If you’re a photographer, you most likely use social media to promote yourself and share your work. To be more specific, you probably use Instagram. It might be the number one social media platform for photographers, but Instagram limits you and your reach. Snapchat is a fresher and more effective platform for connecting.
At first glance, Snapchat seems like a horrible social channel for photographers — no discovery system; no likes; no comments to speak of really; you can’t link out; you can’t upload content from your phone (this is very frustrating for photographers) and your content only lasts for 24 hours! All very good reasons to downplay Snapchat. But if you do, there’s one thing you’re missing: the attention.
Attention is the only thing that matters with social media. MySpace was a great social media platform, but no one is paying attention to MySpace anymore. Instagram’s power is in its massive users, paying attention every day. But Instagram hasn’t the monopoly on attention. Snapchat is now winning the attention game.
When people consume content on Snapchat, they’re paying attention for two reasons.
Reason 1: Undivided Attention
When users watch your story, the Snapchat UI forces them to give all their attention. It’s like they are isolated in a room with nothing but your story. There’s no other content for them to consume. Just your story. By comparison, Instagram is an infinite scroll in which users are liking to, in most cases, just demonstrate that they’re liking and looking. In truth, Instagram is an exercise in feigning attention. Snapchat is committing attention.
Reason 2: Rare Commodity
People pay attention to your story because it lasts for only 24 hours. An enforced timeline makes users much more likely to view waiting stories. Who waits a day on something for it to disappear? Very few. Most consume veraciously on Snapchat.
Let me give you an example. Approximately 10% of my Instagram followers engage with my content. Of course more people might be seeing my photos and videos, but they aren’t double-tapping, liking or commenting. (Although it seems a bit low, a 10% engagement rate on Instagram is actually higher than the average!)
By contrast, Snapchat gives you around a 90% view rate! In other words, if you have 100 Snapchat followers you’re going to reach the same number of people as a photographer with 1000 Instagram followers. That’s a big deal.
How exactly should a photographer use Snapchat?
Personally, I think you should use it for behind-the-scenes stuff and extra-special “educational” tidbits. Snapchat isn’t a platform to share your work, that’s what Instagram is for.
Snapchat is a platform to share how you work. It’s a platform that allows people to see the other side of the camera — the side that you’re on. On my Snapchat, I share videos of my shoots, peeks at how I edit and, occasionally, I’ll go on a rant about why you should be shooting RAW and not JPEG. I might throw in a few pictures of what I’m eating for lunch here and there, but I think that’s okay. Snapchat is a great place for people to get to know me on a more personal level. They can send me questions through Snapchat’s messaging system or video, and I am able to send them a video reply. It’s a great way of directly communicating with people.
How do you get Snapchat followers?
Simple answer: Push them from your other social channels.
There is no discovery system with Snapchat so you must build your following from the followings you have elsewhere. I think the best way for you to get them to add you is to make a really interesting story, download an interesting part of that story, share that clip on Instagram and/or the other social media channels you’re using. Tell people that if they want to see more they should add you on Snapchat.
Share your username often. Or share your profile link — in a recent update Snapchat introduced links that users can share across the Internet, which is a great help for photographers. Just click on the link, the app will launch, and you will be presented with the users profile.
Put your Snapchat name in your Instagram bio, your email signature, and your Medium profile.
Snapchat even has “Snapcodes’ that you can share online. Here’s mine:
All you have to do is open up the app and scan the code.
Come Snapchat with me
Whether it’s videos of me throughout my day or a video reply to a question somebody asked, Snapchat brings me and my followers closer. That’s important. Hopefully, through our relationship building, when people think “photographer” they’ll think of me!? That potentially leads to my work being shared with more people, which leads to more connections, more visibility, more jobs, which leads to money. Who doesn’t like money?
If you enjoyed this article and felt like you learned something, let me know by scanning my Snapcode that you see above! On Snapchat I’m always trying to share helpful information that brings people value!
