Page 12 - St Maur marketing and social media thoughts.
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products It may be harder to do than simply buy the following that you want, but what use do you have for 10,000 people from Istanbul or Mumbai who will never buy your product?
Part of the answer to growing your fanbase has to be in integrating your social media activities with your normal business practices. For instance, business cards used to have landline numbers and the address of your offices, but it’s far more useful to a lot of people now to see your Facebook page, I once met a couple in Africa with a couple of teenage daughters, and the first thing they asked me was, “What’s your Instagram account?” When my work was exhibited in Dallas recently at the Safari Club Expo my instagram following gained 400 new followers all from the USA and a quick look at their own instagram pages showed an eclectic mix of hunters in camo and tweed!
The point is that the primary contact point is changing, and you need to be ready to provide different groups with the various options they prefer. That might mean something as trivial as putting your Facebook URL on your business cards or asking people to ‘like’ your page after a promotional event. You could also go a step further and run a competition offering prizes to people who ‘share and like this page and tag three friends’ or even pay for an advert on Facebook. That alone might only generate one or two followers, but their followers, in turn, will see that so-and-so has followed St Maur which in turn might add a few more.
Remember, Every little helps!
Encouraging Likes
Here are a few tips for acquiring more likes on Facebook:
• Choose the right page name, ie, your trading name (or as close to it as possible);
• Fill your page with searchable information by using the right keywords;
• Fill out as much as possible of your profile;
• Aim to get people sharing your posts to increase your reach;
• Include a Facebook link or like icon on your website, newsletter or email signature;
• Build Facebook into any offline marketing activities, e.g. logos on stickers, receipts;
• Cross-promote by adding Facebook links on sites such as Twitter and Instagram;
• Invite your contacts to like your page (using the Facebook feature);
• Post valuable content that helps other photographers as well as potential
clients;
• Post frequently, consistently and at the right time;
• Host a Facebook contest, eg a ‘like-to-enter’ giveaway competition;
• Tag other relevant brands in your posts to attract a new audience;
• Engage with other users, particularly by answering any questions promptly;
• Pin popular posts to the top of your page to increase visibility;
• Embed a Facebook Post on your website or blog;
• Don’t be too ‘spammy’ - Facebook’s algorithm likes quality content that’s not too promotional;
• Use Facebook Ads to expand your reach, e.g. Page Like Ads;
Written by Jeremy Pascoe @ Walking Gun Photography