Social media was the very first place I
ever shared my love for photography. It was 2007 and I posted the images taken
with my Olympus e500 on my MySpace page. It took a few days but all my friends
saw these primitive pictures. The word of my interest in photography started to
spread. Over seven years later MySpace is a forgotten platform and the
Traughber Photography influence is spread across five different platforms. I’ve slowly begun to recognize
the different ways these platforms shine and I have individual goals for each.
Smugmug: Depending on your
definition of Social Media, my official website may or may not count. I use my
Smugmug-driven website as a portfolio. It is a controlled space where
individuals can view my work, learn a little about me, and be directed to my
various social media platforms. I also use it to post client galleries (whether
they are made public, or kept private). One of my favorite features is that
there is unlimited JPG storage. I simply cut off access to galleries that no longer
reflect my current aesthetic. Since nothing needs to be deleted I can retrieve
images for clients years after their session.
Facebook: Because it is the king
of social media, for a long time Facebook was the only platform on which I
bothered to maintain a presence. The Traughber Photography Facebook page is
used as the professional social media frontman. The beauty of the Facebook
algorithm is that people who aren’t
current followers of my page can have my content appear in their feed. Tags,
likes, shares, comments and paid for boosts are what I need for a post to gain
traction. If I’m lucky,
posts can be seen by thousands of people. If a post lacks any of those things
it will get minimal views; around 4% of my followers will see it.
Instagram: Instagram is a visual look into my
life. I use Instagram to humanize Traughber Photography. There really is no
difference between Wyatt Traughber the person and Traughber Photography.
Instagram is a place where people can get to know me. They can see my interests
and get to know my sense of humor. I also use it to posts photos from recent
shoots and inform people of current promotions. Instagram is also where the
teenagers are. Last summer I was excited to post some group photos of 33 high
school drill team members. I was sure with all of those people to tag on
Facebook this would be my most viewed post ever. Only three of the girls had an
active Facebook account, the post did marginally well. Later I learned while
they didn’t use Facebook,
Instagram was their platform of choice. For more on why teen are ditching facebook for instagram checkout Teens Are Leaving Facebook And This is Where They Are Going
Pinterest: Instagram lets people
look into my life. Pinterest lets people look into my head. I pin images that
inspire me. I also pin images directly from my website. It gives people who
find me on Pinterest a direct way to get more information abut Traughber
Photography.
Twitter: I only have been active
on Twitter for the past few weeks. I feel like Twitter has a very unique but
active audience. It’s a good place to start conversations and spread bits of
information that hooks people and directs them to other platforms.
Blogger: My current reason for
blogging is to create blog posts for my social media class (this is one of
them). Blogging is great for spreading big ideas and sharing stories. I’m not really sure how to fit
this into my social media plan yet. I know that blogging can benefit me but I
don’t yet have a strategy
on how to effectively use it.
I like how you gave your own perspective on how you use each platform based on your hobbies. I think that is an interesting concept to think about how each person sees them differently based on their personality.
ReplyDeleteThat info-graphic is a great display of audiences and potential clients and customers. A significant part of advertising through social media is knowing your audience. Our generation is lucky to have the resources and skills provided by use of social media. As these platforms are expanding it is imperative that we know how to use them to our advantage. I like your approach of sharing your experiences with each of these platforms.
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