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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Social Network Sites Revolutionizing Business
Adam Baudoux, Student/Intern
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Saginaw | Mi | United States | Posted: 4:08 PM on 02.25.09 |
->> I am working on a research project for graduate school and wanted to get some feed back from SS member.
My research is to look into how photographers and visual artist are using these social network site to promote and land jobs. More often we see companies creating profiles on sites such as facebook, myspace, twitter, youtube, etc.
My question is what social sites have you become a member of and how is it helping you with furthering your career? if at all?
Any thoughts? |
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Walter Calahan, Photographer
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Westminster | MD | USA | Posted: 5:52 PM on 02.25.09 |
| ->> Hasn't help me one bit, but then I'm still a novice at these sites. |
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Jonathan Castner, Photographer, Assistant
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Longmont | CO | USA | Posted: 6:34 PM on 02.25.09 |
| ->> The problem that I have is that "social networking" isn't the same as "business networking". The majority of people on those sites aren't looking for goods and services they are looking for friends and things to do. You don't go onto Facebook to find a tailor to fix your ripped jacket much less a photographer for the next GQ fashion spread. |
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Greg Ferguson, Photographer
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Scottsdale | Az | USA | Posted: 12:23 AM on 02.26.09 |
->> Jonathan, good point.
What would a social site need to have to be useful to you, as a photographer?
Blogging, ability to show images, configure permissions to control access to your various pages? How about a copyright friendly attitude toward your content? |
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Michael Moriatis, Photographer
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Santa Barbara | CA | USA | Posted: 12:24 AM on 02.26.09 |
| ->> I got a paying job with Warner Brothers off of Facebook when I became friends with a person in the photo department. |
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Jared Wickerham, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Pittsburgh | PA | U.S.A. | Posted: 12:38 AM on 02.26.09 |
| ->> I find it important to keep in contact with people whom you've worked with prior. There are quite a few members of this website whom I'm friends with on Facebook who I wouldn't otherwise be able to keep in such good contact with. For instance, after SportsShooter Academy V, I have been able to keep in touch with friends from there, like Rod Leland, Charles Ludeke, Daniel Berman, and Mike Vander Veer, better than most of my classmates at school. They are multiple time zones away but you never know how those contacts may help you. As many of you know, the photography community, and world for that matter, is much smaller than we think. You just never know how someone can help you. All it takes sometimes is one email, or wall post on Facebook, to change a lot. |
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Phil Hawkins, Photographer
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Fresno | ca | usa | Posted: 12:47 AM on 02.26.09 |
| ->> There's no quid-pro-quo, cause-and-effect going on there, it's just that any contact, any familiarity you can cultivate, any exposure you can gain using these sites can only be a good thing. Myspace is full of teenagers, but Facebook is more for adults. I've gotten one wedding interview off of it, and the jury is still out as to whether I will get the job, but so far so good. I also think I've stirred interest in my workshops using it, so I consider it part of my overall thrust. I don't have a blog, I don't use Twitter (yet), but Facebook has been worth the time I spend on it. |
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Michael Chansley, Photographer, Assistant
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Tucson | AZ | USA | Posted: 1:16 AM on 02.26.09 |
->> I have actually booked 3 weddings that originated off of my Myspace page. One small one and two large ones. Two of them were from old friends who didn't know I was a photographer and just happened to look at my work and book me. I actually have one other person that expressed interest from Myspace as well. Facebook is also full of HS and college students and I am starting to get a lot of interest in Senior portraits and stuff from that from there.
People don't really "search" for you on there, they just kind of find you. You might have "tagged" one of their friends in a photo or you might be friends with someone they know. It's a great way for free advertising and with the people who waste half their day on these sites, they might actually look at your work.
These networking sites are also a great way to keep in touch with other photographers and old friends. If they have a job they can't take or need an assistant for, they just might think of you! If I find out one of my friends on Facebook is a local tailor, I might just look into them to repair my ripped jacket. |
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Aaron Rhoads, Photographer
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McComb | MS | USA | Posted: 1:29 AM on 02.26.09 |
->> "I got a paying job with Warner Brothers off of Facebook when I became friends with a person in the photo department."
Good for you.
I'm apparently friends with people who are in love with Pringles potato chips. And want to tell me all about it.
Must have the wrong friends. |
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Carl Auer, Photographer
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Eagle River | AK | USA | Posted: 2:04 AM on 02.26.09 |
| ->> A bunch of kids I have shot from little league on up to high school have me as a friend on Facebook, or their parents, and I am now getting requests for taking their senior pictures, so, it has helped me in that sense. |
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Neil Turner, Photographer
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Bournemouth | UK | United Kingdom | Posted: 2:57 AM on 02.26.09 |
->> This has been discussed very widely amongst UK news photographers and several of my colleagues were invited to a folio showing by a picture researcher who had been told to "source exciting new talent". She used facebook and the average age of the "new talent" she found was 41!
What was new about these guys is that the commission they were competing for was a big company report married to a corporate headquarters exhibition was out of their usual comfort zone. One of them did get the commission and he is keeping tight-lipped about the fee. He is the youngest of those who we know were invited at 32.
Otherwise I absolutely agree with Mr Hawkins - a contact is a contact is a contact - no matter where it came from you have to have a way to maintain it.
Neil |
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G.J. McCarthy, Photographer
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Dallas | TX | USA21 | Posted: 9:49 AM on 02.26.09 |
->> Hey Adam:
There are actually several departments (photography included) here at the Morning News that are "experimenting" with Facebook profile pages. I believe NeighborsGo and the SportsDay folks were the first at our paper to try this.
Basically, we just use our respective "Wall Post" and "Share Link" tools to help drive users to our site through links back to DallasNews.com.
For photography, we share links to still slideshows from news, features and sporting events; daily videos; special projects; and, of course, any good news we have to share about our staff (like Sonya Hebert taking home ASNE's Community Service Photojournalism award for her "At The Edge Of Life" piece. Yay!!!).
Keep in mind we're not putting any still or video content directly on Facebook's site (re: the whole Terms of Service debacle). In addition to networking with other photographers and fans in general of our work, we're just trying to help drive content back to the mothership. I only speak for photo, of course, but I'll bet the other departments doing this would concur.
So basically, we're just trying to have fun with a fun thing while, hopefully, increasing the web traffic a bit. Who knows if it'll work, but worth a try, right?
Oh, and for those out there interested, we're DallasNews PhotoVideo. Hit us up for a friend request. We won't bite!
Cheers,
- gerry -
PS -- Adam ... if you'd like to talk more about this for your research project, I'm happy to help. Sounds like a cool project. Hit me up offlist via my member page. |
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Adam Baudoux, Student/Intern
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Saginaw | Mi | United States | Posted: 1:36 PM on 03.02.09 |
->> Great guys, thanks for the feed back.
I realize these sites are designed for marketing and promoting. I do know there are a lot of photographers jumping on the band-wagon. These photographers are mainly landing senior portraits, family portraits, and wedding jobs. |
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Michael Ciu, Photographer, Assistant
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Lorain | OH | USA | Posted: 1:58 PM on 03.02.09 |
| ->> We have started advertising on Facebook too. Mainly to attract hs seniors. we can gear the ad to only be displayed to viewers 16-18 years of age and in the surrounding communities that we work. With the amount of kids on facebook these days, if one comes to us for pictures and we tag them in a photo (with their permission of course)linked back to our site, all 653 of their friends will hopefully see our name and work. it seems to do well in other areas of the country and we're hoping it works for us too. |
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Manuello Paganelli, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | USA | Posted: 2:40 PM on 03.02.09 |
->> Great question Adam. The main thing is for your work 2 be strong and if you can make it diverse then better for you. And continually let them know that you got game.
Facebook is a place to keep your close friends, family and even clients while myspace is where every body, from the little green men in Mars to the folks cultivating rice in china, wants to be with you. Is a grand damn party where crashing is welcome.
Now a more exclusive and important site for professionals, eg. commercial/editorial/adv photography, is LinkedIn.
This is the place to be and where clients network. I have gotten a few juicy gigs from LinkedIn specially when a client sees that you are friend or had worked with someone they respect.Chances are that they will check out your work eventually or right away and if the right job lands in your area or somewhere else then your name is in the hat or could be the first person they call.
Marketing & branding is everything and that is something that many newspaper photographers lack the knowledge or are afraid to ask the right questions.
No every photographer is lucky to have a very best friend/wife/husband working at a top newspaper/magazine. So then with your talent you need to fight and crawl until your legs are strong and your wings can carry you away.
A tip to all of you, if you have a website them, ALWAYS, make it visible.
More 2 Come
Pag
http://www.ManuelloPaganelli.com
Los Angeles CALIFORNIA |
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Ian L. Sitren, Photographer
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Palm Springs | CA | USA | Posted: 4:16 PM on 03.02.09 |
->> You might find this interesting...
BodyBuilding.com which is the largest bodybuilding and fitness resource online and I think in one of the top 1500 trafficked websites on the internet started an online community for people interested in health and fitness. That was a few years ago and it now has close to 300,000 members. It is called BodySpace and you can check it out at BodySpace.com.
It is not used for marketing but it is an example of how online social communities can exist in a more defined niche.
BodyBuilding.com is one of my clients and I have maintained my own BodySpace for close to 3 years. And my Blog on there is one of he top 10 trafficked overall and currently one of the most popular. It is at...
http://blog.bodybuilding.com/SecondFocus |
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Jon Wright, Photographer
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Wayzata | MN | USA | Posted: 8:23 PM on 03.02.09 |
->> Linkedin is probably the most professional and sophisticated of the networking sites that I use. It allows you to join "groups" related to your industry. My blog headlines update directly to my Linkedin site.
JW |
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Jack Howard, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Central Jersey | NJ | USA | Posted: 8:52 PM on 03.02.09 |
| ->> For an example of Social Networking integration gone terribly, terribly wrong, head on over to http://www.Skittles.com and take a gander at some of the #skittles hashkeyed tweets that are being promulgated on this Mars Inc. site by just about everyone under the sun... |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 9:03 PM on 03.02.09 |
->> Social networking has revolutionized...social networking. It hasn't revolutionized business in any way, shape, or form. There's a lot of hype, but no one, and I mean no one, has really figured out a way to harness it to the level of significant profitability, much less had their business models "revolutionized."
E-commerce has revolutionized business, yes. The web has revolutionized news delivery, yes. Social networking has revolutionized the way we interact with our friends, yes. And more and more people have integrated social networking into their businesses in a variety of ways. But it's a gross overstatement to say it has revolutionized business.
I can't tell you, as a communications-marketing type, how many seminars, webinars, white papers, etc., I have seen on Web 2.0 / social networking / etc for business, and trust me, there's nothing there for business that justifies throwing out the "old" business models (including e-commerce) and going full-tilt into a "social networking strategy." THAT's what revolutionary is. |
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Dan Routh, Photographer
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Greensboro | NC | USA | Posted: 5:29 PM on 03.04.09 |
| ->> I agree with Chuck. Maybe in a good business climate Facebook and LinkedIn, etc might have more of an effect, but it seems like now they are more entertainment than anything else. Of course I have bitten and participate like everyone else. Interesting thing today. At around one o'clock today I sent out 50 invitations on Facebook. By 4:30 this afternoon, 38 had accepted. Fourteen accepted within 5 minutes. What does that tell me. Not much work going on, but a whole lot of FB surfing. People were mostly art directors, with a couple of agency principles included. |
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Louis Lopez, Photographer
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Fontana | CA | USA | Posted: 9:45 PM on 03.04.09 |
->> " What does that tell me. Not much work going on, but a whole lot of FB surfing."
Facebook can be accessed from my Blackberry just like my email and one can respond or update in seconds. Just like email. a few days ago my dog needed emergency care and I had been fielding phone calls most of the day from friends and family asking how things were going, it took seconds for me to update my facebook page with the status of my pet while on a job during a lull in the project. much easier than leaving everyone wondering and having my phone vibrating all day or getting voice mails.
I find a lot of fellow photographer friends are using it, to let people know where they are and what assignments they are covering. easy to know whether to save a spot in the media room if you know your fellow photographer is coming and on their way.
As far as marketing a business I have not tried it on Facebook. I have a myspace page for a division of my business that I have the school kids go to and it does quite well in driving traffic to our prep and event print fulfillment sites. I have found it easier to give the kids a my space page to go to as they are really familiar on how to access that site.
I have seen an increase in prep and event sales that I would attribute to the myspace page as that is the only "New" thing we have added. |
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