Most of you reading this probably have a Facebook account and likely even have a Facebook business page. However, you may not have an Instagram account or if you do, you may not be active on it.

Instagram is visual. Photography is visual. Therefore as a photographer, you should probably be on Instagram, but only if you can post on a fairly regular basis. Can you post at least one image per week? If not, then why bother trying another social media channel.

True, there is no magic number to posting once per day, once per week or once per month. However, if you want to in front of followers and gain new followers on Instagram, you should post more than once per month.

The thing that I don’t like about Instagram is that you have to post the image or graphic from your mobile device (as of this post). That can be frustrating. However, I accept it and move on.

The area that is critical to remember on Instagram is #hashtagging. That’s when you put # in front of a word or phrase like #teamcanon when you post an image. For those that don’t have thousands of followers, #hashtagging is a great way to get people to see your images. If you don’t #hashtag, you will likely get a lot less likes.

Instagram has given me the opportunity to get in front of BIG BRANDS in the photography industry like @CanonUSA. Canon has liked my work, commented on it and even PINGED me to approve a link (multiple times) for one of my images to get on the Canon Bring It website. FYI, that’s not happening on Facebook for me. If Instagram can help you get in front of brands like Canon, Nikon, Sony and others, why wouldn’t you want to post on a fairly regular basis? Don’t worry about the perfect image. Just post something that will not make you look bad.

Rather than me try to tell you everything that I can think about related to Instagram in a blog post, I suggest that you visit YouTube and try some of the following searches to find some videos that will guide you along the way:

setting up Instagram
how to get started with Instagram
how to setup Instagram
how to use Instagram
Oh and how about this one? Instagram for photographers

The post Are You On Instagram? As A Photographer, You Probably Should Be! first appeared on .

Left Image – Canon 5D Mark III On Manfrotto Tripod – HDR Image On Right

I never really paid much attention to Instagram until a few weeks ago. As a photographer, that was a mistake on my part, but I’m active on Instagram now. Please feel free to follow me on Instagram.

I have around 300 followers as of this post. But I’ve done it the right way and have NOT bought followers which I think is a dumb idea to begin with. It’s not about the quantity but the quality.

I stated the number of followers above to put the number of likes in perspective. I’ve found that most of my posts get between 20 and 30 likes on a consistent basis; however, the iPhone image on the left above of my camera on a tripod currently has 98 likes and the professional image (taken with my gear on the left) currently has 34 likes. Interestingly enough, I have found that my PHOTO GEAR posts, often taken with my iPhone, tend to get more likes than my professional work. I guess people just love seeing photo gear that makes their senses say, “I want that.”

With Instagram being very much a mobile focused platform, phone images look great when viewed on a phone. The larger images above do not look bad even on a desktop; however, if both images were enlarged to poster size, there would be a notable quality difference. However, on Instagram, I am not convinced that it’s about the quality of the image as much as it is about what appeals to the viewer and/or the creativity of the shot.

If you are a photographer, keeping all of the above in mind, just remember that you don’t always have to post your greatest work. It is OK to post phone images. However, that’s up to you as a photographer. I have noticed that some photographers seem to only post their pro work while others (like me) mix it up. In my case, I even post a few images taken on film ( yes, film).

You may be surprised at the images that get the most likes. Try it out for yourself and see what happens.

If you enjoyed this post, please SHARE IT using the social icons below.

The post Instagram Likes – You Never Know What Will Get The Most Likes Or Do You? 98 vs. 34 first appeared on .

I finally got active on Instagram in the last 30 days. As a photographer, that was not a good move on my part to just let Instagram sit on the back burner.

There are so many social media choices these days and most of you reading this are probably very active on Facebook but may not have (or make) time for other social platforms. If you enjoy images and/or do a lot of phone photography or regular digital photography, you may want to give Instagram a second thought.

Here’s the short version:

1) Post images and use # hashtags – If you are just starting out with virtually no followers, you should use relevant # hashtags about what you are posting including the name brand. For example, I might post: Image taken with a #Canon #5DMarkIII of my #GoldenRetriever “Tucker.” By just using those 3 # hashtags, my image is more likely to be seen. However, those with 1,000+ followers will likely be seen a lot more in general, but even those with lots of followers use # hashtags.

2) Use the @ sign to ping those that you want to give notification to – For example, in the image above @FamousSmokeShop did @raleighphotographer in the post giving me credit on the image (more on the image later) and I got notified. That made it easy for me to know they posted and to be able to thank them for giving me photo credit.

There are two core ways for me to get in front of  @canonusa on Instagram. (FYI, they have commented on my images numerous times.) That is by # hashtagging like #Canon #TeamCanon #Bringit to name a few and by using @canonusa in my post.

I shot the image above in my drive way on a sunny winter day. I first posted it on my feed which @FamousSmokeShop liked. (They follow me and have liked several of my images.) Then, yesterday, they posted the image on their feed and gave me photo credit. 15 hours later, it has 416 likes as of this post ( 1 of the 416 is me).

If you have not tried Instagram, you may want to give it a shot. I know that I have really enjoyed it over the last 30 days or so.

You can find me on Instagram @raleighphotographer or by clicking this link.

The post Making Brand & Even Big Brand Connections On Instagram Is Not Rocket Science first appeared on .

Click The Icon Above To Find My Instagram Page

There are so many social platforms these days that it is hard to keep up with them all and to know how to use them. However, as a photographer, I felt that I needed to become active on Instagram and just started being both active and strategic this past Friday. You can find me on Instagram by clicking this link http://instagram.com/raleighphotographer or the large icon at the top of this post.

Instagram allows me to post to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr when making my Instagram post live, so that automatically makes it easier to stay active on those platforms as well as far as posting. However, social media is more than just a pushing out, one-way form of communication and branding. “HEY, LOOK AT ME, ME, ME!!! will not work and that’s not why I am on Instagram.

I look forward to connecting with you on Instagram.

The post Find Me: David Williams Photographer On Instagram @RaleighPhotographer first appeared on .