you simply because they like your
pictures. There is unlikely to be any
other reason, so to show them too
much of something else won’t be
too beneficial.
The catch, though, is that for posts
to be effective they really need
to contain a link to a website, and
any post with such a link is severely
curtailed by Facebook in terms of
reach. Posts containing links are only
going to get about 10% of the reach
of your regular posts. It’s because
Facebook is being smart in doing
this so that you can’t advertise using
its platform for free. So to alleviate
this, you’re going to have to give
Facebook some money to boost
your posts.
PAY UP
This is so often decried as there
remain people who still cannot
justify in giving money to Facebook.
Some believe they’ve a basic right to
a free Facebook, which, of course,
has no basis in anything. They’re
happy to pay £100 to a magazine
with a readership of 40,000, but
they seem to balk at paying £25 to
a targeted audience of 250,000.
But if you really want to broaden
your reach, then this really is worth
looking at because if you want
Facebook to work for you then
you’re going to do far better doing it
this way than not doing anything at
all. The posts to boost are the ones
that offer somebody something. It
makes no real sense to boost a post
that offers nothing but a picture to
look at; much better to boost one
that promotes something a bit more
tangible, like a print, a book, or a
workshop.
You can boost any post to either your
followers or to a targeted Facebook
audience outside of your followers.
It stands to reason that if you have
a small following, then better to
target non-followers. An upside to
that is that those you target will
learn of you and may follow you as
well. So, two birds, one stone.
Image copyright
I think everybody by now knows
of Facebook’s image copyright
agreement whereby any image you
post can be reproduced by them;
however, they see it for marketing
and promotional purposes. This
has scared people. People got to
thinking that one day Facebook
was going to sell their photos to
magazines, or make posters, or
T-shirts, or something. But that’s
not really the case at all.
What they are really doing is
protecting themselves against
lawsuits as soon as they reproduce
any image across the site, which is
what they have to do. Your image
is uploaded to their site and then
reproduced by them to make
thumbnails and other incidental
images to make it tick over and
easy to follow for everyone online.
So they aren’t going to take your
images. They’re just making it easier
for more people to see them.
INSTAGRAM
Instagram is a little like Twitter
where simplicity is the requisite,
but with the emphasis on pictures
over text. It emerged in October
2010 and got to a million users
within three months, 10 million
in a year, then surpassed Twitter’s
300 million users by the end of
2014, all in turn making billionaires
out of its two student developers.
From that beginning, people
began to recognise it as a useful
marketing tool. From its cultural
selfie beginnings, more serious
photographers jumped in and
started posting pictures taken with
their DSLRs, which gradually eroded
the unwritten rule where Instagram
pictures ought to be taken with a
phone only.
Wildlife photographers in particular
have seen its benefits – taking
advantage of its effective sharing
abilities, an account can gain
hundreds of followers very quickly if
shared by any of a number of mega-
accounts resident on Instagram, too.
If you are a wildlife photographer,
whether making a start or seeking
to use Instagram more, then
hashtag a few of the larger accounts
to your post, and hope they notice
and share. The rules of smart use
are similar to Facebook’s, really:
post reasonably frequently, maybe
once a day or every other day, not
several times a day and not once
a week. Don’t open your account
with a dozen of your best, start with
one and add gradually, don’t over-
tag, just a line of subject-related
www.slyoumag.com | July-August 2019
hashtags will do, plus two or four
more of the mega-account ones to
get their eyes. Remember, you can
still tag pictures long after you’ve
posted them. Broad tags like #photo
or #life are inherently useless as
millions are created every day and
your post will be buried hundreds
deep before you’ve finished posting.
Each platform has its strength, and
with Instagram it is simplicity. There
is no place here for long captions or
stories, or attempts to make it your
Facebook page. People are visiting
for its strength, and that is pictures
with minimal wordage. URLs in
captions are of no use as Instagram
doesn’t make them functional, nor
can you copy them to paste in a
browser. So nobody is going to visit
your website page on the back of a
long and ugly URL. As it is anywhere,
it’s better not to post a photo at all
than it is to post a substandard one.
Follow others that inspire you, and
comment and like their posts, too.
It’s reciprocal – when they mention
you, it will be noticed by their
followers as well.
PLATFORM STRENGTHS
Both Instagram and Facebook,
alongside Twitter, have their
strengths, and success in becoming
more widely known is in playing
to their strengths. Twitter is
simple, easy and text specific, and
Instagram is simple, easy and image
specific. Facebook offers both text
and images, but needs a little more
work. But it also has by far the
largest following, more than the
population of any country on earth.
Every mystery is solvable, including
the one on how to get your pictures
out to the wider public. Like all good
things, though, it may not happen
overnight, but respecting anything
for their strengths and using them
accordingly will ensure success will
come sooner or later.
About the author
David Lloyd is an award-winning,
fine art wildlife photographer who
also leads private photo safaris each
year to Kenya’s Maasai Mara. See
his first book, “As Long As There Are
Animals”.
SL-YOU | Business, People & Lifestyle 15