Before we get started with today’s episode, I’m going to shamelessly plug my upcoming 3 part business workshop for photographers. This is where I see photographers struggle the most, the business side, and I want to help. The Road To CEO starts October 19th and this is something you definitely want to be a part of if you are ready to get serious about your senior photography business.

✅ Day one is The Broken Business Model To The Well-Oiled Machine.

✅ Day two is The One System That Has Booked Me The Most Sessions In My Senior Photography Business.

✅ And Day three is The CEO vs The Employee Mindset.

You’ll hear a little more about it at the end of this podcast, but if you wanted to pause to go ahead & register, that would be a great idea. You can do that at www.seniorstudiosuccess.com/ceo. I can’t wait to go on this little adventure with you guys!

Ok, let’s get into the topic at hand today - getting consistent results from social media.

CONSISTENT ACTIONS YIELD CONSISTENT RESULTS

I think we can all agree with that, right? But here’s the thing with consistency. It goes both ways.
I can sit on the couch and eat ice cream consistently every day, and I’m going to get some pretty consistent results. I could also get my butt to the gym and eat salads every day. That would get me some consistent results too.

Now as it relates to social media I could engage positively on each day, and that will get me consistent inquiries.

Or I could give up & constantly complain in Facebook groups about how the algorithm is out to get me. Guess what those consistent results will be …

So you can get consistently good results from social media. And of course you can get consistently bad results as well. It all depends on how you show up.

“What we put in is what we get out.”

So here’s what we are going to talk about today - how to get consistent bad results AND how to get consistent good results with your social media. Ok, let’s start with the bad and we’ll finish up on a happy note :)

This is it my friends - episode ONE of this podcasting journey of mine. Honestly, I can't believe I hit publish. Although, this has been on my dream list for years now. I'm a HUGE podcast fan so I knew in my heart that I would always start one. No m…

How to get consistent bad results:

1. Not showing up

Yep. That will do it. Not showing up will definitely get you some results, just not the ones you want. When you put your head in the sand & pretend social media doesn’t matter, it will eventually affect your business. If you don’t show up, then you certainly aren’t attracting potential new business. When you have an account with old content, people will make assumptions about your business. They will assume you’ve either gone out of business or that you aren’t worth hiring. Neither of those are the results you want, right?

2. Worrying more about getting featured more than celebrating your clients.

I always have to start this topic off with a caveat because I have friends who own feature accounts and magazines. I love them! So let’s just get this out of the way. I do not have anything against these accounts. I enjoyed being featured. It’s fun. And I think it’s a brilliant business model and a really nice way to get some visibility and social proof that you’re pretty awesome at what you do.

That being said, here’s where the problem comes in. If you are more concerned about getting featured because it’s cool than celebrating your clients and taking care of them, the focus needs to shift. Here’s what I mean by that. If you are spending 10 minutes tagging 20 feature accounts, and if the majority of your hashtags are for those accounts instead of ones for your local area, there is a problem. Here’s why that could bring you bad results. Think about whose attention you will get with that strategy - photographers. Is that who will potentially hire you? It’s not for me. I don’t need photographers to hire me. I need local eyes on my account. So think long and hard when it comes to who you are attracting to your account.

3. Constantly selling

How would you feel if every time you walked up to someone they just started talking about their business and pushing a sale on you? That would be a turn off. Right? There is no reason for someone to stick around if they just feel sold to all the time. They are gonna be gone. So be careful of that.

4. Making it about you and not the client

Oh goodness. This one makes me cringe just a little bit, and I don’t even like to talk about it. So I won’t say much, but it definitely could bring bad results, so I thought I should throw it in here. Let’s just continue to make the client the hero of the story instead of us as photographers. The focus always needs to be on them, on their accomplishments and who they are instead of the work we created and how amazing we are at it. Ok, I’ll just stop there :)

5. Posting just to post, with no clear strategy or purpose

This happens to all of us. We get busy, and we just need something to post. I’ve definitely been there. The thing is, we can’t stay in that mode. You gotta slow down to speed up sometimes. You have to stop and make a plan instead of just throwing an image out there because it’s been a while since you posted. Inside Studio Secrets, my business coaching program, one of the big things we tackle is content strategy and posting with purpose so that you naturally have a steady flow of inquiries in your business. Showing up haphazardly will bring you haphazard results.

6. Using gimmicks to get popular - engagement pods, buying followers, posting your account in a facebook thread, etc.

These don’t work y’all. These bring fake accounts, bots and just other photographers to your account. To my point earlier, is that who you want to work with? Don’t get wrapped up in the vanity metrics of likes and followers. I’d rather have 200 engaged followers than 2,000 fake or uninterested ones.

Ok y’all, that was 6 things that can bring you consistently bad results from social media. I’m sure there are more, but let’s flip it around and talk about how to get the results that you want from social media - more local engaged followers, more inquiries and definitely more booked sessions. Right?

How to get consistent good results:

1 Speak to one person.

You have to know who you are in business for. It can’t be everybody. When you speak to everyone, you are speaking to no one. This is one of the reasons I believe you need to niche down & specialize in your business. Or at the very least, have separate accounts for the different main genres. A high school senior is not going to be interested in what you have to say to the mom of a newborn. And a bride is not going to care about your top senior session tips. This is also one of the reasons why I preach “create before you consume” social media every day. You won’t have a true authentic voice if it is full of noise and all the voices of everyone else on social media. Figure out who you are speaking to and what you want to talk to your audience about. And then all of your content and copy (or captions) need to be focused on that one person so that they feel like you are speaking directly to them.

2. Give more than you ask, but ask.

This goes back to the constant selling point earlier. Instead of being in constant sales mode, we need to be in constant serve mode. Celebrate your clients, meet them where they are and talk to them about the things they need at this time in their lives and things they are interested in. Always give more than you ask.

Now, you do have to ask for the business though. They need to know you are a legit business, and that you’re not just out there for the fun of it. Don’t be afraid to tell people how they can work with you. In fact, I would encourage you to do that at least once a week if (and only if) you are showing up consistently throughout the week. You have to give before you can ask.

3. Tell them how to work with you.

This is a legitimate question. Do they actually know how to work with you? Are you telling them what the next step is? Should they call? Fill out a contact form? DM you? Set up a consult? People, especially teenagers, need clear direction. Be sure you not only have a link in your profile, but you are also telling them what to do once they get there. And hopefully, your website leads them down a clear path towards booking a session as well. So definitely tell them how they can work with you.

4. Show your face.

It still floors me how many instagram feeds I go on and have absolutely no idea who the photographer is or what they even look like. Sometimes I don’t even know if it’s a man or woman. There’s just a logo and a generic business name.

People do business with people y’all. They need to see your eyes, your smile and your goofiness from time to time. I hear from my business coaching students all the time “I don’t know why I’m not getting inquiries. I post all the time.” And when I go look at their accounts, I can’t find them at all. There’s nobody behind the business.

My response is “Well, your community doesn't know you. How are they supposed to hire someone they don’t know?” We have to think old school, before there was social media. It really has done a number on entrepreneurs and the way that we think and act. On one hand, it has opened so many doors, but on the other, people have just forgotten how to be real people. And that leads me to the next point.

5. Make connections - real connections with real people.

In this digital world, people thrive off connections. Yes, even teenagers. So here’s what I would encourage you to do. Treat them like you would if you were walking around at a local park. If someone walks up and says hey (meaning, they follow you), do the nice thing & say hey right back to them. Send them a DM telling them thanks for following you, find something you have in common or something you can encourage them about like a sport they play.

And to the guy photographers, yes, I know this is more difficult for you so let me offer you this. If you build a solid and trustworthy brand on social media and don’t comment on a girl’s looks, it will go a lot smoother for you. I also have guy photographer friends who will make the profile picture of him and his wife. That could build better trust as well. It’s totally up to you. Just know this. It’s only creepy, if you make it creepy. Telling a young lady hey and good luck this season is no different in a DM than it would be on the sideline.

So leave the genuine comments, engage in their stories when it’s something you feel like you can relate to, and don’t be afraid to get in their DMs.

6. Make sure all of your content aligns with your brand - words & message.

So we spend a lot of time on the meaning and value of your brand inside of Studio Secrets. It is one of the most valuable things about your business. It’s how the world sees you and defines you. Usually we start with figuring out your brand words. I’ll give you the abbreviated version of this, but basically you need a few words that describe who you are and what your business stands for. They might be words like bold, whimsical, creative, authentic, fun, relaxed, exclusive, luxurious, free-spirited, positivity . . . you get the point here. Once you have a clear vision for your brand, then all of your content that you put out needs to be filtered through those brand words. If it doesn’t align with your brand words and message and who you are speaking to, then it doesn’t need to be posted.

Ok, let’s move on to some more practical things you can do to make social media work for you and bring you those results that you want. We’re about to get actionable here.

6. Make a game plan for the week.

Really understanding your purpose for the month or week ahead is going to be so helpful when creating your social media content. What do you need to do to attract new followers? What do you need to do to nurture the ones that you have? And what sort of direction do you want to be moving towards to book the dates on your calendar that you need to book? Without that solid understanding it will be difficult to plan, so think those things through when you sit down to plan your content.

I like to come up with a plan for the month and then get into the details on Sunday afternoons to write captions and pull images and videos for my posts. It doesn’t matter what day you plan, but it does need to be an appointment that you make with yourself on your calendar. Maybe it’s Friday afternoon for the following week, but having a game plan will help so much so that you don’t feel frazzled and in constant creation mode, which can be exhausting.

7. Show up! Set an alarm to post every single day.

Sometimes you just need a reminder, right? Now I have my content planned inside Trello & it syncs with my Google calendar. It’s blocked off as time in my day to post & engage with my audience. And I will also get a notification that it’s time to get my butt in gear and show up for my audience. If you aren’t quite there yet, just set an alarm on your phone or make an appointment on your calendar to get it done each day. Just show up.

8. Create triggers for getting on your stories each day.

Sometimes we get so busy in our days that we forget to keep our Instastories active. I am definitely guilty of this. So what has helped me is to create triggers to act as reminders for me. I like to use breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime as my reminders for sharing something to my stories. I’m not perfect about it, but it has really helped me to show up more consistently there. And it also helps me to be more present and real with my audience. I think that’s one of the big reasons why they trust me and feel like they already know me before we work together.

Look, social media is a hard game to play. It frustrates the heck out of me just like I know it does for you too. The target is always moving and when you think you’ve got it figured out, everything changes. But I think that is what we just need to get used to - change.

Last year instagram said use all 30 hashtags, a month ago it was 15 hashtags, last week they announced that 3 - 5 would be best and only in the caption, when they used to say that it didn’t matter where they are. By the time some of you listen to this episode, who knows what the new suggestion will be!

I could sit here all day long and complain right along with you guys. I have. Believe me. Yes, I have had my own pity parties too. But I’m not going to let that slow me down. And I don’t want it to slow you down either.

I gave a little advice to a sweet photographer friend about this last week. She was about to lose her mind with all of the changes on Instagram. Here’s what I told her:

“Stop concentrating on the numbers for a little while and remember why you are on social media to begin with - to gain visibility, to make those connections, to build her brand.”

Social media is gonna do what it’s gonna do. You just gotta show up consistently. When we do that we are just filling up that content bank with beautiful images and consistent valuable content for our audience and potential clients who happen across our accounts. There will be people out there who will binge on content that you posted a year ago.

So keep showing up and doing your thing, no matter how difficult it is to see the impact. Like I said at the beginning of this episode, consistent actions will bring consistent results. You gotta decide which of those results you want and if they are worth the work you need to put in to get them.

I know social media can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. I wanna help you with your business if you’re ready. Let’s start here. Come join me in this 3 part workshop called The Road To CEO. You can register over at www.seniorstudiosuccess.com/ceo.

We’re gonna talk about the broken pieces in your business. We’re gonna talk about getting systems in place in your business, and we’re gonna talk about mindset so that you can show up like the boss that I know you are. Come hang out with me and let’s talk about this some more during The Road To CEO workshop.

Senior Photography Business Workshop With Jena Golden | Senior Studio Success

And if you happen to hear this episode after that workshop has long passed, I’m still here. You can work with me one on one for business coaching or you can join Studio Secrets, my 6 month business coaching program. Either way, I’d love to help you.

Thanks for hanging out with me today my friend. Come say hey over in the facebook group or over on Instagram!

Until next time, take care!

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