Today on the Frame Your Way Photography Podcast, I wanted to talk to you about how to get more traction out of your sessions. I used to post my favorite image from the session as a sneak peek, and then when the gallery was done, it was like one day of celebration and then all of that hard work was put on the shelf.
I began to ask myself, how can I get more traction out of all of the work that I put into photographing the session, editing the images and sharing the different photos on social? I wanted to do more.
So I’m going to walk you through a few different ways that you can get more traction, attention and maybe even more bookings out the sessions that you have now and will continue to photograph as time goes on.
These tips include:
Tune in for more!
Interested in working with me 1:1 and being added to an amazing community of other photographers? Check out my mentorship program HERE.
Loving this podcast? Come join us in the NEW Photographer Community on Facebook.
Looking for more?
Check out the photography templates on Etsy.
Looking to learn how to run a profitable photography business? Join the From Broke to Booked Blueprint program.
Would love to have you in our Photographer Facebook group!
Today on the Frame Your Way Photography Podcast, I wanted to talk to you about how to get more traction out of your sessions. I used to post my favorite image from the session as a sneak peek, and then when the gallery was done, it was like one day of celebration and then all of that hard work was put on the shelf.
I began to ask myself, how can I get more traction out of all of the work that I put into photographing the session, editing the images and sharing the different photos on social? I wanted to do more.
So I’m going to walk you through a few different ways that you can get more traction, attention and maybe even more bookings out the sessions that you have now and will continue to photograph as time goes on.
These tips include:
Tune in for more!
Interested in working with me 1:1 and being added to an amazing community of other photographers? Check out my mentorship program HERE.
Loving this podcast? Come join us in the NEW Photographer Community on Facebook.
Looking for more?
Check out the photography templates on Etsy.
Looking to learn how to run a profitable photography business? Join the From Broke to Booked Blueprint program.
Would love to have you in our Photographer Facebook group!
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have you wondered if having a mentor coach would help you further your business? Someone you can ask questions and get advice from? I know I needed someone when I first started, and I'm so excited to offer one on one mentoring to you to find out all the details and how we can work together to give you a profitable and sustainable photography business. You can check the show notes or head to my website. Brooke jefferson dot com. Welcome to the frame your way. Photography podcast. I'm your host, Brooke Jefferson. I'm a wife, Mama to two and full time photographer and business coach. I created this podcast with the aspiring photographer in mind to bring you inspiring stories. Strategies to help you go from zero to multiple figures and tips and tricks to help you get one step closer toe work. Life harmony. Are you ready to frame your way to your dream career? Let's die then,
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As I sit down to record this, I just want you guys to know it has been a really long time since I have recorded a solo show because I was an overachiever at the end of 2019 and I had everything. Batch, tout, ready to go. So much goodness. And this is the first solo show that I have Rick worded, since I believe December 30th which is crazy. And today's date is February 13th tomorrow's Valentine's Day. Obviously, when this goes live, that is not going to be the case. But I just tell you guys that because you know how when you go on vacation and you don't drive a car for a really long time, you almost feel like you don't know how to drive like you need to relearn. That's kind of what I feel like recording this solo show. So I hope I don't butcher it for you today. But I had to be candid and let you know this is real life. This this is real life. So what I want to talk about today is how to get more traction out of your sessions. So I was thinking about how I have so much portfolio work and so many sessions that I have photographed over the last six years, and I was thinking about how short lived they all are, because typically what I used to d'oh is I would post my favorite image from the session as like a sneak peek. And then I would, you know, tag my client and all their friends would Ooh and ah, and then when they're gallery was done, I would send it to him. A couple of my client's got blog's out of it, and that's only when I was being like on my A game, and the majority of them don't have all these fun things. And then it was like one day of celebration and then all that hard work was like put on the shelf and I was really trying to think, How can I get more traction out of all the work that I put into photographing the session and editing the images and sharing, you know, the different pictures on social media, you know, I wanted to do more. So what I want to do for you today is I'm gonna walk you through a few different ways that you can get more traction, more attention and maybe even more bookings out of the sessions that you already have and the sessions that you will continue to photograph as Ton goes on. So let's dive in Thio these few ways that I have brainstormed for you. So the first thing that I want you to start doing is something that you're going tohave to do from, like, today on. Okay, so the next time you have a session, I want you to start putting this into your process in your system. I want you to start documenting behind the scenes at your sessions. This could be a simple as boomer rings. This could be taking pictures, taking video. Maybe those of you that can bring someone with you. Or if there's a mom or a dad, maybe you can ask them. Hey, do you mind taking like a quick video of me while I photographed her kids? Or will I play this game and chase them around? And all those things most people are going to say Yes, and I I'm willing to bet that the majority of your clients probably are totally fine with you sharing all this extra behind the scenes stuff on social media mainly so that they can re share it on their own. And here's the deal. You're never gonna know if they're comfortable with it. If you don't ask, right, it's always going to be? No, if you don't ask. Now, let me put a disclaimer. I do want you to ask permission. Okay? Don't Just don't just take these pictures and then post them if the family is not going to be okay with it or if your maternity client isn't going to be comfortable with that. So make sure that you either talk about it while you're at the session before it starts. Or that you add it into your preparation, e mails or phone call or whatever it is that you do with your client. And here's why. Why is capturing behind the scenes stuff so important? Well, honestly, the number one complaint I hear from people who have used someone else before they come to me is that their personality wasn't that fantastic. Or like they warn us patient with their Children as they wish someone would have been. And so one way to showcase your personality or some of your better traits is obviously going to be showing behind the scenes. And it's not all about you. Of course it's about them. But I just think this is just one of the ways that if you share behind the scene images, you're gonna have more content to show and to share, and 99% of the time they are going to tell you more about their story. Or there's going to be a conversation that's going to take place while you're taking the extra time to get to know them that again. You could repurpose their story and use that as content as well. So strategy number one is to start capturing behind the scenes moments, whether that's pictures, videos, conversations, whatever that might mean, that is for you to decide. The second strategy I have for you is let's take it back to blogging. Let's blogged about our sessions. I know that obviously the Internet has changed. Blogging is a little more popular than it was, you know, maybe back in, you know, the late 2000 and all that stuff. But what I want you to know is it still matters. I started blogging at the beginning of 2020 so we're what, almost two months into the year and I have started blogging and I'm a little behind, but I'm still working on it, And what I did was I took a portion of a story of one of my newborn clients, and she was telling me her story of love loss before she got her Rainbow baby. And so I turned that story into a blogged, and she cried all over again. She absolutely loved it. I asked for permission. Obviously, I wrote the blogged and then showcased several of my favor images. And then I sent it to her for approval. And I told her if she wasn't comfortable with me sharing her story, that I didn't have to. But I think that it would positively impact people. And so I wanted to give her the opportunity to share her story, and she said yes and that she loved it. And now you know, their story has a place to live and something that she can revisit, so blog's can be definitely used. That was such a choppy sentence. Blog's condemn finitely be used to tell stories to evoke emotions and honestly to impact someone else. So even if you don't have this drawn out story of you know something really touching, I promise you there's something you can write about. Maybe it was the way that your family interacted Maybe it was about behind the scenes of their wedding day. Maybe you're a birth photographer and you want to share a special moment that happened. There's always something that you can share, whether it's humorous or whether it's heartfelt and touching. So I really want to encourage you guys to start putting words and stories to the images that you're capturing, because again, you're capturing people's lives and they are always worth telling a story about or giving insight into what it is you're seeing. The third strategy that I have for you is probably something that we all know we're supposed to be doing. But are we actually doing it? And that strategy has to do with posting the session on social media. So I'm going to bet that the majority of us probably do either a sneak peek or after we're all cut up on editing. We go back and we take maybe 1 to 5 of our favorite images from a session and we ride a little caption and we throw it on social media and then we never share it again. What I think we should d'oh cause I think we should start sharing multiple images from these sessions, but putting them on different social media channels and doing something different every single time. So maybe you're gonna take someone's session and you're going thio. Maybe the kid said something so funny, and that's gonna be your caption, and you're gonna share an image showing the kid that said that that said that something funny. Okay, so that would be one social media idea, and then the next could be. Maybe once you're done with the entire gallery, you're going to, you know, record yourself scrolling through the images, and you could put that as a video either on Facebook or instagram stories or whatever you want to do. But again, it's it's showing more of your work and showing how everything flows together. And I would keep circulating your images over and over again, even if it's a session and you took it in January and then June comes. If there's still a image you can share, I would keep sharing them. I think I think we're giving our sessions too little of a shelf life, right? We're only letting our sessions live in the present moment when really we should be revisiting them and another type of social media posts that I think would be great for all of us is to start doing like again, like a throwback Tuesday or throwback Thursday or flashback Friday, one of those cute little terms that everybody used to participate in and allow that as an opportunity for us to show a session that we loved and that we haven't shared in a while and that we can showcase them again even a year or two later, maybe even a couple months later. It would still be amazing exposure not only for yourself, but for your client to relive that moment. They may book you again to you never know. So that is my third strategy is posting more on social media than just the bare minimum. The fourth strategy that I have for you is I want you to start incorporating your sessions and your images into your email marketing. Now I know some of you are like I don't I don't email. I don't don't do that, you know, like I don't even have an email list or I did an email list, and I'm not using it. Well, I want you guys to start using it because it is still a valid avenue that people are using now. You might have smaller numbers in your email compared to your social media, especially when you're just getting started. But you're gonna find out who your loyal clients and loyal fans are if you start incorporating your email marketing, so what I do is I will craft an email that has to do with, for instance, maybe I'm gonna be talking about motherhood and business. I just sent an email out re capping one of the podcast from January, and I used some pictures from some mommy and me sessions that I did, and I chose my favorite ones, and I showcase them. Images are so powerful and you guys know this. This is our industry. This is what we live and breathe as we try to showcase how important images are, and so when you compare an image with words or a story or feelings or whatever it is, when you can put those two together, it's going to be even more powerful than when it stands alone. And so that's why I think this blogging it, email and turning your sessions and starting to tell stories. It's so important because it holds so much more weight. When you again give give more of a look right, let's not be so surfaced Level let's get deeper. Let's not just say, Oh, isn't this family so beautiful? They look great. It was a great day. Sure they are. Yea, everybody, you know, common how beautiful they are. I think we need to go deeper like look at the way that she is leading into her husband. You can tell how much she respects him and how much she admires him. And you can tell how much he loves her because, look, he even, you know, like, reached down and gave her little, um, you know, hand a squeeze during the middle of this session and whatever it is like look for those deeper opportunities to, like go beyond the surface level. So that is just a little bit of what was on my mind. I really we worked so hard, we d'oh, we put a lot of time and effort into our sessions into planning it and dreaming it and editing it, it publishing it. And I just I think our sessions deserve so much more than the bare minimum. And I also know this to be true. Every single time I share a session, especially with my local people that live where I live. I always get bookings from it. And so, while my primary goal is not necessarily just a book more but really to showcase these people and give them that, you know, celebrity spotlight for a minute. I also know that every time I do that, I always get messages and e mails asking me for more information on my service is, and so it's a really great way to expand your clientele, but also to give more of your trust factor and to stand out from the crowd. And, you know, just allow yourself to be different, you know, allow people to stop and read your post. They don't want to follow a photographer that every single day, just post or every time they do coast. It's literally just asking for bookings. You know, we really need to stand out, and we need to give our sessions more of a shelf life. So I hope that any one of these strategies helped you and I will see you guys on the next episode. Bear with me. If this wasn't your favorite one, I'm really trying to get back into the swing of things. I can already tell that my voice is gonna have to take a break and get used to recording more podcast. But let me know what you guys thought about this. You can find me on instagram d n me. That's where the majority of you like to chat with me and the rest of you are in my inbox broke up with jefferson dot com and I'll catch you guys on the next episode. Have a
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