The value of blogs/instagram/social media in self-promotion

[TheFlyingCamera]

For those who might wonder about/are skeptical of the value of blogging/posting to social media, here is a prime example of the payoff. I had posted this image on my blog, dcphotoartist.com, back in 2012. Shot with a 12" Commercial Ektar on 5x7 Portra 160NC. It was part of a series I did of color night photos in DC. It sat there, minding its own business, being largely forgotten by even me. Then last week, I was contacted by the local PBS station, WETA, asking to license the image for an episode of a new series on local restaurants they were producing. And they came to me willing to pay for said license. Now, I'm not going to cover a mortgage payment with that money... a couple of steak dinners is about the end of it. But, had I not posted the image, I'd never have made the contact and gotten the image on the show. I've actually had, in recent months, several hits that at least turned into something interesting if not actually yielded something valuable (gallery shows, job offers) due to social media presence on my blog and on Instagram. So this is just a reminder that even when you might question why you bother to do these things (write about your work and share it online) because it seems like nobody pays attention, well... they are out there and they are paying attention. If you're not out there, they can't find you.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Oh, and if any of you are in the DC metro area and want to watch the program, it will air Monday, April 11, at 9pm on WETA, and be available the following day on their website. The show is called Signature Dish.

 

[Ivo Stunga]

Well, social media is nothing but a trend setting machine. If you do what everyone else is doing and do it good, you'll be on a viable path to success. If your work is different, it won't be commercially viable - in my experience over decades using and abandoning these tools/platforms entirely because of said machine-pressed trends everyone is subjecting themselves to, making everything look the same, contain the same subject.

Could it be that this indicates such a trend in action? You know, it's trendy today to shoot neon signs on color film at night...

 

[radiant]

Well, social media is nothing but a trend setting machine. If you do what everyone else is doing and do it good, you'll be on a viable path to success. If your work is different, it won't be commercially viable - in my experience over decades using and abandoning these tools/platforms entirely because of said machine-pressed trends everyone is subjecting themselves to, making everything look the same, contain the same subject.

Could it be that this indicates such a trend in action? You know, it's trendy today to shoot neon signs on color film at night...

But isn't that called "The Trend". There are trends no matter if there are social platforms. And of course audience boosts up the trends on these platforms, because.. well, they are the current trends.

Social media is a marketing tool. If you want to grow your business, you will probably use it.

 

[Ivo Stunga]

There are trends no matter if there are social platforms

Trends appear when many people do the same thing - social media just exacerbates that, empowers this to a stupid degree. Before gas tanks and neon signs we saw a truckload of yellow copycats around a few "hot" locations...
https://petapixel.com/2018/07/26/this-instagram-account-shows-how-instagram-photos-look-the-same/

Social media is a marketing tool. If you want to grow your business, you will probably use it.

Sure, and am using to promote photography unrelated services.

I guess what I'm aiming at is Art Vs Commercial work. Social Media is great for the latter in my experience, not so great to find inspiring, different thinking and approach.


OP is a hipster - he predicted the trend in 2012! : D

 

[Pieter12]

There are quite a few photo editors and buyers who will search social media for images to license. The key is mastering hashtags so they can find the work. The payoff may not be tremendous, but it is a way to market your images and yourself.

 

[radiant]

If you want to sell your stuff, promote.

If you want to succeed in promoting, please the audience. Publish stuff that is interesting, trending. Be it repeat-what-others-post, if that works.

If you want to sell, make stuff that people want to buy.

 

[juan]

I think it shows the value of having your own website where you control the content, and it can remain in place for a long time.

 

[Don_ih]

All @TheFlyingCamera said was he had a blog with this image and someone found it 10 years later and wanted to use it (and pay) - that, if he had not put the image on a blog, he would not have been paid for its use (because it wouldn't have been seen). It's not exactly the same as actively promoting yourself or purposely following trends to get attention.

If you can't find inspired work or originality on social media, it's because you're not looking (or you're just looking for a mirror). This forum is social media (as much as people want to pretend it's not).

 

[Ivo Stunga]

It's not exactly the same as actively promoting yourself or purposely following trends to get attention.

Agreed and I didn't imply such a thing. What I do imply is a speculation - this shot taken in 2012 got selected today probably exactly because such pictures are trendy now on social media. Especially if shot on Portra. My speculations might be wrong, though - that's the nature of the beast and your mileage may vary. This would prove the OP's point exactly - there's a value in keeping a blog/insta account alive for decades.

If you can't find inspired work or originality on social media, it's because you're not looking

Or because it gets buried under endless stream of insta_repeatable influencer type of content

 

[Tom Kershaw]

I've recently refurbished my website to improve the content and formatting. I'd rather spend the effort on my own domain as opposed to something that I have little control over like Instragram or Facebook.

 

[radiant]

I truly wish we could return to the days of homepages and RSS feeds. That is not going to happend and I have admitted it to myself.

Unfortunately world works nowadays differently. It is really difficult to get traffic to your webpage today - and turn that into some kind of profit.

People rather use the services and are not willing to exit somewhere else - to your webpage. I'm not saying they never will but it is very unlikely to happen. I've seen it on this site too; if I have linked my website here, hardly anyone clicks the link. People want the content in the service they are using (attaching a photo on post rather linking to your website/flickr). Embedding works of course, but that doesn't generate the traffic to your website (only leeches data).

 

[radiant]

.. and not that I haven't tried: http://kuvau.tuu.fi/others/ (a link that nobody clicks )

 

[warden]

For those who might wonder about/are skeptical of the value of blogging/posting to social media, here is a prime example of the payoff. I had posted this image on my blog, dcphotoartist.com, back in 2012. Shot with a 12" Commercial Ektar on 5x7 Portra 160NC. It was part of a series I did of color night photos in DC. It sat there, minding its own business, being largely forgotten by even me. Then last week, I was contacted by the local PBS station, WETA, asking to license the image for an episode of a new series on local restaurants they were producing. And they came to me willing to pay for said license. Now, I'm not going to cover a mortgage payment with that money... a couple of steak dinners is about the end of it. But, had I not posted the image, I'd never have made the contact and gotten the image on the show. I've actually had, in recent months, several hits that at least turned into something interesting if not actually yielded something valuable (gallery shows, job offers) due to social media presence on my blog and on Instagram. So this is just a reminder that even when you might question why you bother to do these things (write about your work and share it online) because it seems like nobody pays attention, well... they are out there and they are paying attention. If you're not out there, they can't find you.

That's great, congratulations. (and enjoy the steaks!)

 

[Don_ih]

because it gets buried under endless stream of insta_repeatable influencer type of content

It's true that these "platforms" push the most popular, to keep it most popular, to keep the greatest number of people "engaged" (I wouldn't call flicking through Instagram photos "engagement"). But you can be selective in your searches. It will be impossible to find someone on Instagram who uses no tags, though. It's no different anywhere else. You can't find someone who doesn't in some way publicize his or her stuff. Unfortunately, they're not alone in these means of publication. Searching for someone you don't know exists will show you a lot of stuff you never would have looked for. Needle in a haystack.

 

[gone]

I'm glad the flying camera had success w/ his method. Money is OK! You never know how that will go, especially if someone lives out in the weeds or in a smallish town.

Years ago a LF photographer moved into our neighborhood. His work was really, really good. Had his own website too. When I asked him if he had ever sold anything on that website (it had been up for 3 years at that point), he smiled and said "Nothing".

I don't think social media would have helped. Art is not easy to sell anyway, especially photography, which a lot of people and a lot of galleries still think is a lesser form of art than the older, more established art forms. Selling never interested me, having a show now and then is plenty.

Once you make one sale, even to a friend for peanuts, it kinds feels good, kinda feels like a little validation for all the hard work. But I'm my biggest critic, and just want to make something that looks good, which is harder than one would think. Go into any gallery opening and you won't see much connection between what is good and what has a little red dot by it.