Influencer marketing is really changing the world of business – in all spheres and niches.
Whether you’re an aspiring or a seasoned photographer, becoming an influencer can give your career a serious boost. You will score great gigs, brand partnerships, and most importantly – you’ll gain an unprecedented level of recognition as more and more people will see and appreciate your work. Influencer marketing is projected to reach $21.1 billion.
Sounds like a great deal, right?
If you’re ready to put yourself out there and consider the career of a photography influencer, here are 6 essential steps you can take to achieve this goal.
Let’s get down to it!
1. Choose Your Unique Photography Style/Angle/Concept
If there’s one thing every photography influencer should strive to decide on pretty early on is how to stand out from the crowd. And here, having a unique perspective, style, or concept in your photography content is key.
Rather than trying to appeal to every trend out there, set out to present yourself as an expert in one or several aspects of photography.
Are you excellent at portraiture? Awesome, leverage it and pursue this theme. Or maybe you are really into professional photo editing? Showcase your skills on your social media profile.
Also, consider the main purpose of your content. Do you want to:
- Educate your audience?
- Focus on commercial photography?
- Maybe provoke your followers with the form and/or content of your work?
- Raise awareness? Etc.
Whatever your goal is, keep it in mind when creating the concept for your social media profiles.
Let’s take a look at some amazing examples.
Asa Sjostrom, a Swedish photographer and influencer with nearly 40k followers on Instagram, dedicates her work to human rights issues. Her profile features outstanding shots accompanied by rich commentary on the themes she explores in her photography.
When it comes to style, a common visual theme or pattern can also be the core of your recognition as a photography influencer. Think of Murad Osmann – a mega-influencer with more than 3 million followers – and his famous series “Follow Me To”.
Bottom line: having a strong overarching theme and goal for your photography content will help you stand out and gain influence among the followers’ community.
2. Brand Yourself and Your Photography Work
This brings us to another major point – branding. Being a photography influencer means placing emphasis on your individuality, and making your name its own brand that audiences will recognize and associate with your photos.
How can you develop this self-brand?
- Include your name (or alias) in your social media profile usernames.
- Create a unique logo or watermark to feature in your photos.
- Take advantage of captions! When posting photographs, accompany them with a story that speaks to the followers. Show them how YOU perceive and feel about your work and the themes you explore.
- Create a website or a blog you can refer to on your social media pages. Building your own blog or your own website is an amazing way to promote your personal brand. If you don’t have the means to buy a unique domain, start small – a WordPress blog is a good option. Having all your visual content stored in one place (in good quality) is not only a form of portfolio but also a place that embodies your talent.
3. Collaborate with Other Influencers
Why not start your photography influencer journey by actually getting to know and working with influencers?
This is probably the best way to increase your media exposure and attract more followers to your profile.
For example, if you’re into fashion photography, reach out to models, fashion influencers, or beauty bloggers and offer collaboration. Remember: if your follower count and personal brand are not significant yet, you might consider partnering with an influencer for free. But it pays off!
Not only will you grow your reach, but you can also learn a thing or two from seasoned photography influencers and their work.
4. Engage Your Followers/Audience
Now engagement rate is a key metric that marks a photography influencer’s success. The better you engage your followers and encourage them to react to your visual content, the more value and recognition your work – and, by extension, social media profiles – will get.
It’s not enough to post high-quality photos on your Instagram regularly. People need something they can interact with.
Post consistently. Social media algorithms are tricky but one thing is certain. The more regularly you post content, the more exposure to audiences you’ll reach. You can plan your posting schedule in advance to make things easier.
- Ask your followers questions in post captions. Do they enjoy the lighting in your recent shot? How would they go about editing the photo? Whatever truly interests you and can encourage the audience to speak their mind.
- Leverage interactive social media features such as polls, quizzes, etc. Audiences love seeing that you take interest in their opinion, and it works as engaging entertainment.
- Go on a live feed. Talk to your followers! Organize Q&As, get-to-knows, or small workshops. This is the closest your followers can get to you.
5. Let Your Followers See What Happens Behind the Scenes
A huge part of a photography influencer’s “routine” is interacting with their followers on a level that goes deeper than simply showing the result of your work.
People love being let in on your insider’s secrets. Getting sneak peeks into such processes as adjusting light, choosing the right lens, and editing. These moments have an educational value for your audience. More importantly, they help you establish a sense of intimacy with the followers. That’s an important aspect of growing a strong community around your self-brand.
To make sure people get a piece of you along with your photography, consider these steps:
- Create Instagram Reels or TikTok videos of your behind-the-scenes. It can be anything you want. Tell your audiences how you choose your working gear or why you shoot from this or that angle. Similarly, you can tell them what the central concept of your photo project is, etc.
- Don’t forget that your personal life is also of interest to followers. It’s totally cool to post yourself eating lunch or taking a break between shoots. Let people know that you’re not only a photographer but also a human being. They’ll appreciate your openness.
- Whenever you have enough time – reply to people in DMs. Answer questions, acknowledge their comments, etc. Again, your activity goes to show that you’re exposed to your audiences beyond demonstrating your photography skills. An influencer will often go out of their way to keep just the right amount of their private life and personal attention accessible to followers.
6. Learn to Pitch to Brands to Shoot For
As an aspiring photography influencer, you will find that brand collaborations are an effective way not only to monetize your work but also to build up your reputation and gain even more followers.
Put yourself out there and start reaching out to brands you might be valuable to as a photographer.
To pitch effectively, you need to make sure your skills AND social media presence are visible:
- Have a professional portfolio with your best shots, photo projects, and previous collaborations (if you have any).
- Provide your social media/blog metrics: engagement rates, follower growth rate, etc. Even if your follower count is still small, no worries – many brands are very enthusiastic about working with nano-influencers with under 1,000 followers.
- Have a catchy pitch ready. Whether you’re reaching out to a brand via email or DM’s, open with a hook. Let them know where your passion in photography lies, what you’re good at, and how you can bring value to the brand.
Pro-tip: being a striving photography influencer with wide recognition yet to gain does not mean you can’t be picky. Choose brands for partnerships carefully.
Forty-four percent of B2C brands in Europe alone plan to increase their influencer marketing efforts and budgets in 2021-2022. And photographers are professionals whose work always comes in handy. So trust me, you will find a good partnership if you commit to it.
From the technical aspect, see if your photography style suits their visual identity and purposes. No less important is to understand if the brand’s philosophy and values align with yours. The partnerships you score will tell your audience a lot about who you are both as a photography professional and as a personality.
About Guest Author: David Morneau
David is the co-founder and CEO of inBeat, a hybrid micro-influencer marketing SAAS/agency that helps brands scale their marketing efforts. He has helped over 200 DTC brands to date.
