A big thanks to Scott for his insight and sharing his expertise.  Part Deux of how to use Twitter to build your business has even more valuable information to help you in your marketing efforts.   This is great stuff!

cranesCranes by Scott Bourne

f. Share – search out Tweets from photographers you admire and RT
(re-tweet) them to your network. This re-tweeting is a great way to
share information and provides the possible link between you and the
new content. It shows you care about the community and may lead to
alliances that you never had an opportunity to create using other
mediums.

g. Talk about your assignments. If you’re a wedding photographer, talk
about the bride you’re currently working with. If you’re a workshop
leader, talk about the location you’re visiting. Whatever you shoot,
talk about your current assignments, post links to pics, and be
generous with newbies – answer their questions via Twitter so that
they too can benefit from your experience. This will leverage your
skill in ways that you might find interesting, such as offers to do
books, workshops, symposiums, seminars, etc.

h. Separate your identities. As I’ve moved more of my marketing to
Twitter, I’ve moved most of my personal opinions about controversial
subjects elsewhere. People who follow me for photography advice don’t
really care about my politics. I occasionally get riled up sometimes
and express myself. When that happens I lose followers. In certain
circumstances I am okay with that but you might not be. My New Year’s
resolution was to keep my political opinions away from Twitter and I
use it to talk about things like photography and Macs. I’m still not
100% good at this but I am improving and photographers who want to use
Twitter as a marketing tool should consider whether or not their
audience cares about their religious, political or personal views on a
host of non-photo subjects.

i. Hiring – if you need an assistant, a receptionist, a retoucher,
Twitter is a great place to get the word out. It’s fast, free and
viral. Particularly in the current economy where jobs are scarce,
people will RT (retweet) job postings. I posted a simple Tweet about
needing a part time assistant and within five minutes had more than a
dozen inquiries. Over a few days that turned to hundreds and I had to
delete the Tweet because I had such great response.

j. Research – skimming for photo-related links, news and reviews is
easy now that Twitter has a search tool. Since Twitter is real time,
you can bet that if you’re following the right people, you’ll probably
find out about the next new Nikon or Canon camera body on Twitter
before you hear about it anywhere else.

k. Research Part II – poll other photographers for advice. See what
they are working on. Ask what tools and techniques they are using.

l. Education – There are lots of photographers who use Twitter to
share tips. Whether it’s how to get the most out of a Lensbaby, or how
to book models in return for prints or how to select a lens, I’ve seen
a great deal of free educational material on Twitter. I try to provide
some of that myself as a way of giving back to the Twitter community
that enriches me too.

m. Networking – by paying close attention to Twitter, you can discern
the relationships amongst certain photographers, vendors, photo
associations and their audiences. By listening, you can find out who
knows who and hope for a connection to someone you know. I’ve found
that Twitter proves the old six-degrees of separation theory pretty
well. If I look at someone’s stream on Twitter, it won’t be long
before I know someone who knows them.

These are just a few ideas. I don’t believe anyone is a true “social
media” expert. And while I am being paid to consult with some large
firms on how to use Twitter, I always make sure to preface any such
engagement with the disclaimer that I, like everyone else on Twitter,
am still learning. It’s a fast-paced, fast-moving environment. What
worked a year ago on Twitter might not work now. What works now might
not work a year in the future. But as with all marketing, doing
SOMETHING right now is better than doing nothing. This is a chance to
establish a real “tribe” as Seth Godin would say. You don’t need to
get an Oprah-sized following on Twitter to be effective.

There are certainly benefits to having a large Twitter audience as
there are in any media. But everyone (even Oprah) starts their journey
with that first step. There was a time when I had one follower, then
100, then 1000, then 10,000 and now around 22,000. I started to get
traction at about 1000 followers. Whether it grows from here or not, I
am able to accomplish some important goals with my audience and
moreover, I am able to provide them with real value in exchange for
following me. And THAT is the most important lesson of all for
photographers. Provide something of value and the audience will
follow. To paraphrase and slightly modify a line from the popular
baseball movie “Field of Dreams,”

If you build it well and provide something your audience cares about –
they will come.

You might face some blowback if you start using Twitter as a marketing
tool. You’ll never please these people and there’s absolutely no
reason to try. Ignore those who complain. Do what you think is fair,
and just and proper, and do it with a clear conscious and an open mind
and with honest transparency and you’ll be fine.

Scott Bourne

Join us on August 16, when Scott joins me on stage at Skip’s Summer School!  Just because the media says it’s going to be a bad year doesn’t mean it has to be!