It’s hard to believe it will be 2022 in just a matter of a few weeks. There have been so many things happening in the world, including significant shifts to more online experiences. From the advent of online communication tools like Zoom, Google Chat, and Slack, to Instagram shifting its focus from photography to video, primarily Reels — the world is getting content in more ways and faster.
Keeping up with the ever-changing trends and tools can be quite exhausting. Changes are constantly happening, in business, tech, and life in general.
We are here to help you weed through the info and focus on preparing you and your business for 2022.
Surviving social media changes
Nearly every social media platform is going through radical changes right now. Instagram is shifting its focus from photography to video (Reels), Facebook has rebranded its parent company as Meta and launched a new podcast feature, Clubhouse is now open to everyone, and Pinterest has banned weight-loss ads and introduced a verified merchant program. And that’s just a few of the changes. Being on top of these changes can help you determine where your brand should be present and where to focus your social media efforts.
For the last 2 years, social media platforms focused more on engagement and interactiveness. While engagement will continue to be important, video has become more key and “influential” content is taking up more space. For example, you’re probably starting to see more suggested content than content from your friends and followers. This is intentional for social media platforms; to stay relevant to their competition. Social media platforms want to keep you on the platform, thumbing through reels, images, and stories at a rapid pace so you’ll stay longer, see more ads, and buy more products. It's influence-based eCommerce at work.
Social media is becoming less of a place for friends and more for selling, which can be good or bad based on how you feel about it.
For photographers, it seems counterintuitive that the “once-famous photo app”, Instagram, no longer really caters to photographers. So now you need to find other ways to interact or be seen online.
Instagram stories seem like a simple interaction point but with the rise of Reels and the devolvement of IGTV, its longer-form video tool, shorter video-centric content is ruling Instagram.
So how does a photographer survive platform changes like this? Making a video does help, but if it is not a strong suit, what do you do? Focus on your audience! What do you want them to get out of the experience? Always come back to that when making decisions about how and when to engage through social media.
Some great topics for the video to attract customers can include behind-the-scenes type experiences, such as the fun side of a shoot, the previews, and customer reactions. These sneak peeks can really humanize your business and brand, which is the point of the influencer economy. But remember, unless you are an educator, your audience is your customer, not other photographers, the behind the scenes angle will differ based on who your audience is. So, make sure your content is relevant to your target audience.
Interested in learning more about video? Check out our video marketing guide
Instagram big takeaways:
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Focus on eCommerce
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Reels are a big deal
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Engagement, meaning comments and interaction are important, not just posting and ghosting
Facebook (Meta)
Beyond Instagram, Facebook's changes seem similar. There is still a focus on native video content, Live video gains quick exposure and is better in long-form. The goal is to keep you on the platform as long as possible and to curate content that you are the most likely to interact with. As referenced in an article in the Washington Post, Facebook has changed and the content you see. It might not be content you like, it might be negative actually, but they are aware of those decisions.
When you are on Facebook, scrolling and interacting with content, you are kind of feeding it. It learns from your behaviors and curates content that seems to become more niched over time. Sure you might see a fun post here or there, but it’s focused heavily on groups, pages, and interaction now. You can find great groups there, kind of like the forums of the early internet, but now all within Facebook’s walls and tools connect to it.
Knowing your audience is important to Facebook. They are trying to push for younger audiences on that platform, for obvious reasons, which is part of why Meta was introduced, to appeal to those demographics. But currently, Facebook is catering to all but older demographic groups.
Facebook big takeaways:
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Displaying curated content in your feed based on what you interact with
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Pages and groups are good places for connecting with others
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Heavily ad focused
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Trying to change to reach different demographics
TikTok
The social media dark horse, TikTok continues to influence Meta’s products. TikTok is fast-paced, and there is a homemade aesthetic that seems like anyone can be a part of it with success if you know how to use the system. It provides a place for creative storytelling, dance, and humor, offers a fast way to share quick bits of information, and the content can be shared rapidly across many channels.
These social interactions can be used for education for photographers or to showcase your process. Problem-solving or making things relatable to the audience seems to be what TikTok users are interested in.
For photographers, it continues to chase the growing trend of video content. You don’t have to be highly skilled for TikTok, which is part of the charm of the platform. It is about giving out content in a fast way, but it can have a huge reach and content can spread quickly if people find it useful.
TikTok big takeaways:
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Big reach ... if people discover you
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The more homemade feel posts have, the more effective they are
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Problem solving or humor is what people like about the platform
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Short shareable content
All social media platforms are adapting and trying out new features. Twitter has Spaces as its answer to Clubhouse, YouTube has Shorts as its answer to TikTok, and so on. These platforms haven’t had as dramatic of changes as Facebook and Instagram, but continue to be places where you can still interact with your audiences if you know the right one for your business.
Your website must flow
Showcasing your work and selling online is part of the goal of a website. The content on the website must also have a great flow to help your visitors smoothly navigate and take action (sign up or make a purchase!).
When organizing the content on your website, think of yourself as the movie director. What do you want people to see first, what do you want them to see next? Everything from the navigation menu to your page layout can influence your website visitors. The information and imagery on your website should help tell your narrative of what your business does, how to reach you, and how to pay you.
Your website’s navigation should be clear and simple. If possible you should have less than eight options in the main menu. This should include your core pages, including your home, about, and contact page, clearly visible. Then you can incorporate other pages to fill out the full story and experience. And don’t forget the footer content!
As you look at the content for each page on your website, think of how it flows into the action you want people to take. When someone visits your homepage, where do you want them to go? Can they learn more about you, or see your work? From your gallery page, are you offering options to learn about how to work together, pricing, and booking? Your pages should drive people to take action and connect the dots for your sales funnel.
The objective of your homepage is to:
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Visually tell your story
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Describe where you’re located and who you serve
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Showcase your best work to engage your audience
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Be a hub to connect customers to deeper pages to explore
What your homepage isn’t supposed to be:
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A single page with everything on it, from pricing to gallery content
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Completely empty without descriptions
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Over explaining your business and purpose (that’s what the other pages are for)
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An SEO directory of meta keywords
You should analyze your website’s pages and see if they have the following:
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Call-to-actions (CTAs) to other pages on your site
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A way to connect to you, either directly on that page or a link to the contact page
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Your location details (best photography in the X area and X state)
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Options to return to or navigate to other pages on the site that act as a visual menu, or secondary navigation
Other ways to improve your websites page flow:
Use S shape design when it comes to the layout of the pages
This shape helps guide users through a page. It's about how their eyes flow across the screen, like reading a book, without the page feeling stagnant.
Use dividers or color to break up information on the page
Having too large of a block of text or images without a stop can start to cause a webpage to feel long or disorganized. Dividers and color blocks can help emphasize areas on the page and can help break up the information by calling out important information for users to respond to.
These are a few simple ways to push your leads into the areas of your site you want them to go, whether that is to book services or buy your products or contact you. You always have to think about the overall experience for your customers, and that includes expecting questions and providing answers directly on your website.
If you were your own customer, would you find your website easy to use, informative, and engaging? If even one of those is a no, then you may need to update your website.
If you need help updating your website, contact the PhotoBiz support or Pro Service team, we’ll be able to assist you.
Education and self-improvement
The last but maybe the most important area of focus as you prepare for 2022 is the practice of learning. Learning is a constant in rapidly moving fields, like photography and marketing. With the help of education, you can stay up to date with the latest trends within your field, such as products, styles, and technology. There are tons of educational sources available, let’s talk about some of them.
Beyond searching the internet or YouTube for how-to guides, Facebook groups are a great resource to connect with people with similar interests and learn from each other. They are often home to photography critique inspiration and discussions about a variety of topics. Check out Jenn’s Business Corner, Seniors Unlocked, and Inside The Box Photo Group. These are each great resources to learn more about photography techniques, and share stories with other photographers to gather feedback.
To bolster your education about websites and online marketing, explore our education programs. We offer workshops, webinars, Facebook Live events, have a collection of on-demand video content, and offer a MasterClass program (registration for 2022 will open soon!). Our collection of resources cover a variety of topics from marketing tips, to technical website setup and advice, to ecommerce strategy, SEO, and more.
If you prefer learning through private consultations, take a look at our private coaching sessions. They allow you to have one-on-one time with our in-house experts. Based on the questions you have, we can advise you on next steps.
We hope you will explore these educational resources and connect with other people to learn and grow together.
As we approach the new year, we hope you will take some time to plan and prepare for the future (we know we are). As technology and marketing strategies change, know that you can lean on us to help you understand the changes, and execute your business plan so you can achieve your goals.
If you need more help or assistance, remember you can always call our support team at 866.463.7620 or log into your account to start a live chat. And if you want us to help take a project off your to-do list, consider working with our award-winning Pro Services team.
We are looking forward to ringing in 2022 and we can’t wait to see how you grow your business. Cheers!
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