Facebook for Photographers

By Catherine Hall with Kelly Torrez

About the Authors

CATHERINE HALL is an elite commercial, portrait, and wedding photographer whose breathtaking images have inspired audiences for over a decade. Her ne art photography has been exhibited throughout Europe and the United States, and international assignments have taken her to more than thirty countries on ve continents. Catherines work regularly appears in leading editorial publications like the New York Times and National Geographic. Among her prestigious roster of commercial clients are industry leaders Pricewaterhouse Coopers, News Corp, Reuters, and John Deere. Her professional sponsorships include Epson, SanDisk, and Adobe. With nearly two million social media followers, industry leaders like Google, Macworld, and WPPI regularly seek her out as a speaker and judge. She is the former cohost and producer of TWiT Photo (named Best New Tech Podcast on iTunes) and the creator of Top Model Release, a revolutionary iOS app that digitizes and simplies the model release process. Catherine is a driven perfectionist, unapologetic tech geek, and charismatic public gure. She loves dancing to electronic music, skiing bluebird powder days, and singing really loudly when no one is around. KELLY TORREZ is a writer and blogger based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a content driven individual, with a strong passion for social media, who has always been drawn to connecting with people through the creation of images and the written word. Kelly works as a marketing coordinator for Catherine Hall Studios.
author Catherine Hall

Contributors
LOTUS CARROLL is a photographer and blogger living in Austin, TX. She is known for self portraits, but enjoys documenting the world by photographing everything from urban decay to landscape and sunsets. She enjoys using her art to elicit emotion in the viewer. A former student of psychology with two degrees, she is intrigued by both universal emotional concepts as well as the specic feelings of people who are viewing her photos.

TREY RATCLIFF is a photographer, artist, writer and adventurer. Each day, Trey posts a new photo to his website StuckinCustoms.com, which receives over half a million monthly page views. Trey has over 9.5 million social media followers via. Google+, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter. His photos and stories capture the beauty of exotic travel destination and the humor of bizarre situations he often nds himself in. There is always something new, unexpected and beautiful to see.

NICOLE S. YOUNG is a professional photographer and author based in Portland, Oregon. She has authored several books and eBooks and is best known for her book Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots, published by Peachpit Press. Nicole creates commercial and editorial images for her stock portfolio on iStockphoto and Getty Images, and also works as a Photoshop Help Desk Specialist for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.

c0-author Kelly Torrez

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Preface

by Catherine Hall

The camera is, and always has been, the lens through which I understand the world. It dictates my choices on nearly everything: from friends to career to travel. This passion to participate in life through my lens resulted in stuffed closets, cabinets, and boxes bursting at the seams, overowing with prints and negatives. I had fallen victim to the curse of all lm photographers: image hoarding. Although a chosen few images climbed above the legions and made it into my private portfolio to share with loved ones, the amateur photographers version of show and tell, the long journey toward brand exposure and recognition was extremely daunting. This is why now, more than ever, I am thankful for the pervasive

culture of online sharing and social media. The world changed drastically when digital hit the scene. Cameras are now carried everywhere. These cameras, aka cell phones, can be seen jammed in pockets, purses, and messenger bags. Everybody is suddenly an accidental photographer; telling our life stories using images rather than words. Social media has driven this evolution. Images no longer suffer life in the depths of archaic le cabinets; instead they are shared worldwide easily and regularly. This profound change in photographic history has created new opportunity for us all. My advice? Share often and share well.

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Getting Started
Create a Page or Enable Follow
Whether you enable Follow on your existing prole or create a Page for your photography, both are powerful tools for sharing your imagery and growing your audience on Facebook. Here are some things to consider in deciding whether to use Follow or a Page or both: PROFILE WITH FOLLOW Follow enables you to grow your audience on Facebook through your existing prole. When you enable Follow, people interested in your photography will be able follow you and receive your public updates in their news feeds. Every time you post, you get to choose with whom its shared. When you make a post public, followers will get it in news feed. PAGES Some photographers choose to setup a Page to promote their work or business. People interested in your work can simply like the Page to connect with it and receive updates from it in their news feeds.

Personally, I choose to have both a Prole with Follow enabled, and a Page. This allows me to maintain existing personal relationships with my personal prole, and to further my professional exposure to potential followers and friends through my business page. While some people wish to engage with me personally and others prefer to visit my professional Page, I want to be available in the mode through which they feel most comfortable. People who follow your Page or Prole will be exposed to your content in their News Feed and specic mini feeds, where they will be able to interact with, and re-share the content. News Feed is personalized for each user and sorts the top content they are most likely to interact with by looking at four primary factors: USER ENGAGEMENT How much engagement the post has received, and its freshness POST ENGAGEMENT How much engagement the post has received, and its freshness CONTENT TYPE If a user interacts with photos more often, theyll see more photos NEGATIVE FEEDBACK Whether the post has been hidden by users or marked as spam To keep up with updates to News Feed changes, check out this blog. Users are also able to get your content through mini feeds such as Photos, Most Recent or Following, which show content in chronological order. These feeds give users other ways to discover your photos in real-time.

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Optimize Your Prole or Page

Whether you create a Page or use Follow on your Prole, its important to make sure that people are not only able to easily nd you but also learn more about you once they do. Your Page and Prole should feel like a reection of your photographys essence and not a generic business account. By optimizing your presence in the early stages, it will set you up for long term success on Facebook.

(i.e. facebook.com/CatherineHall242) and if its an option use capitalization rather than periods for readability (i.e. facebook.com/AwesomePhotography vs. facebook.com/awesome. photography). You must rst have a minimum of 25 friends or Likes to have a unique URL. To get your unique URL, go to facebook.com/username

Best Reect Your Brand

You know its true: only post exceptional images that boost your brands image. PROFILE PHOTO

Page Name & Unique URL

If youve decided on using your Prole and enabling Follow, than you will be associating your personal name as your brand. If youre setting up a separate Page, however, youll likely name the Page after your business. Whatever you do, keep it simple and select a URL that is most consistent with the Page name. A few tips when selecting the name and URL that will enable you be more ndable: PAGE NAME Think of picking a name as a long-term investment in your brand. The key is to use something that is lasting and memorable (once youve reached 250 Likes, you wont be able to change the name so its a important decision that should be made carefully). Keep it simple and short. For example, avoid using symbols and leave the descriptions or taglines for the About section of your Page. Keep in mind how people will likely search for you. Will they look for your personal name? Your company name? UNIQUE URL Choose a URL that is concise, professional and consistent with Page name. Similarly to the Page name, pick something that will work long term. Avoid using numbers
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Choose a photo that is shoulders up so that people can easily recognize and see your face -even in smaller sizes on mobile devices. COVER PHOTO Use a cover that evokes the professional quality of your work. The Cover Photo can be a great way to showcase your most recent photos or projects, but keep it authentic and dont make it overly promotional. Contact information or website details should be left for the About section of your Page or Prole. People arent coming to Facebook to see a commercial.

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Fill Out Bio & Contact Information

Whether youve created a Page or are using your Prole, you want to make sure that people are able to learn more about you and have a clear way of getting in touch with you if theyre interested in your work. This will also make your Page and Prole more ndable in Graph Search. FILL OUT ABOUT SECTIONS On your prole, this means having your work/employment information lled out as well as your About Me bio. Think of this information as a cover letter or a simplied version of your business resume. You want potential clients to know just how great you or your business is. CONTACT INFORMATION Display clearly all business-contact information (website, phone, email etc.). (Note: On Proles, you may have to adjust the visibility of your Contact information for it to be visible to non-friends. More on that in the sub-section below on Prole settings.) LOCATION INFORMATION Location information: If you have a physical address for your business, include it in the Page information. For Pages, this will enable users to tag your location in a check-in as well as write a recommendation about your business. Your business will also surface in the Nearby section on Facebook for users looking for local recommendations. If you dont have a physical location, at least include where youre based.

Prole Settings
If youre going to use your Prole to engage with a broader audience and to grow your followers, you have to make sure your Prole settings are set up properly. Here are some settings to consider adjusting on your Prole: PUBLIC SEARCH If you want to make sure your Prole is ndable on and off Facebook, enable public search in your Follow settings. ABOUT SECTION VISIBILITY You may have your About section lled out, but hidden to non-friends. When clicking the edit button various sections, each one will have a privacy icon showing you who its visible to. Adjust to public what you want followers to see. COMMENT SETTINGS When you enable Follow, youll notice in the settings there is an option to adjust who is able to comment on the public posts. To enable followers to comment on your public comments, set the setting to everyone. POST AUDIENCE On each piece of content you create, youll be able to adjust who is able to see the post. To publish a photo that followers get in their News Feed, make sure to select public in the privacy drop-down of the post. You can always change the setting on any post retroactively.

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Grow Your Following

Start With Your Friends
Your relationships with friends, colleagues and clients on your existing Facebook prole can help draw attention to your new business Page. Dont spam all your friends with an untargeted suggestion, but instead suggest the Page only to friends who you know will be interested in the content as well as posting a status update telling your friends about the Page, encouraging them to connect with it.

Show Other Photographers Love

Most marketing-savvy photographers not only share their own work, but also the work of others. Obviously the content you share should be work you truly nd inspirational and not just an attempt to gain gratitude. If you show other photographers love, they will be much more likely to do the same.

Add Follow & Like Buttons To Your Website

Leverage your website to grow your following by adding the Follow button or Page Like button. The buttons, which

Update Regularly With Fresh Content

People will discover you organically through the content you post. Each time you post something, people already connected with you or your Page will have the opportunity to interact with it in News Feed. This creates the potential for their friends to see that interaction in their News Feeds and connect with your Page. Posting engaging content regularly enables more viral discovery of your page and its content.

are linked to your Facebook profile or Page, enable your clients and people interested in your photography to follow you or like your Page on Facebook without leaving your site. Its easy to install the buttons with simple embed code, which you can find and customize

Engage Authentically With Your Network

Communication on Facebook is not a one-way street, so go ahead and go outside of your own Prole for at least a few minutes each day, and support others. Even the smallest thing such as liking a post or commenting on a photo can show that you care and are interested in others. Above all, remember to be genuine. Fake praise or commentary will not help generate user engagement and will likely hurt you rather than help you. Additionally, if youre taking the time to post, take the time to spend a few minutes to respond to people who comment. This keeps the conversation owing and shows people that you respect their time and insight.

on the Social Plugins page. If you run a website using WordPress as your content management system, you can also take advantage of the Facebook plugin, which includes the Follow and Like buttons and makes integrating them into your website even easier.

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Content is King
Ultimately, content is king, so think about what you are posting Is it something you would click on if you were scrolling through your own News Feed? If the answer is no, nd what it is lacking, and get to work on solving it. Your understanding of how to post and what to post will develop as your following grows, and you see trends of what they are most responsive to.

Tips For Sharing Photos on Facebook

As photographers we have an incredible advantage when it comes to posting engaging content. Photos are among the most popular types of content on Facebook. There are hundreds of millions uploaded by Facebook users every day. Facebook embraces the value of imagery and now displays photos more prominently and beautifully than ever. Image compression quality is increasing and streamlined layouts house photos within sleek black borders, giving you and your photography a prime platform to attract and engage your growing audience.

Lotus Carroll

If you want engagement, dont ignore comments and likes. Answer questions, like/reply to comments, and return the favor when you have time. And clean up spam in your comments. It makes other commenters feel more welcome and comfortable on your post.
Lotus Carroll
Photos on Facebook are essentially your lifeline on the network. Share with pride and remember to always keep your followers wanting more.

Be Selective
Post high quality photographs. Yes, you can use images captured on Instagram, but they should be well lit, composed, and processed. The bottom line is; if you are an image-maker, the expectations are going to be higher for youso post content that consistently stands-out as superior amongst the sea of vacation snapshots. Everything you show and say on Facebook directly reects your brand and others perception of your professionalism.
Lotus Carroll | Instagram has become critical tool for social photography. You can sync your Instagram account to post directly to your Facebook Prole or Page with your followers.

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Edit
If you learn nothing else from this guide, please learn the value of EDITING your work. Instead of posting ten good images of the same subject matter, just pick one or two GREAT ones. When you maintain high quality standards, your following begins to see a trend of greatness in your posts, and lets admit it, everyone wants to be a part of something great. The biggest challenge photographers face when editing own work is that we are far from objective. Nine times out of ten, we will pick a shot that required a lot of effort over an image that may have been easy to capture but carries more artistic merit. At the end of the day, we are terrible at editing our own work! (Hence the reason why commercial photography outlets have editors buffering photographers from clients!) I recommend doing an initial broad edit on your own and then sharing the images with a select group of people whose opinion you respect. I cannot tell you how many times my favorite images has been rejected by colleagues. Despite how great you may believe an image to be, if everyone else thinks its weak, majority rules. Your body of work is only as good as your weakest image. Consistently strong images will always impress your followers much more than a blast of mediocrity, clogging peoples News Feeds (ticket to being un-followed!)

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Stagger Release
When you have a strong group of high-quality selects from a specic shoot, make them last. Resist the urge to post a bunch of similar content at once (even if you are really excited about it). For example, if you take a trip to Europe and get 25 incredible shots (which by the way is a lot, as epic shots are hard to come by), denitely dont post them all at once. Instead, stagger the release of images so that the content remains fresh, engaging, and new to your audience. You could easily post this content over a time period of at least a year, sharing an image every couple weeks. People will think you are quite the world traveler.

Tell the Story

People love to hear the story behind a photograph. Including a thoughtful, wellwritten description will promote further connection with you and your work. Get creative with your storytellingreaders love the details that make an experience unique. Just keep it brief; which is more challenging than you may think!

More than often a powerful image is accompanied by and equally incredible story. Dont leave people guessing; share the details of the shot and what it took to capture what you are displaying in front of them.

Offer USEFUL Advice

If a large proportion of your audience is photographers, the spotlight is on you to engage with your audience and build your following by sharing tips, tricks-of-the-trade, and tutorials. Any valuable information you can offer to your community will be greatly appreciated, and they will most likely look forward to hearing more. I often make a point to explain my method for capturing a particular imagemy audience seems to really
Resist the urge to post a bunch of similar content at once (even though you are really excited about it). The images above were both from the same shoot, but shared almost a year a part from each other.

enjoy these anecdotes. The explanation can be short, as long as it is interesting, which shouldnt be difcult, because I doubt you would have bothered taking a photo of something that was not interesting in the rst place.

Tips and tricks can come from a wide variety of sources. Consider things you read outside Facebook that you can then share with your followers. Above is an example from Trey on the pros /cons of watermarking.
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Watermarking: To Sign or Not to Sign

For my professional needs, the watermark is an integral necessity of my business and, essentially, is my artistic e-signature. When I consider the time and energy that goes into the creation of an image I nd the addition of a small, non-obtrusive mark to be professionally necessary. On the other hand, many photographers nd the opposite to be true. They see watermarks as distracting and destructive. Too often, photographers feel compelled to use oversized, ashy logos as a means of deterring other Internet users from stealing their images. Dont let the thought of someone stealing your work compel you to ruin your images with obtrusive watermarks or deter you from posting on Facebook at all. Sharing your images online is a small risk to gamble for the exposure your images will receive when posted on a social network. In the worst-case scenario, if someone is audacious enough to steal your work, the best option is to register copyrights to protect your intellectual property, and take legal action if you deem it necessary. Hiding your images simply because you dont want them stolen isnt smart business.

Thumbnails on Shared Links Size Matters

Thumbnails are automatically generated when sharing a link from an outside source, such as blog or video. This is a great feature when it comes to convenience; however, tiny thumbnail photographs lack impact. And when a link doesnt have a thumbnail at all, it will weaken the effectiveness of the post. In fact, in a recent study by Facebook that looked at media Facebook Pages, links with thumbnails received 65% more likes than link shares without a thumbnail. The study also found that link shares that included a teaser received 20% more clicks than links without. What does this all mean? When you drop a link you want to share and you see the link preview, make sure it has a strong thumbnail and that you write a great teaser to intrigue your followers. For maximum impact I upload a photograph taking advantage of the entire viewing window, and then include the link in the caption.

Be Authentic and Transparent

As a natural people-pleaser, I initially faced great challenge to build a substantial following. I sought to offend no one and, in the process, succeeded in being incredibly boring. Listen up: If you ask people to take time out of their busy lives to engage your social-media presence, then youd better make it interesting. Share meaningful work, laughable stories, sincere fears and insecurities. Dont be afraid to share your opinions and be uniquely personal. This doesnt mean you need to address controversial topics such as religion and politics, and it doesnt mean falling into the TMI trap. It simply means condently manifesting your unique presence

Your watermark should be a symbol of your already-established brand. Place the watermark in a manner that is unobtrusive to the subject of the image, that doesnt consume the entire frame.

Nicole S Young

online. You will nd out that you cant always please everyone with everything you post. Yet, having a strong, but small number of loyal followers who feel deeply connected to you is innitely better than tons of indifferent, tuned-out followers.

I do my best to make it so the watermark does not overpower the photo the ones I use are usually small, and sometimes even blended into the background so its not the rst thing you look at.
Nicole S Young

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Consider Your Audience When Posting

If youre a children photographer, your target viewer is likely family members; therefore, you will get the most traction if you post during the school day or in the evening, right after the kids have been put to bed. Over time you will be able to analyze the efcacy of your posts during different time windows (experiment!), and develop a posting schedule that is most advantageous for you and your type of photography. And use Facebooks invaluable analytics tools to help you determine your posting strategy by analyzing your audience and keep in mind that more than 80% of Facebook users are outside of U.S. and Canada, so dont ignore your international followers. Your overall engagement: Both positive and negative. Click on the engaged users number of an individual post and be sure to not only check the positive engagement metrics (likes, comments, clicks, etc.) but also the amount of negative feedback that the post received, which consists of people who have hid your post in Feed or marked it as spam. How to adapt your strategy: Reach is important, but you want to know how many fans are engaged. Track the posts that get the most engagement and adapt your strategy to capitalize on those results.

Share Timely Content

If I am sharing something newsworthy or time sensitive, I always make sure to post as quickly as possible to retain relevancy. Your Prole shouldnt be a reection of the uctuations of your busy life. If you know the upcoming weeks will be hectic, create a few posts or photos that you can easily share throughout the week. Dont let your Facebook Page go unattended or thoughtlessly throw up inferior content to post simply for postings sake.

Use Facebook Insights & Iterate Your Strategy

Check-in with Facebooks Page Insights tool at least once a week. Everything you post is tracked and analyzed, showing what is and isnt popular with fans. This data will help you determine the following: Types of posts that attract greatest interaction (photos, videos, status updates) Who your audience is: Demographic breakdowns including age, gender and location will give you a sense of who your audience is.

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Use Scheduling Tool on Pages To Keep Fans Updated

You may not always be able to manually update your Page, but want to keep your fans updated with your work. The scheduling tool on Pages can enable you to keep your fans engaged with consistent and timely posts. When scheduling a post, you can choose to schedule future dates that will automatically appear in your timeline. You can also backdate posts that will populate on your timeline to the date you specify. How to access your Pages scheduling tool: Choose the type of content you wish to share (photo, status, video). Click the clock icon and a drop-down menu will let you plug in the time, day, month and year you wish to schedule. Posts can be scheduled up to six months in advance in 15 minute intervals.

Know How to Use Albums & Timeline

Using Albums on Facebook is an easy way to not only keep your photos organized but also enable targeting sharing by pointing potential clients to specic albums that are most relevant to them. If you shoot different genres of photography, showcase your work in separate albums with appropriate titles. If youre an avid traveler or have another interesting talent this would be the place to share it. When choosing a cover for an album, dont choose anything intricately detailed, as the image will not resonate sufciently at its small size, and the detailing will not be showcased.

Tag Clients & People Associated With Your Images

Tagging gives you the potential opportunity to reach thousands of people. When you tag someone youre not only sharing with your followers, but also all the friends of the people you tag. This can create massive exposure for your photography. To tag someone in the text of an update, simply use @ and start typing the persons name or Page you want to tag. When you see the suggestion you want to tag, click it or hit enter and it will create a link to that persons Page or prole. You can also tag people or Pages in the photo itself, but clicking the tag option of a photo.

The image on the left is a good example, where the subject in the photo on the right is too small in thumbnail form to maintain impact.

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Album Tips
ALBUMS ARE PORTFOLIOS Edit wisely as they are only as good as their weakest image! CHOOSE A POWERFUL ALBUM COVER When choosing an album cover photo, an image with too much detail will not resonate sufciently at its small size. Make sure the album cover images that are viewed rst are enticing enough to make followers want to click through and view the entire album. When a users mouse hovers over your album they will be able to view a slideshow of the rst ve images within the album. ORGANIZE YOUR ALBUM Go to Album Options menu and click edit. You can then drag photos into optimal display order. You can also drag photos and move them around by simply going into the album. You can also move photos from other albums into the relevant album they belong in. SHOW THE BEST IMAGE FIRST Arrange your albums to always display your most powerful body of images rst, to ensure you grab viewers attention. POST YOUR BEST WORK You dont have to post every single photo youve ever shot; as a professional photographer, your albums are not a personal archive. If you shoot an assignment or project and arent happy with the outcome, dont post the photos. Work that doesnt reect a strong aesthetic will only diminish the overall quality of your portfolio/ body of work. HIGHLIGHT PHOTOS YOU WANT TO EMPHASIZE If you want to make an individual photo the focal point of an album, click the star icon to enlarge the photos size in the album view. This gives you the ability to emphasize your strongest images and shape the storytelling aspect of the album. Trey Ratcliff

Show your best images rst in your albums

Trey Ratcliff

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Timeline
Your timeline is a reection of your identity as a photographer and individual. It offers a lot of control in how you present yourself. Here are some key features to take advantage of: MILESTONES Timeline allows users to archive life events with a large image, date and caption. You can add milestones anywhere, at anytime, which is STARRING STORIES Hover over the story you want to star and click !. Starring stories lets you highlight what you think is important. Starred stories are highlighted on your timeline and include a star banner.

great for backdating. Lets say you took a few incredible shots a several years back at a New Years Eve party, mark it with a milestone and image. Backdating allows you to go back a number of years in order to give your Page and/or Prole depth and history. Remember, people love a good story, even if it is from years past. PINNING POSTS With the pin tool, make your most newsworthy photos and hottest Trey Ratcliff

Take your favorite photos and click that little Star - that makes them nice and wide across your timeline.
Trey Ratcliff

content stay at the top of your timeline for seven days. This feature helps users nd the information you nd to be most important.

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Photos on Mobile
Facebook Mobile is an important tool in how you will update your fans and share content on Facebook. Its also the way that most of your fans and followers will engage with your content on Facebook, on their mobile devices. Its important to keep this in mind when you share content.

Pages Manager
If you use a Page to interact with fans and share your photos, you can use the Pages Manager mobile app to update and respond to fans while youre on the go. The app also makes it easy to track your progress and Page growth from your mobile device. Learn more about the app in the Help Center.

Sync Photos from Your Mobile Device

You can sync photos from your mobile device to a private folder on your Facebook account that you can share from later. To start syncing your photos, rst make sure you have the latest version of the Facebook app installed on your phone. You can sync up to 2 GB of photos. If you have an iPhone, youll need to be using iOS 6. To enable it from the app: Go to your photos app. Tap Photos. Tap Sync at the bottom of your photos section. Follow the step-by-step instructions.

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