When you are ready to stun the world with your impeccable work of Photography, it is time to start your own Photography Page on Instagram. The procedure to set up an Instagram photography profile is fairly simple. However, the approach to the strategy for a photography page is going to be different for a beginner and for an established professional Photographer.
In this blog post below, we have tried our best to curate a guide that will be helpful for professional photographers to promote their Photography Profile on Instagram. So, let’s begin exploring the things that can be done to aptly promote a professional photographer’s work on Instagram.
Take care of the Instagram Pre-requisites
When we talk of the pre-requisites related to an Instagram page, we mean that you should be a pro at maintaining a great headstart to your Instagram Photography Page. This includes having a great account name (username, or handle) that is easily recognizable and stays in the memory of the people. It would be great if you can keep this handle name consistent throughout all your social media channels. It is a compulsion to have a great profile picture in the form of a high-profile image where your face is clear (no camera in front of the face) and visible. If it suits the bill, generate a logo or get one designed so that it can further add up to your page's recognition.
Next up, your Photography page’s Bio needs to be on point. Let it subtly define your services, your niche, and your true photography self in 150 characters. Come up with a great Bio content that can make people click that ‘Follow’ button instantly. Don’t forget to add power keywords. Adding your Location, Email address, a fun fact/quote, and a Call to action along with the link to your photography website should do the work for your Instagram Photography Page.
Quality Content matters
Now, let’s talk of the kind of content that Photography enthusiasts would really appreciate on an Instagram page, given that there is already tons of amazing work available for them to consume. Once you have tapped your niche and you already have great work to showcase to your audience, you need to stay decisive about the kind of quality posts that you are putting out. Take into account the following directives to stay on point:
- Post really amazing work on your Photography Instagram Page to showcase it to the world because you already know that your work is amazing.
- Add a tinge of smart humor to your Instagram Photography posts through great Captions and a different perspective to the capturing.
- Putting out deeply personal posts about life through the use of photography is also a great way to engage your true followers.
- Make posts that are relevant to your target audience. If you had promised them photography posts around ‘City Life’, make sure that you deliver it to them.
- Including questions with your photos is yet another way of running a super interactive Instagram Photography Page
- If you are a professional photographer, make sure that your content on IG is diverse i.e. posting photos as well as videos.
Treat your IG Page as a blog rather than as a Portfolio
Before you start an Instagram Photography Page as an established professional photographer, you must understand the fact that you are going to put out your best work for the audience to see. This work of yours needs no validation and hence, your Instagram Photography page is not a portfolio. Treat it as a blog where you are sharing your best work for others to admire and as a result, providing them with a true visual feast. This psychological mind frame is important to help you approach your IG page with a filtered and more focused manner.
Editor's note: Content ownership is important. Remember that Instagram can shut down your profile at any time. Do not put all your eggs into one basket. Be sure to use your WordPress site as your blog and portfolio rather than relying only on Instagram and other platforms.
A thematic feed which is clean and aesthetically pleasing
As soon as someone lands on your IG Photography page, they get to see a curated feed before they can click and start looking at individual posts. The feed also forms your brand’s story. Hence, creating an eye-catching feed is also important.
With so many creative feed ideas on Instagram, you can pick one for your Photography page and start impressing your incoming audience. You can choose from attractive color schemes based feed designs, Color Block Instagram Feed Theme, Color Splash Instagram Feed Theme, Color Co-ordinated Instagram Feed Themes, Squares Instagram Feed Theme, Vertical Lines Instagram Feed Theme, Puzzle Instagram Feed Theme, Across the Grid – Instagram Feed Themes, HDR Instagram Feed Theme, Tiles Theme, Rainbow theme etc.
Great captions all the way
We have been consistent in telling you that each photography page on Instagram needs to follow a theme or a central idea. Based on this idea or the subject of your photography work, you must carefully choose great captions that will further make your post more impactful. Writing good Instagram captions is important because it could be the key to having your post seen by more people.
While choosing your captions, make sure that you are able to employ some creativity to explore a connection between your photo & a potential caption. A great caption will bring a smile or introduce a deeper thought into the audience set.
Using the right Hashtags, Tags, and Locations to your benefit
Every professional Photographer needs to make a mark in this super huge Instagramming community. Using Hashtags is one such way of making sure that new people stumble upon your posts and hopefully, follow your Instagram Photography page. When you use the right Hashtags, the ones that are popular yet unique, you cater to your specific audience. Hashtags make your content find its way into what people are more interested in or might be running a search query for. For each post that you put out, add a comment with up to 30 maximum hashtags, instead of killing that caption space.
If you are using props from certain brands that are running their own page on Instagram, it is good to tag them in your posts. This will not only help you furnish information about the complete composition of your image, but it will also expose your page to new followers. Don’t forget to add relevant location to your posts. This further amplifies the reach of your photography posts.
Facebook Integration for seamless workflow
Professional photographers need to promote their work in a uniform manner across all the social media platforms. Integrating your professional Facebook page with your Instagram account will share your posts on Facebook as well, using the same content, caption, and Hashtags.
Making a Post at the right time
A lot of Instagram professionals totally underestimate the factor that there is a right time to post a new update on their Instagram pages. With services like Iconosquare, professional photographers can easily track pertinent stats, including the best times to post, engagement, and follower growth over time. Mostly, the best time to push out a new post is 8 AM, 12 PM, 5 PM, and 8 PM. These are ideally based on the time when most of the people leisurely scroll through their social media feeds.
Editor's note: We prefer Buffer for scheduling. It's the simplest and more powerful, in our opinion.
Appropriate engagement with the followers
Engagement with your Photography page followers can be established either by interacting with them within the comment section or replying to their DMs. You can also add questions in your captions and talk to your followers over it. Whenever some follower is gracious enough to really compliment your work, a comment more than a mere ‘Thank you’ would do the magic for your page. You can also follow some highly active followers, often comment on their posts. Acknowledging their contribution towards the activity on your page is also a great way to drive more positive engagement.
Utilizing Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories are a surefire way for professionals to connect with followers, drive traffic to posts, and take back control of reach. As a professional photography page, you must utilize the prowess of Instagram Stories to provide a teaser about your upcoming posts so that your followers can stay tuned. You can also share some valuable comments left by your followers through your Stories to make them feel appreciated. A subtle Q&A through the Instagram Stories can also help you engage your followers. Well, there is just so much that can be done by utilizing the Stories on your Instagram Photography Page.
Becoming part of certain Instagram Hubs
There are a lot of popular Instagram Hubs that feature worthy Instagram Photography pages on their feed. They help promote photographers and photography enthusiasts and inspire those who enjoy beautiful imagery. You can be a part of such Hubs so that your page’s reach is amplified and so that organic followers can drop by. You might be required to use the hubs hashtag (#hubname/hubtag) for a chance to be promoted but there might be a different way of getting featured on each of these Hubs.
Use IGTV to showcase BTS
Based on the scale of your photography work, posting some great Behind-the-scenes of your shoots can feed some curiosity in your followers. This will be a light diversion from the usual posts and also bring more engagement on your page.
Conclusion
Instagram is such a huge platform to gain exposure for your work, especially when you are a photographer who knows that their work is amazing. If you are one, you will successfully be able to utilize the guide above to promote your Photography profile, earn organic followers, build your own community, and make a mark in the crowd.
