Social Media — View Comments
23
Aug 10

What is the best social networking tool? [Part 2]

– by Matt Hill

In Part 1, I wrote about some fundamentals behind choosing a social networking tool. Today, I’ll explore the different specific tools.

To begin, it’s important to stress that a canned answer isn’t proper for everyone. You have to choose the tool(s) that match your goals and audience. Below are suggestions I’d make, not rules. There are no rules.

Secondly, if you are just starting do everyone a favor. Listen, watch and read for a month or two, then start using what you learned. You don’t walk into a party and start shouting about yourself, do you? Nope, you walk around, get to know the crowd, then start speaking to people one by one.

Facebook

Big fish. Got big quick. Why? People like seeing what their friends are doing.

1) Sign up for a personal account, make a business page. Contrary to what I believed two years ago, it’s just not efficient to censor yourself on a daily basis. Be yourself on your personal page and be businesslike on your business page. But be sure that you don’t eliminate your personality! Use the business space to share things that customers will find interesting, illuminating or provocative.

2) Answer all questions promptly. Hard part is that a business page won’t send you a notification when someone posts!

3) Eliminate the tabs on your business page you don’t have time to maintain. Discussions is most commonly-ignored (at peril!).

4) Update on a regular basis. Schedule yourself and do it. It could be a link, a promotion, a blog post from you, or an update on a great client shoot. Just stay involved and in your customers’ minds.

5) Use the “Send an Update” sparingly

You hate spam in your email box, right? So stay away form sending messages that could be considered annoying. They “like” you, but only until you annoy them. If you run multiple business/fan pages, then don’t message them all at the same time, space out the announcements.

6) Use it to stay in touch with what you customers want and make positive impact on their impression of you. Measure each action against this statement and you should be A-OK.

Twitter

Social networking’s honey. Hate reading long posts like this? Then Twitter is for you. The best users of Twitter study writing good, attention-getting headlines.

1) Tweet when your crowd is awake. Use a service like Hootsuite to schedule tweets if you are in a different time zone or will be working when your Tweeps are reading.

2) Use a link shortener with analytics. Bit.ly has free accounts that can use used with Tweetdeck. Hootsuite has it’s own link shortener that you have to use to get their built-in analytics. Why analytics? Because if you know what people click on in realtime, you can do the right things better and avoid the ones that are less popular. Knowledge is power!

3) Leave 10-15 characters for people to add their flavor to Retweets. Good RT’ers will always comment on the RT. Give them space so they don;t have to shorten your message!

4) Your blog post title might not be the best Tweet… That is, unless you wrote it that way. =) Read this great 9-part headline writing course from Wordtracker.com and by the end, you’ll be writing great Tweets and blog post titles.

5) Be generous. The most successful Tweeters agree that sharing great Tweets and links from other people that are interesting for your audience goes both ways. You share theirs, and they will most likely share yours. We’re all in this together – why not make some friends on Twitter along the way?

6) Acknowledge your followers. Thank people for RTs, reply to DMs and participate in follow Fridays (a.k.a. #FF).

Flickr

You want to sell your work, right? So why post it for free on a photo-sharing site like Flickr? There are actually a lot of benefits. I’ve been on it for over four years.

1) Flickr is highly-visible and well-indexed. If you have a good naming and tagging strategy, your images will come up in searches. Yup, people looking for a photo you have may find it on Flickr before they find it on your website or blog. Be sure to put  a link and your contact information in the description for every upload and watermark the image if you are so inclined.

2) List photos that may not be stock-worthy as Creative Commons. Many bloggers search Flickr for Creative Commons-licensed photos to decorate their posts. If they use yours, they have to give credit and link back to Flickr, where your website and name are… you might get some business this way – and some good karma.

3) Groups are powerful. You may not be getting business from this, but you will find equally-interested peers to discuss the art and craft of photography. Join some groups and submit your photos as you upload them to the group. I’ve made some great friends this way and had some intense conversations about art and process. Being exposed to other people’s work can sometimes incentivize you into making better work, too!

4) Make sets and collections. If you have themes you want to group your photos into, use this to your advantage. If a potential client sees our work there, they can see your organized groupings and even slideshows.

5) Getty images and Flickr have teamed up. A new feature allows you to turn on a link to have images requested to be licensed through Getty Images. Imagine a little extra pocket cash via stock just for uploading to Flickr?

6) Analytics are available on a Pro account, and that’s just $25/year. In addition, Flickr makes a greta place to backup images at that price and Lightroom has an export function direct to Flickr.

Foursquare

New kid on the block. All about being cool places. Like to see who’s going where and when. Foursquare is a location-based social tagging service used by people who “check in”. Why? Well, you can see who is there, who is “mayor” and some business offer specials. Yum! More on that…

1) It’s a game. You get badges for checking in. If you check in at one place more than others, then you get to be Mayor. You can also create places to check in… You should be th eone to list your business. If you want to be cool and attract nw customers on the cutting edge of mobile apps, sign up for their business program.

From Foursquare:

Use our tools to create a variety of foursquare Specials, customized just for your venue and for your customers:

  • Mayor Specials: unlocked only by the Mayor of your venue. Who’s the Mayor? It’s your single most loyal customer! (the user who has checked in the most in the last 60 days)
    (“Foursquare has deemed you the Mayor? Enjoy a free order of french fries!”)
  • Check-in Specials: unlocked when a user checks in to your venue a certain number of times.
    (“Foursquare says you’ve been here 10 times? That’s a free drink for you!”)
  • Frequency-based Specials: are unlocked every X check-ins.
    (“Foursquare users get 20% off any entree every 5th check-in!”)
  • Wildcard Specials: always unlocked, but your staff has to verify some extra conditions before awarding the Special.
    (“Show us your foursquare Swarm badge and get a free drink!”)
  • And more to come!

2) Once you are signed up, put a sticker in your window and in your storefront encouraging people to check in. Se who has checked in and acknowledge them! And if you’ve set up specials, they might walk in just because they are in town and saw that you advertise “Specials Nearby”

3) Facebook just announced their “Places” last week, and it connects to Foursquare. Good news for you! People checking in may also tell their friends and family on Facebook. Great local marketing!

4) It’s just plain fun. You’ll use it when you go out to eat, drink, see concerts and more.

5) Create check-in places at your favorite shoot locations! And be sure to leave a Tip about your photographic services. Who knows – maybe someone who wants a better photo of them and their honey might just want to come back there with you to get a better photograph.

Terms of Service

All of the above have TOS that are subject to change. Read them carefully to be sure you aren’t giving away any rights you do not wish to yield.

Wrapup

I use all of these services to one degree or another. Part is because I enjoy it, Part is because I am curious about how they work. Sometimes I find one work better than another. Lately, it seems like more people like the simplicity of Twitter over Facebook. But, more people visit Facebook in a day than Google now… Who’s to argue against that? As I said earlier, try them out and see what works best for you. And enjoy the journey. Hope these insights help :)

Follow Matt on Twitter

Communication / Social Media — View Comments
15
Aug 10

What is the best social networking tool? [Part 1]

– by Matt Hill

A friend asked me, “which social network do you find the best?” on Facebook during a discussion about my last post.

I believe that each has it’s strengths and weaknesses and a blanket answer is not possible – it has to be tailored to what you want to accomplish and with whom. So let’s explore the notable topics behind the options!

How much does it cost?

First off, I think it’s important to stress that the amount of time it takes to foster your network should be the first consideration. Most tools available don’t cost anything but time, but that is the one thing we have that cannot be bought, begged or stolen back. Take a good hard look at what you are willing to spend during your day/week/month/year and choose a tool that fits. The network should not consume your life, it should broaden your reach and engagement.

What is your main sales tool?

Hey, we all have to make a living and having a place that connects someone’s money with the objects of their desire is necessary. More often than not, this is your website and/or blog.

Investing time and money into making the best possible vehicle to showcase your work and inform people about how to pay you for the wonderful things you do/make is your first and most important job.

If you do it right and apply basic SEO principles, you may not need to socialize and advertise. Why? Because people searching for what you do will find you.

But what happens if that is not enough? Time to promote yourself.

Using social media to promote your business

A current trend that is massively popular is to become a useful, entertaining source of information. Oh, and you also get to talk about yourself and what you do. But it seems like the most influential social media magnets are those that find interesting things for which to share links and ask for feedback on them. It’s cool – and it’s generous; nothing wrong with that. It’s just a huge investment of time to become part of the cool stream of information on top of doing your business. It’s truly a second job – but it works.

A nuance of this is that the most successful are not fence-sitters. The most-followed ones are divisive and polarizing. So, the stronger your position, the more respect (or disdain, but still “attention”) you will have among your followers. You transport them out of the BLAH and into the interesting part of their brain.

The exhausting part of this is pushing aside all of the other business-related stuff you need to do and investing in this strategy to gain more attention. It’s also a calculated risk.

It’s getting crowded out there

Sure, there’s a world of opportunity ust waiting for you to tap, but every day, more people are hopping on the train. Flash back to eight years ago when “blog” was a hotpoint of discussion. Only nerds and geeks were doing it and then suddenly – BOOM – stay-at-home Moms and Dads, crafters, code monkeys, the janitor and everyone else started writing blogs. And it continues to grow. How do you establish yourself in a crowded room? Stand out by doing it better than anyone else.

For instance, I started this community-written blog as a response to numerous inquiries for more detailed info from photographers after speaking at WPPI’s Business Institute two years in a row. Direct inquiries from real people. Our traffic is modest, but I am a firm believer in, “you get the attention you earn.” I don’t expect this to be a rockstar blog that is leading the photo industry’s thoughts and opinions. It’s a small giveback service I set up for us to inform each other of our successes and failures.  If I help one photographer have a better business using online tools, I believe this to be a success. Determining your own measure of success is equally important to setting expectations of what you want versus what you have time to do.

Back to the crowd – we are a small voice among many who are sharing their thoughts about how to use the Web better. Write one sentence of how you will specifically serve your audience and stick to it. In fact, use it as your META Description for the homepage and on the homepage copy. Let people know what you intend. They will respect you for telling them up front and helping them make a decision faster  about reading or not reading what you publish.

Frequency

Maintaining an appropriate frequency is akin to balancing spinning plates on the end of wooden dowels. First you have to have something to say. Second, you have to say it at a good time of day when someone will see it (especially on Twitter). Third, you have to do it often enough to maintain mind share. Fourth, you have to not do it so much that people stop listening to you or even worse, unsubscribe from your social stream. Best advice I’ve heard (and given) is to start by subscribing and listening. Chances are that if you like it, others will, too. It it annoys you, it will annoy others.

Wrapup on the basics

I wanted to start by laying a foundation of the above topics  first before weighing social networks against each other. It’s important to digest the above and then check out next week’s followup post. Cheers! Thanks for reading.

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Community / Social Media — View Comments
08
Aug 10

The Results of my Facebook Vacation

– by Matt Hill

Dear readers and friends,

Sometimes you have to take time off to get some distance from your daily activities. The desired result is perspective – a better, fresh view on what you choose to do and why.

I did just this, and without announcement. Apologies for the latter, none for the former.

When you have multiple pursuits and talents, you can easily spread yourself thin. Doubly so with social media being a part of our daily lives. The simple act of staying connected is even more consuming than an unhealthy television addiction. I chose to take an entire month off from Facebook  after a heated discussion of its merits with a close friend (who is not a member and will never be). I supported the merits of Facebook, and he asked simply, “will your life be better, worse or the same without it?”

I had no answer, so I chose to seek it.

What did I do with my time? Well, I refused all outside jobs for a month (remember, I have a day job), took very few social outings, cleared my calendar of other projects and followed my offline urges for a month. I made friends with my couch (grin), played a lot of XBox, made art, played my new guitar, visited family and other things that had zero influence from know what was happening on Facebook.

August is back and I am now back on Facebook. Not with a vengeance, just lightly.

My insights about my personal vacation (that did not include Twitter or Tumblr or blogging for other things like MAC Group and such…):

In Light of the Social Graph, Facebook is unavoidable.

Having the “like” feature on many sites and more daily is a constant reminder and temptation to participate off-site. My question is, “Is this still participating?” And my friends were confused, too – since it appeared I was breaking my own (announced on Facebook) hiatus when those Likes appeared on their News Feed and my Wall.

Now I imagine someone who doesn’t want to be on Facebook going to websites and seeing all those Likes – page after page, website after website. It’s similar to the reason I chose to stop watching network and cable television 4 years ago, I recognized I was being socialized by entire TV-watching life via constant impressions from advertisers to feel like I was lacking something or I was unhappy in my life if I didn’t go out and buy stuff. “Likes” are the equivalent of this, a constant reminder to those on Facebook that they are missing something and lots of other people are using it. It’s not insidious, it’s just eventually overwhelming to the point that it increases the number of account signups by peer pressure.

Who are your real friends?

This may sound antagonistic, but I think the longer we do not ask this question, the worse the definition of “friend” will dilute into something less meaningful.

I know some people who have made this distinction and have two Facebook accounts (why? So much work!) – one for real friends and family, one for business. I can see the logic in this, but part of me dislikes the overhead required to maintain two accounts, plus I ask one additional question, “why can’t we always be the same person?” It’s the premise I started my Facebook account with, allowing all into one space. Now I find myself tempering posts – and no one asked me to! Why? I might swear when I feel like it and some potential customer or business associate will find that distasteful. Where did my iron resolve to me myself every minute of every day go? Peer pressure again, but it’s perceived and created from within – no one told me NOT to be myself.

My friend has a divisive question about who your real friends are on Facebook, “How many of them would attend your funeral?”

Food for thought, indeed.

The other half of this line of questioning involves how many friendships you WANT to maintain and at what level. If you want 500 friends, how meaningful is that relationship? If you have five incredible friends who you call on the telephone, go out for drinks with, have dinner parties and occasionally vacation together, isn’t that the same amount of effort you put into tracking the daily postings of 500 people? What level of personal reward to you get from either of someplace in-between?

At present, I am not taking action on any of the available avenues:

  1. Close my Facebook account
  2. Create two accounts (business and personal)
  3. Continue as I do presently

… simply because I have yet to decide on the next area’s importance:

Facebook for business

There is a belief among many marketers that you have to go where the people go. Thus the decline of trade shows and the rise of social media and bloggers. Business advertising dollars support people with opinions or tools that draw audiences.

Facebook is a tool defined by its users, and shaped by the developers. The ads you see are tailored to your posts’s words, and everything else you do to participate. Seriously, this should be great – see only ads that you should like. I think it still sucks and the ads I see generally aren’t something I look at or click on. Maybe one in every 4,000.

That’s 0.00025% of ads. Industry average is 0.025%. I am less interested by two orders of magnitude. Are you similar?

Now fan pages for businesses are pretty cool, IMO. It is the ultimate opt-in. You cannot trick someone into liking your page. So at some point you did something right and got people to like you. Now you have to invest in streaming interesting content to them, but so very balanced as to stay in their mind without annoying them.

But there is so much interesting stuff going on!!!

Yeah, yeah. You might miss something. Are you spending your life watching for cool stuff and consuming it, or you are making it? I tend to let the needle flip between the two sides. I’m not good at moderation. Try making stuff or investing more deeply in your in-person friends for two weeks and not looking at your social feeds. Then examine how your life was different. Leave comments. I want to know.

Should I quit Facebook? Other people are…

Your call. I’m still on the fence.

My personal pros and cons:

PROS

  • I like talking about myself. Who doesn’t?
  • I like hearing about interesting things from people of similar likes and different knowledge and expertise than I.
  • I like knowing what artists and business I like are doing.
  • I like being able to add my vote of liking things – it’s participatory and gives me a voice, albeit en masse.
  • I like getting feedback when I post something.
  • I like learning about surprising and personally-illuminating things from my acquaintances I would not otherwise learn by not participating in Facebook.
  • I like being a part, in some small way, of  people’s live who are geographically unreachable. And I mean to say that I cannot constantly visit them for fiscal reasons to maintain a more personal relationship.
  • I am horrible at correspondence and Facebook makes it easier. Truly, and I admit it. It takes a lot of effort and although i wish it weren’t so, I abandon writing or calling regularly in favor of more local relationships.
  • I like knowing that when I engage in business contact via Facebook that I am speaking to people who desire to hear what I am saying.

CONS

  • I dislike seeing uninteresting and petty posts about cereal and coffee. I know I can ignore them or filter them out but it is a lot fo work to do so…
  • I dislike automatic posting via Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, etc. This practice makes me feel like someone doesn’t want to take the time to craft a message appropriate to the venue.
  • I dislike the there is no “Dislike” button for Facebook. YouTube has it. It’s equitable to allow people to indicate both favor and disfavor. Perhaps all the “I’m bathing my cat.” or “Picking up the kids.” micro-updates that got Dislikes would get the message and start sharing information that people desire to know. I’m done with being intrigued by Ambient Awareness. If I want to know the minutiae of your life, I’ll become your roomate.
  • I prefer, in this order: a personal visit, a telephone call, an email, a text, a status update.

Facebook’s “Friends” is a misnomer

Whether intentional or not, Facebook’s use of the word “friends” is not accurate in my case. No personal offense intended to anyone on my friends list – and some of you are personal friends – but a more accurate term for the whole body of people I have chosen to allow into my social space is better described as, “acquaintances.” Perhaps I am using Facebook in the wrong manner and making a statement about my own mistake, but I bet many people feel the same way. Be it subliminal peer pressure or something else, I think the name should change, just as “Fans” changed to “Like”.

Incidentally, I think 75 people dropped me during July. Not sure if this was due to the announcement, but I was at 575 friends and when I came back, it was just under 500. I do wear deodorant, folks.

I realize should have split this post up into a few posts, but if you made it this far, I congratulate you and encourage you to leave your thoughts in the comments. I only know what’s in my mind – your contribution would be illuminating.

Better, Worse or the Same?

The final question, “having not used Facebook for a month, is my life better, worse or the same?

Better via perspective. You can be too close to something. Distance allows for a different view, and fresh exposure. I am definitely less enthusiastic about Facebook, and gauge I will use it less for things I don’t directly desire and it can provide. I’ll simply pursue those things elsewhere.

I do posit that my life would not be worse off without it. It could possibly be better for the very same reason it’s better without network and cable television – minus all the noise my brain has room for better things.

Thanks for getting to the end of this – here is a photograph I created while on Facebook vacation:
Night Shoot - Lighting in Dobbs Ferry-1.jpg

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Community — View Comments
07
Aug 10

Moshe Zusman is this month’s Featured Photographer on WPPI

Congratulations to our author (and accomplished photographer!) Moshe for being featured on WPPIonline.com this month!

Read “Moshe Zusman Two Steps Higher” here.

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Build a Better Website — View Comments
30
May 10

Lose those crazy website backgrounds

- by Cris Mitchell

More and more these days I see photographers stepping out and over the line when it comes to making a splash when choosing a background for their website. Like everything in life sometimes simple is just better and you can’t go wrong with simple white, black or neutral gray backgrounds.

Subtle textures in white, gray and black are ok but try to stay away from crazy textures and wild colors as they will only draw your visitors eye away from your images.

Spend time looking through some of your favorite photographers websites. I know all my favorite shooters use simple design with minimal color and let their images steal the show.

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