Starting a business is hard. Growing it can seem nothing short of unattainable. That’s why at ShootDotEdit, we want to empower Pro Wedding Photographers to not only maintain their workflow and streamline their time management; we also want to provide our customers with the tools to grow their businesses and meet their professional goals.
In order to deliver on that promise, we’ve partnered with leaders in the industry to offer valuable content that we believe will help encourage and motivate other Pro Wedding Photographers. During our customer outreach, we learned that social media is something many of you struggle with. So we reached out to Photo Mentor and Social Media extraordinaire Heather J. Keys to shed some light on the importance of consistent content.
When it comes to operating a successful wedding photography business, there are two things that will always remain near and dear to my heart: personal connections and social media consistency!
There are often times other photographers, and even other business owners tell me that social media is too hard. Usually, there are a lot of reasons people feel that way. The main one seems to be time. I get it, I can certainly relate to responses like “my life is busy”, or “I’m a single parent with a busy schedule”, and one of the most self-sabotaging of them all, “I’m just waiting for wedding season to end.”
While you wait until your schedule opens up, or for wedding season to end, your competition is working hard on building their online presence and unfortunately, you’re falling behind. While all of those time management challenges may be true and difficult to navigate, they are still excuses. We already know that life is hard and busy. That isn’t something that is unique to this industry. We all have things that are going on in our lives that make tackling something new seem overwhelming and even impossible. But I promise you, you aren’t alone in those time management struggles. So before you discount what I have to say because you think maybe I’m not as busy or over-committed as you, let me tell you a little about myself.
My name is Heather J. Keys, I am a Professional Wedding Photographer in Temecula, California. I am a single mom to a beautiful 15-year-old daughter and I am a full-time wedding photographer. Oh, I am also a ShootDotEdit Photo Mentor! I have a pretty hectic life too, but I make time for social media because I know it has a huge return on investment, time-wise.
I typically photograph about 2-3 weddings on average each month of the year. Sometimes a little more. I know…crazy! Add on a full-time career in marketing and working with other entrepreneurs and photographers on their business goals. I’m just as guilty when it comes to making time to show up for my own wedding photography business. Sometimes it’s really the last thing on my list because I have all of these other things I need to accomplish that day. Yet, I know it’s important. So here’s some practical advice that helped me prioritize.
Treat Your Business Like A Store Front
I used to work in retail stores. And, the most important thing I’m reminded to do when owning a store is to… SHOW UP. We have to get to the store and open it up, without fail.
As photographers, we have customers, just like a shop owner would. I don’t think I’m alone here, but I often forget this, because we have so many things literally right at our fingertips. I am a business that is required to serve my customers to make them happy and satisfied. And my customers, likely yours too, want instant gratification. Our consumer culture has trained us purposefully. It’s so fast and easy: Tap-Click-Tap, and just like that, our “x” order is delivered to our home the next day. And, from just about anywhere, you can have food delivered to you within an hour. We have everything right at our fingertips.
In order to have a successful business, you have to have a personal connection. Having a storefront business, unlocking that door and opening the door daily, means customers can come into your store and shop. Like a storefront, social media is the door to your business. No one is going to reach out to you if you are not showing up for your own business every day. It doesn’t matter what type of photographer you are, you won’t have people pounding down your door to give you business if you’re not showing up for your business every single day.
That is why I find it so incredibly important to schedule social media posts. That is my way of showing up for my business every single day, regardless of if I’m actually in the office that day or not. There are going to be days when I’m traveling or taking my kiddo and dog to the beach, or I’m dropping my daughter off for volleyball. It’s so important to carve out time to schedule social media posts daily. You won’t have to worry if you’ll have a good wifi signal or the proper content and captions ready that day. Showing up in your follower’s newsfeed at the right time is also important. Check your daily insights on Instagram. Serve up new content on your Instagram page when your followers are the most active.
We love Heather’s no-nonsense approach to mentoring fellow Pro Wedding Photographers. Sometimes the things we need to hear the most are the ones that make us feel a little uneasy. If you felt a little tinge of guilt about your own social media activity, maybe it’s time to take a look at how to improve your online presence.
If you want to read more stories about how to better tackle social media leave a comment below! We want to provide content that motivates and inspires, so please let us know what you want to hear about.
And if you’re looking for a good example of some great use of social media, be sure to check out Heather’s pages!
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