How to Rock Your Online Presence

How to Rock Your Online Presence with a Personal Brand

1. It’s All About You, Baby! – This is the hardest and most rewarding thing you can do for your business, and as photographers, it’s the EASIEST for us!!!!!! Clients are booking session with you to work with YOU! When I’m shopping for jewelry, I don’t particularly care what the jewelry maker is like because I’m not going to be hanging out with her for 1+ hours at a photoshoot. Rock your headshots wherever you can. I’m serious. I know it’s scary. None of us like to have a photo taken of ourselves, let alone to be posting it all over social media, but if you do, you will stand out.
2. Be Authentic – Stop trying to be someone you’re not online. It is SO SO easy to hide behind our perfect little Instagram account or say words we would never say in real life, because that’s just it, it doesn’t seem like real life. I challenge you to be a little transparent with your clients. I want to attract brides who are dreaming of something timeless, and classic, but she loves to be romantic, have a little fun, and has a caring heart. Although I want my website to be elegant and timeless, I also want to tell people that I’m a pancake enthusiast and I love to laugh, because that’s the truth. If I alluded to how I love to travel (which I do), with my suitcase packed with J. Crew outfits to go sailing…sure, that would probably fit well with the appearance of my website, that isn’t me. And they’d probably have a rude awakening when they saw me with my long unruly hair and goofy smile. Dig a little deeper. Ask yourself who you really are and let the world love you for it.
3. Define Your Audience – You should always know who you are writing for. I am a 23 year old wedding photographer, dog mom, and newlywed. My target audience is 20-something brides and newlywed. I tend to talk about wedding tips and marriage frequently on my social media, because I know that’s who is following me! Right now I am trying to benefit young girl bosses, so I am going through the process of finding how to reach them and what they want to read about.
4. Build Your Tribe – Once you know who you are writing to, it’s your job to bring them together. Start an email list to stay on engaging readers’ radar. Members of your tribe will probably have similar values and goals to yours. They will be the followers worth gaining.
5. Network – I touched on this earlier, (in part 1) but working with vendors who love you and your work will be amazing for your business! Since I am a wedding photographer, I said to myself, “Okay, if I could plan a dream wedding, THESE are the vendors I would choose.” I would choose them because I would work well with them and we would have a similar clientele. No matter what kind of photography you do, I think you can do this! Even consider doing a styled shoot to bring all of those people together and meet them in person!

I hope this post leaves you empowered to go out and make some changes in your business! I know it’s a scary thing, but it will be so worth it! Here are a few things you can do RIGHT NOW to start implementing a personal brand into your business:

• Change every social media profile to a photo of yourself! Even better if it is the same photo, or at least the same outfit across the board! Also, add a headshot to the home page of your website and the about page!
• Have an enticing bio and about page that says nothing about photography. Try it for a few weeks and see if people connect with it.
• Find your ideal client and audience, and market only to them!
• Start a Newsletter! I JUST did this, and it’s scary but exciting! Get those active followers hooked on your work and who you are!
• Find one vendor or photographer in your area and offer to take them out for lunch or coffee! Making personal connections is HUGE for your business’s success!

If you missed part 1 hop over now and catch 8 Benefits of a Personal Brand