“How Do I Get More Likers?!” – Facebook Tips For Wedding Professionals: A Guest Post by Cathie Watts of Phunkey Photography

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Originating from New Zealand, wedding photographer Cathie Watts of Phunkey Photography is a Facebook wizz. With just shy of 11,500 ‘likes’ on her photography facebook page she boast more ‘likers’ than many full time wedding bloggers! So how did she get so popular on the social network? What things did she do to get herself ‘liked’?

This week I asked Cathie to share some of her top tips for getting started when using Facebook for your business. If you have any more specific questions for her, hit us up in the comments. I’d certainly love to read a follow up from her! Over to you Cathie…

Brand your Facebook page

A consistent and streamlined brand is essential to your small business. If you’re unsure about your branding, a good place to start is to decide on three words that you want your clients to use to describe your business. Once you have these words, be sure that all your Facebook posts clearly communicate at least two of your three words.

For example, my three words are fun, funky and professional. So I make sure that the content (‘content’ refers to everything you put on your page, from your profile picture to your ‘about’ section) I publish on my page communicates at least two of my words. Branding is a subtle art, you can’t set your ‘about’ section to say ‘Phunkey Photography: fun, funky and professional’ and expect people to just believe you… they have to feel like they’ve formed this opinion on their own… after all, actions (even digital ones) speak louder than words… right?

For more (glorious) information on branding read ‘Enchantment’ by Guy Kawasaki.

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The Inspirations: Lisa Devlin

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Gareth & I joke that we should change the name of The Green Room to The Lisa Devlin Room in honour of her services to guest posts! I’m always so thrilled when Lisa offers her insight into something as she’s just like me with her advice – to the point, honest and practical.

With 20 years as a professional photographer under her photography ninja belt, Lisa has got to be the perfect candidate for an Inspirations interview right? She runs the phenomenally successful Photography Farm, sells PhotoShop actions, shoots weddings all over the country… oh and she’s the 2011 British Journal of Photography Wedding Photographer of the Year. NIIIICE!

You’re no stranger to The Green Room, but just in case anyone has been living under a rock for the last 6 months, can you introduce yourself?

I am Lisa Devlin from Devlin Photos a UK based photographer mostly shooting weddings. I don’t remember ever not owning a camera of some sort… My Dad was a keen photographer and over the years bought me all sorts of cameras including a disc camera with tiny negatives in a wheel to a polaroid that spat out instant stickers. I have just always been completely fascinated by the process of taking photographs. For my 18th my parents bought me my first SLR which was a Minolta because it had the best review in Which Magazine. It was a great camera, the kit lens had a macro switch and I loved getting to grips with it.

I ended up as a music industry photographer for around ten years, working freelance for record companies and magazines. I travelled a lot and got to photograph lots of celebs from Eric Clapton to East 17. The first wedding I shot was for my agent in 2000 and though I was initially reluctant to do it, I totally and utterly fell in love with the whole shebang and set up my wedding photography business.

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Brand New Date for the School of Rock Workshop: Brighton – SECOND DATE!

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So this is an unusual turn of events! On Monday we launched the latest School of Rock event in Brighton. Within 2 minutes 2 spaces had sold… within 5 minutes 6 spaces had sold… within 11 minutes 9 spaces had sold… within an hour and 45 minutes we were sold out! HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS.

I’ve since had a huge number of people messaging and emailing me to ask if they could pleeease be put on a reserve list in case anybody pulls out. In fact so many of you have asked that that we’ve decided to take the illogical decision to host a second Brighton workshop the week after!

The drill will be as before. The event will be held at The Ginger Dog in Kemptown from 1.30-5.30pm on Friday 31st August. To read more about exactly what the course covers as well as to see more photos and a video from the last event, check out the previous blog post.

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Why You Should Get the Hell Off Your Computer & Market Yourself Offline…

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Wedding blogs are amazing. Getting featured on them is a fantastic way to elevate your business and put yourself and your work in front of hundreds of thousands of potential client’s eyes. But what if it’s not working for you? Are wedding blog features reeeally the be all and end all?

You might think this is a strange thing for a wedding blogger to say… but erm… no. No they’re not. At last week’s School of Rock workshop I had a few students saying “I love blogs but I know my photography/product wouldn’t get featured. It’s just not the style they promote”. While initally I was taken aback “but I like to promote as much diversity as possible!”. I thought, in retrospect they were actually totally right. Wedding blogs do have their own very specific criteria for featuring real weddings, wedding suppliers and products. And more of often than not, that criteria doesn’t hugely deviate from blog to blog. No matter what style of wedding they favour (alternative, vintage, traditional, regional etc) they all still want to basically share the same things - pretty, affordable, aspirational (yet attainable) wedding ideas. They also want lots and lots of ‘details’ for brides to copy.

So what do you do if your work doesn’t fit into this very specific criteria? Maybe you shoot predominately in black and white (blogs will always prefer colour images – they show the details more) or what if you product is extremely high end (blog readers tend to favour budget or DIY ideas)?

Well, dear reader, I am going over to the dark side and offering you some ideas for getting your name and your business out there offline. Dum dum duuuuum… don’t tell the other wedding bloggers. I’ll be shunned.

Print

Getting featured on wedding blogs is amazing but there is still something to be said for print exposure. Although the reach may be lower, there is still definitely a certain amount of credibility to be gained by being featured in print. Also, lots of newly engaged couples won’t yet have discovered wedding blogs, however I’d bet 99% of girls buy a wedding magazine as soon as that ring is on their finger!

As well as real wedding features, magazines often ask wedding suppliers to be on their ‘experts panel.’ They may not run huge features on you specifically, but will ask for input for other article they’re running. For example Perfect Wedding Magazine recently asked me to give my opinion on trash the dress shoots. This is a great way to get your name in front of potential clients without being perceived as being overly ‘salesy’. You might not get direct bookings straight away from these features but it all adds to your brand awareness. It’s important with these features to have a strong opinion and strive to make yourself memorable. When you write a solid piece for the press, you are instantly perceived as an expert. If your article is any good, people will remember it and you.

Local Press

Local radio, newspapers and tv stations are always on the look out for interesting local news stories. These kinds of outlets love a ‘local resident does good’ piece. Don’t neglect these sources because of a perception that their reach isn’t very far or wide. Publicity is publicity!

When I was in Omaha I was interviewed with Megan on a local breakfast show. I’m not sure what their viewership is or if I got any new readers from it, but that wasn’t the goal. The goal was to add credibility to myself as an international jet-setting blogger. I think I did that OK (even though I effed up the autocute at the end. CRINGE-FEST).

Network

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the single most successful thing I did in order to get my blog known was nothing to do with fancy online marketing. It was the fact that I got off my computer, out of the house and I put myself out there in real life. Networking with people in the industry I wanted to become a part of was huge for me. I met people I’ve since worked with, I got offered magazine columns, I made best friends for life. None of these things just landed in my inbox. No one is ever going to come to you – why would they? You have to make the effort and go to them. People are also more likely to remember you if you’ve met face to face.

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Brand New Date for the School of Rock Workshop: Brighton!

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It’s a huge cliché but I really have been truely blown away by the response to my School of Rock blogging workshops so far. Each event has sold out quicker than the last, with the most recent one being off the market within 8 hours! You guys really do know how to flatter me.

I know I keep saying this too, but the last event, at Curradine Barns in the West Midlands has got to have been my favourite yet. The venue was stunning, the group that attended were awesome and we even got fed an amazing 3 course meal (all made in house by their head chef) afterwards! Triple win!

I still get ridiculously nervous before each event and I always worry about getting my words out in the right order. I’ve got a secret to share… when I was about to start talking at this last event my mind literally went blank. Like… there was nothing there. NADDA. Somehow I managed to assemble some thoughts and get stuck in though. I hope no one noticed (although I’ve kinda given the game away now huh?)

I couldn’t do it without Gareth by my side. Not only to answer the techy questions that I suck at answering, but to pick up the slack when I start to babble (it happens!) Plus he pulls funny faces which amuses us all…

I don’t half make some funny faces myself when I’m talking though do I?! Emma said it’s because I’m ‘super involved and passionate’ about what I’m saying… I think it’s more likely that I’m just an over-expressive doof.

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Changing Your Persective: A Guest Post by Casey Fatchett

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Ansel Adams famously said, “A good photograph is knowing where to stand.”

I find myself coming back to that quote a lot. Not just as a photographer, but in life, I say to myself, “Why in the hell am I standing here? I should be standing over there!”

As photographers, our job is to observe and document. Wait, that is oversimplifying. We look at the world and we choose a way in which to convey what we ‘see’ to others. That better? Anyway, sometimes, we get so wrapped up in what we are seeing through our lens that we don’t stop and take a look at our surroundings.

Deep, I know. This whole thing is a metaphor for life, weddings, work in general… and this doesn’t just apply to photography. Whatever your profession, you need to take a time out and observe yourself and what you are doing.

If you have been working on weddings for a long time, you probably know what it is like to get into a ‘groove’. It isn’t hard to do, especially if you are working on 20…30… or more weddings a year. You just have to make sure the ‘groove’ doesn’t become a ‘rut’ where all of your work feels exactly the same. The same pictures if you’re a photographer, the same designs if you’re a stationer/cake maker/florist…  because that is not good for you or your clients.

I was recently on a photojournalism assignment that included covering the opening of a gallery show by Courtney Love. There were at least half a dozen other photographers there, all waiting to get photos of Courtney when she came in. When she finally arrived, she began talking to one of the people there and gave the crew of photographers her ‘full back’. Some of them started shouting her name. “Courtney, over here! Courtney, this way! Courtney! Courtney!” No good. I could have either stood there with the gaggle of paparazzi or I could find somewhere else to stand. So I moved around a corner and got some fantastic shots of Ms. Love talking and gesturing, with no idea she was being photographed, with the gallery sign for her show in the frame as well.

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