—

 

10 Free Marketing Tactics for Photographers – Part 2: Join Local Facebook Groups

 

Hey Photographers! If you’re ready to start booking paid photography jobs, but don’t know how to get your work in front of potential couples, this blog series is for you! Welcome back to our “Free Marketing Tactics for Photographers” blog series. Today, we’re sharing how other peoples’ Facebook Communities can be a powerful tool for your business!

 

Last week we kicked off our “Free Marketing Tactics” series by discussing the process of building your first portfolio or website. Now, this entire series is built on the assumption that you have somewhere to send people once you market to them. So if you missed that post, or don’t have your portfolio yet, be sure to go back and check that out first!

 

 

As a quick reminder, all of the marketing tactics that we’re going to discuss in this series are ones that will cost you a bit of time, but won’t cost you any money. When you’re first getting started as a portrait or wedding photographer — and especially if you don’t have a very portfolio yet — spending money on marketing probably isn’t very smart. We believe that early on, the best use of your hard-earned photography cash is to either invest in education and coaching so you can get better at photography and at running a business, or saving up for that next piece of gear to expand your camera bag.

 

The good news is that there’s always a way to get in front of people for free, as long as you can get a little creative, and don’t mind putting in a little hard work. And the rest of this series is focused on those methods. So let’s dive in!

 

 

The New Craigslist…

Now, this is going to date us a bit, but when Hunter and I were first getting started, before we even had our first portfolio, we booked one of our very first portrait jobs using Craigslist! At the time, THAT was the best way to advertise your services for free, and book a few low-paying jobs. Nowadays, Facebook Marketplace has all but killed Craigslist, but for photographers, there’s a big problem. FB Marketplace only allows users to sell goods, not services. So while Craiglist is dead, its replacement doesn’t help.

 

And THAT… is where Facebook Groups come in! While most groups won’t allow you to directly advertise your services, they’re still places where your potential clients are congregating online, whether they’re actively looking for photography right now or not.

 

 

Serve First, Advertise Second

The trick with these groups is to get into the mindset of your clients. What sorts of groups would they join? What sort of advice are they looking for? Where would they hang out online? Then, join those groups, and just be of service to them. Write helpful content, answer questions, and be a kind and encouraging presence. People should know that you’re a photographer — don’t be shy about that — but you also shouldn’t spam the group with posts advertising your services every day. Some groups won’t allow you to do that at all, and you should be aware of the rules of each group before you join.

 

Here’s an example: if your goal is to shoot a ton of family sessions for new families with young kids, then the types of groups you want to join are local mom groups, expecting mothers’ groups, neighborhood-specific buy-nothing groups, free-and-for-sale groups, etc. Join those groups and spend a few minutes every day just being a presence in them. Be friendly, answer questions, be helpful in any way you can, and make it clear that you’re a family photographer along the way, without just spamming the group with your services.

 

 

Over time, you want to be known in the local expecting moms group as “Emily the newborn photographer” or be known in the local small business group as “Wesley the headshot photographer”. As you show up each day and serve, people will start to recognize you and think of you as someone they may want to work with when they’re ready for photography, even if they aren’t right at that moment. And of course, it goes without saying that, if someone specifically asks for recommendations for a photographer, that’s your chance to let them know who you are, and share a link to your portfolio!

 

Now, we’ll talk about hanging out in photography-specific groups later on in this series, but for now, keep in mind that if a potential job is posted in one of THOSE groups, you’re competing with a LOT of other people, since everyone else in the group is also a photographer trying to book jobs. There may be 10 photographers for each person looking to hire a photographer. On the other hand, you may be one of the only senior photographers in a local high-school moms group that has dozens or hundreds of people in it!

 

 

Other Places to Gather Online

While FB is the king of groups right now, anywhere that a local body of people gather online that ISN’T filled with dozens of other photographers may be a great place to start. For example, you may have a really active neighborhood on a community app like Nextdoor, or maybe your city has it’s own Subreddit. Get creative, and find places where you can offer your services online.

 

But no matter what, be very careful to toe the line between not advertising yourself at all, and being super annoying and spammy. If someone asks for parenting advice and you respond with, “I don’t know anything about that, but here’s my newborn rates!” you’re going to get kicked out of whatever group you’re in very quickly. But if you show up ready to serve and help, the bookings will come with time! Just be aware that this strategy won’t work the very first day, but over time you can build a very powerful local network if you spend 30 minutes a day being a presence in these groups!

 

 

An Easy Formula for Simple Marketing Posts

While we were preparing for this blog, we logged into Craigslist for the first time in years and read through some of our old “listings”. Our first listing ever, posted almost a decade ago, advertised portrait sessions for $50! Now, if you’ve been to our website recently, you know that we charge literally 20-times that now for a portrait session! But if it weren’t for those early Craigslist jobs, we wouldn’t have gotten the experience and the cash to get to where we are now.

 

However, something we also noticed is that the format we used in those first posts is the same that we tell our students to use when they ARE able to post about their services. So whether you’re posting to your own FB Wall — and more on that in a future week — or you’re posting in one of these groups, there’s a bit of a “formula” that we’d recommend.

 

• • First, create a catchy title that tells someone EXACTLY what you’re offering, and includes the starting price. It can be as simple as, “Charlottesville Family Mini-Sessions, $50 per family”
  • Second, include your single best and most eye-catching photo for whatever category of job you want to book. So, if you want to attract engaged couples, don’t promote that with a family photo, even if that family photo is better than your best engagement photo.
  • Third, in the body of the post, briefly introduce yourself and what you can offer your clients in terms of final products (digital copies, prints, hours of coverage, etc.) as well as the benefits you provide them (a stress-free experience, posing suggestions, recommended photoshoot locations, etc.).
  • Finally, include a link to your portfolio or website so that interested people get brought onto your turf and can view more of your beautiful imagery!

 

 

That’s it! We’ll be back next week with another free marketing tactic. But in the meantime, find at least 3-5 groups, and start participating in them every day!

 

Want More?

 

Click HERE to get your free copy of our eBook: “5 Essential Tips for Turning your Side-Hustle into a Full-Time Photography Business.” You’ll also be subscribed to our newsletter, so our newest content, weekly encouragement, and exclusive offers will be delivered right to your inbox!

 

 

—

 

Check out the other segments in this blog series!

• Part 1: Maintain a Strong Portfolio
• Part 2: Join Local Facebook Groups
• Part 3: Referrals from Past Clients
• Part 4: Begin Your Social Media Presence
• Part 5: Network with Other Photographers
• Part 6: Networking with Venues and Vendors
• Part 7: Win Over Your Personal Network
• Part 8: Our Secret Direct Outreach Method
• Part 9: Four Reasons to Start a Photography Blog
• Part 10: Get More 5-Star Review from Past Clients