Wayne Moran Best Minnesota Photographers To Follow On Instagram And How You Can Do the Same
Recently, I was surprised with an incredible honor when WCCO television created their list of top 5 “Best Minnesota Photographers To Follow On Instagram”. You can read the article here: Best Minnesota Photographers To Follow On Instagram
Needless to say I was a bit in shock because I know many of the incredible Minnesota photographers that are on Instagram. I know full time professional photographers that are publishing great work on Instagram, and I know people who had never touched a camera before their phone camera and now they are creating amazing art on Instagram. This is truly an incredible platform for creatives to hang out and produce amazing art!!
How Did This Happen?
So how did this all come about and how can you have success on Instagram and other social media?
This article is a white paper on the best practices of social media. If you put these core practices into a fact you will have very similar successes in your social media outreach.
That being said, at the end of this article there is going to be a little speculation as to how this particular success actually came about. So hold on to your hats and let’s get this train going.
Content is King
The first rule of social media is, you must produce great content. When you’re looking at your images, you must be the curator of your art. You must be able to decide, “What is the best of the best content” and then only post the content that reaches the high standard of “your best work”.
Wayne Moran on Instagram: Click Here to go to Account
As you’re selecting your best of the best images, keep in mind best isn’t necessarily just technically best. Best also means images that create the strongest emotional response for your viewers. You will get a sense of this overtime as you post content. People will respond more strongly to the images that they love the most. Always pay attention to your viewer’s response. This allows you to take the pulse of your audience. This feedback is worth its weight in gold. Always, always, always listen to the responses of your audience.
Words and Pictures
Use words and pictures together when you post for a more power impact. You have heard it said a picture is worth a thousand words, I say a picture with the right description is worth an entire novel.
If you only post a picture with no text you always leave your audience guessing they often times don’t know the context of the image they don’t know how it moves you they don’t know where it came from so it’s completely void of context. In a very few cases that would be okay, but mostly it leaves your audience wanting more. I can’t tell you the number of times I have received comments on my posts saying something to the effect of thank you so much for taking the time to describe the image or I love the way you describe the image it makes it so much more powerful for me. People want to hear the story they want context they want to connect and it’s your responsibility with the text that you post to help people connect with the image that you post. If you do it correctly you will have many more viewers experience rich emotions along with you.
Post “Just Right” Amount
Just like Goldilocks who knew; one bowl of porridge was too hot, one bowl was too cold and one bowl was just right, your social media audience will have the same experience with your quantity of posts. If you post too much it becomes overwhelming for your audience even if your content is incredibly good. They will actually get bored with your content or they will feel like they are being spammed and they may even stop following you.
If you don’t post enough your viewers will find somebody else to fill your place and there will become an emotional bond between that somebody else and your viewers. You have to post just the right amount of content.
So how do u no if you’re posting in the right amount of content? Of course this is very subjective but over time you will get a feel for it. One way to measure if you’re posting the right amount of content is to ask the question, have I had the time to go view and comment on the social media content that your audience has posted? If you have reached out to your viewers and experience their content chances are it is now safe to post more of your own content.
Be Social
From the last topic I briefly mentioned the idea of going around and commenting on your viewer’s content. This is the idea of it is critically important to be social yourself on social media.
Be Social in person and on Social Media
I can’t tell you the number of times I see people post and run. What that means is they post something on their social media and they don’t comment on anyone else’s content. That is by far the most damaging habit that you can have on social media. Social media is called social media for a reason. It really is like having a conversation with a person. If someone in real life says to you hello and you don’t respond people take that as an offense, almost like a slap in the face. Or it’s like reaching out to shake somebody’s hand and they don’t take your hand and shake it back.
I see this all the time in social media and people just don’t get it. Social media really is true social interaction and you have to live with the same rules that pertain to a good conversation. Pay attention to what people say, respond to them in a respectful thoughtful manner, ask good questions and show that you actually take an interest. Just like a good conversation, social media is like a tennis match where the responsibility of the conversation bounces back and forth between each party just like the tennis ball.
Network in Person Also
At this is the point in the tale is where I’m going to engage in a little speculation to try to determine how this specific honor actually took place.
The evening I heard that I was given this honor I received an email from the WCCO news anchor Mike Binkley telling me that he would be retiring in about a month and asking me if I would help him learn photography. My first thought was why in the world would he ask me? There are a bajillion great photographers out there, so what would make him reach out reach out to me with this request?
Moments later my wife screamed out the news “honey you are one of the top 5 Minnesota photographers” because she was the first one to actually see the announcement on social media. Aaaahhhh, now this was staring to make a little bit of sense. Mike Binkley probably heard of me from the article that was written at WCCO. I’m guessing that the writers and the news team probably interact. I guess it might be possible that Mike was actually involved in the selection process, I have no idea but it’s possible.
Red Bull Crashed Ice St Paul
But here’s where the story gets even more interesting. If you remember last winter, Red Bull brought the Crashed Ice event to Saint Paul and I was able to shoot the event as an official event photographer with real credentials and the whole nine yards. Well one of the days that I was there, I saw Mike Binkley walking around as a normal Joe in the audience.
WWCO News Anchor Mike Binkley learning how to use his Camera at Red Bull Crashed Ice St Paul
I noticed he had his own camera in hand. It seems to me like he was experimenting and trying to figure out how to use the thing. I actually took a long-range picture of him and then tweeted to him something to the effect of, “Mike Binkley is learning photography”. Click below to go to the original tweet.
@binkofamerica becoming a photographer at #RedBull #CrashedIce 🙂https://t.co/CzAItZRXaH @WCCO pic.twitter.com/Ui5VY71rfQ
— Travel with Wayne Moran (@waynemoran_inc) January 26, 2015
Well, we have been connected on Twitter ever since simply because of that small gesture of kindness and noticing that he and everyone else is just a normal person. Of course I will never know for sure, but it is possible that the little tweet made an impact on Mike and because of that tweet he may have helped select me as one of the top 5 photographers for Instagram.
The real point here is, it is incredibly important to be active on several of the social media outlets if you want to have a larger effective reach and a stronger influence on your audience.
Yes the bottom line of social media is to influence your audience. If you do it correctly using the “best practices” outlined above, you will indeed have a large influence and you will have similar experiences that I have had, being named as the top 5 movers and shakers in whatever community you choose to be an expert.
Conclusion
I hope you found this article helpful and if you did, please put it into action and share it with your friends on your social media outlets. Social media can change your life like it has changed mine.
And until next time get out and capture the adventure!
These images and many more are available for purchase.
Find the complete online gallery here: Wayne Moran Fine Art Photography
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Written by Wayne Moran - Visit Website
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