Winning at Instagram as a Photojournalist

From a professional photojournalist’s Facebook post:

“I‘m sort of obsessed with Instagram right now. I find it fascinating that some Russian kid with a private account can have 1,500 likes on a photo, and when I post a photo of LeBron, or Barack, or Ashton, or LaMarcus, or Marcus, or anything that you would think would get likes on accident and I’ll walk away with 30 likes (on a good day). I find it interesting that some 27-year-old-woman in Portland who basically takes selfies using some kind of outdoor gear in front of some stump or mountain can have 117k followers. How this happens is beyond my comprehension. So, here’s my proposal to all my Facebook people…especially photographers…FOLLOW ME and I’ll follow you back. I promise. I think us photogs need to help each other put a little bit because we aren’t winning.”

This is from Thomas Boyd, an esteemed and decorated photojournalist from the Oregonian. His frustrations, and fascinations with Instagram echo an even larger issue surrounding Instagram and how it is hindering (and helping), the photography industry.

I talked to Thomas over a phone interview, and he raised the point that selfie-takers are worlds apart from professional photographers on Instagram.

“I think the 25-year-old girl who posts selfies in the mirror wearing a bikini is on a whole different planet, and different motivation in followers than what photographers are trying to do on Instagram,” he said.

So what exactly are professional photographers trying to do on Instagram? He pointed to photographers like Ben Lowy, Richard Koci Hernandez, and Scott Strazzante, whose followers are good, but not measurable to Insta-famous models like Aimee Song.

Thomas attributes their successes on Instagram to their use of hashtags, having consistency to genre, and their ability to be recognized by larger organizations that publicize and feature their Instagram accounts.

Thomas is certainly having his frustrations with it — he posts professional photographs of famous sports icons and will get 30 likes at best.

But getting Instagram accounts to grow is hard without built-in analytics that track what’s happening to our content.

Meet InsTrack, an app that links to your Instagram account to see the activity on your account. You can track: people that have blocked you, your gained and lost followers, users not following you back, and followers whom you don’t follow back. This is a great way to get basic analytics on your account.

Even with these available tools, Thomas brings up a valid point: the professional photographers on instagram aren't winning.

Here are some good answers I took away from our phone interview together.

Q: What happened with your Facebook inquiry? Did you get any sort of activity with that?

Tom: I did get a fair bit of activity I probably picked up 25 followers. I haven’t counted. I followed every single one of them back like I said I would. So, it was fun. I mean there was a good bit of activity. I noticed a lot of people went through my entire Instagram feed and liked pictures from 3–4 years ago.

Me: I was looking up what makes Instagram accounts marketable and likable, and I know you had some frustrations with posting pictures of Marcus Mariota and getting 20 likes on it but then seeing some 27-year-old girl who is getting 15,000 followers, and being confused about how that is happening. But I wanted to ask: What do you think makes an Instagram account marketable and likable?

Tom: Well, I think we need to talk in terms of what makes photographer’s Instagram accounts popular because I think the 25-year-old girl who posts selfies in the mirror wearing a bikini is a whole different planet, and a whole different motivation in followers than what photographers are trying to do on Instagram. It’s a parallel universe, and the two never meet. So, I think we have to study Photographers like Ben Lowy, Richard Koci Hernandez, photographers like that who have really knocked it out of the park with building momentum, and then leveraging that momentum to keep it going like you said, “keep it rolling.” I’m not sure if they should replicate what they have done exactly, but there are things to learn from the actions that they have taken.

Me: What you think photographers have to do. Like with Ben Lowy. How do you think he gets his following that he has?

Tom: I noticed that he is a big hashtag user and better at it than anyone else I’ve ever seen on Instagram at least among my followers. Plus, he has had stories written about him on time.com things like that. He also got on a few lists of photographers you should follow. So, I think once you get on some of those bigger platforms, that is a recipe for success right there. Now I think [Scott] Strazzante is an interesting study. He doesn’t have the followers that Richard and Ben have, but he still has a lot. He is very consistent about what he posts on what he posts on Instagram, and has kept it to a certain genre, which is street photography. So that is something to look at, too, is keeping a very consistent.

Me: If you were to choose one genre, what would you go for?

Tom: That is a really interesting question because if all you cared about was getting followers and choosing something to put up there that would have the most impact in terms of eye-balls and all of that, I would clearly pick Oregon Duck football. That’s where all the juice is. But, the problem is, I shoot many other things. Like right now, I am in Utah shooting field athletes. I might not shoot Duck football again until August of September. Of course I could go back to my archives and hammer my account with pictures of Duck football, but I really just don’t want to do that. That isn’t where the joy lies of Instagram for me.

Me: Where does the joy of Instagram lie for you? You said that you were obsessed with Instagram right now.

Tom: I see it as number one, a source for inspiration from other photographers, and number two a source of creative expression. So, it is the give and take. I want to put mine out there, and see what everybody is doing. If I got locked in to doing just one thing like duck football I think that I would loose interest pretty quickly.

My interview with Tom was certainly enlightening in defining were professional photographers sit in the Instagram hierarchy. They may not be as popular as the supermodels in bikinis, but they certainly have a place.

What I took away in gaining more followers on Instagram:

• Define a genre you want to focus on, and keep your photos consistent to that genre.
• Follow accounts that have really, really amazing photography to source your own inspiration from.
• Think about relevant hashtags, and use them to promote your work.
• Try to get adopted onto a larger platform that people recognize to gain more followers.
• Stay active on Instagram by liking and commenting on people’s work.

-By Stephanie Essin