. And so, I really credit those as definitely formative days, helping me really get started in video.
And just to extrapolate, I think some tips that I would recommend for anybody that’s starting in video, I think do as much work as possible. If you could just put out a ton of videos, you learn so much in the process. All of those videos, I don’t want you to see ’em. They’re not good, right? But they were part of the journey, and I learned a lot of lessons so I could get better over time. I think secondly, get mentorship. For me, I did invest in some education materials, whether in those days it was DVDs, eventually it was YouTube. So I was watching YouTube videos like THiNK Media TV, to learn tips and to get advice and things like that. And then I think the biggest thing is just perseverance, because now it’s like, geez, 2002, is that 18 years ago? What’s the math on that? I mean, that was 14 years ago. So I’ve been in this for a while, and there’s been tons of frustrations, you can kinda maybe get bored, or you feel like you hit walls or you hit lids, and so just having a tenacity, having a persistence, having perseverance in your craft over time really helps you build confidence, build competence, and put out your best work.
Question of the day, how do you use social media to promote your brand or your business or your YouTube channel? Let me know in the comment section below, and remember that some of the best tips and strategies come from you, the THiNK Media TV community. So definitely connect with everybody down there. And, do you have a question? If you want to get your question on this THiNK Media TV Q and A show, then post in the comments below, we’d appreciate that, and hope to get your question on the next episode. ♫ So just chill, until the next episode ♫ (record scratching) What? So thanks so much for checking out this video.
Definitely subscribe for more videos just like this, as well as video gear, tutorials, lighting, things like that. And, if you haven’t downloaded the THiNK Media TV video gear buyer’s guide, it’s my complete guide of video cameras, lighting, all that stuff for any budget, just broken down, you can grab it free. I’ll link it up in the Youtube description below as well as on the YouTube card. Until next time, THiNK Media TV is helping you go further, faster in media. Keep crushing it, and we will talk soon. (guitar strumming) Three, two, one. Further, faster. (laughs) Yeah. Faster. Faster (laughs). (breaths out slowly) Faster (laughs). Like this as well as, I’m gonna lose it.
No idea what that was either. Okay..