All posts by PhotoScramble

Social Media for Photographers – An Emerging Piece to the Puzzle

Make your images go Viral!

Stand out in the crowd with viral marketing
Stand out in the crowd with viral marketing

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re reading the PhotoScramble blog, odds are you’re a photo enthusiast, or perhaps even a pro photographer.  We have a sister company, Morephotos which is a very powerful and feature rich software/shopping cart that allows pro photographers to sell photos online by choosing their own custom website layout, shopping cart settings, pricing and professional printing lab.  One thing that we frequently push on our MorePhotos photography blog is how important some level of social networking is becoming for professional photographers.  People love images so much, that posting them regularly to showcase your work can hold huge potential for gaining new clients.

We generally recommend simple combination of Facebook, Twitter and a  company blog.  You can link you Facebook to your twitter so you only have to update in one place, and you can link back to your blog and website and create your own little online network of links and social profiles.  A great trick with Facebook is to “tag” people in your images to spread your photography company.  In this manner the friends of the people that you tag will be exposed to your brand.

The trick is balancing your time and doing it in an efficient manner, especially with the growing number of social networks popping up all of the time.  Where should you invest your time?  Check them out, test and make informed choices.  Have you checked out Google+ yet?  Here’s a review of Google Plus+ to give you the full scoop!

I hope this was helpful!

Drew Warner | PhotoScramble Client Success Specialist

Connect with me on Linkedin!

 

Share Your Contest on Photo Blog Sites

Share Your Contest on Photo Blog Sites

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

image courtesy of digitalart


We all know to share our photo contests using platforms like Facebook and Twitter, through your own blog and on the company website.  Here’s another simple way to get your photo contest moving – share it on photo blog sites.  There are so many photo blogs around the web that this won’t be that difficult or time consuming.  Simply do a search for a photo blog, even within a certain genre, and read through the most recent post.  If it’s 10 weeks old, that doesn’t do you much good.  Seek out fresh blogs any time you can.  The more frequently a blog is updated, the better chance that it actually has a readership.  Another thing to look for on a blog that can be beneficial to you is comments.  If there is at least one comment no the most recent post, then odds are that a number of people are reading the blog.  If there are none, you may want to seek out a blog that is more active to post your link.  Here’s a few simple rules to go by when commenting on a photo blog (or any blog for that matter).

Read the entire post. Respect the author.  If you’re going to comment, then I believe quality counts over quantity.  The odds of your comment being left up by the author relies largely on how you write it and what you say.  If you show that you actually read their article, that is much more flattering than simply trying out your own sales pitch for your promotion.

Comment with genuine interest. Find a way to relate to the post.  If you’ve done the right kind of search then hopefully half the battle is over because you’ve found content very much related to your photo contest promotion.  Don’t be afraid to talk about something in your own experience that genuinely shows you’re invested in the topic.

Share your link with class. Now that the baselines are covered, it shouldn’t be too much of a big deal to slip your link in there.  You’ve read, you’ve related, you’re a valuable reader.  Now you can initiate a small pitch on your promotion and why readers might be interested, politely and with class.  Many platforms let you use your name as a link, which can be effective but can also be seen as sneaky and you may not get the back-traffic from folks that don’t know that you are directly linking to useful or fun content.

So there is some information about link building for free using blogs that are directly related to a goal you’re trying to accomplishpromoting your photo contest.  There is also plenty of information on the web on how to blog effectively so make sure you’re reading up before you post your own business blogs as well.  Using search terms like “what is the best way to blog?”, “how to blog for seo“and “free blogging tips” will yield some good results.  Remember, the goal here is traffic, and you have to start somewhere.  Promotions and link building are a great start. Sign up today to get started on your free photo contest!

I hope this was helpful!

Drew Warner | Client Marketing Consultant

Photo Contest Hosting – 5 Benefits for any Business or Organization

Start a Free Photo Contest Today!

There are a couple handfuls of different photo contest software and photo contest websites to choose from.  At PhotoScramble we’re happy to say that we’ve been having great success and a wonderful response from our clients.  The best part about our model for you, is that you can register your business for free.  There are many things that a photo contest can do to help promote your business.  Here’s a list of 5 that just touches the tip of the iceberg.

1)  Use a photo contest promotion as one of many free SEO techniques. The value of social sharing is actually now being looked at by the major search engines (specifically Bing) as an indicator of a valuable site, and is included in the most recent and always changing search engine algorithms.  By nature, PhotoScramble photo contests promote sharing, as entrants work to increase the vote count for their image submissions through multiple social media platforms, most notably Facebook.

2)  Giving consumers a voice is one way to initiate customer/fan engagement. The more interaction a client or potential client has with your brand, the more they feel a part of what you’re doing.  That, in turn makes staying loyal to your brand more likely.  Voting in photo contests is one way to increase that sense of involvement with your brand that modern customers are craving.  When a fan or client votes, they are speaking up for what they like, believe in, or feel deserves the most credit.  You can’t complain about the outcome if you don’t get involved.

3)  Keeping people tuned in. When you’re hosting fun promotions, giving away prizes and allowing people a distraction from their every day activities, you’re offering something of value.  When people don’t know what to expect from you, they’ll stay tuned to see what’s coming next.  Photo contests are one of the “what’s next” that you can offer.  Don’t forget to also explore other ideas to promote your brand.

4)  Increase Website Traffic. During the time of your contest, website traffic will inevitably increase. With PhotoScramble’s current model, the contest exists on our domain, but we provide a back link  to your website so that our site visitors can check out your services while browsing our contest offerings.  Another bonus, is that natural search for your “brand” or company name will increase if you use your company name in the title of your contest.  As it spreads around the web, people will naturally Google your company name to see what you’re all about.

5)  Use a photo contest to make an occasional important decision.  Logo and design competitions can be an amazing (and affordable) way to see what the public thinks about logo or design options.  Doesn’t it make sense to actually build and implement what people that you are marketing to actually like?  We’re not saying it has to be your main logo that the public gets to design and vote on,  but who knows – maybe it should be.  Other ideas are design for specific campaign graphics or T-Shirts that your organization will feature.  Be creative and think outside the box about how your company can get your fan base involved in your processes whenever possible.  It just might pay dividends later.

Is that enough convincing?  Good.  O.K. check us out or contact us today!

Enjoy this post?  You may also enjoy our posts titled 4 photo blog favorites and our sister company, MorePhotos blog titled Online Solution for Photographers