Facebook Guidance/Suggestions

Someday_Dreamer

Hello All--

We have finally decided to take the plunge and do a Facebook page for our site. The questions are many--is there anyone that could fill me in on the 'best practices' for FB and Photos.

For example--Fan page or Business or Artist page?

Should we ever post the photos on the page or just links to our site..?
It is really easy to just pull the photo and right click -save

Advice Please-- :dunno

Thanks-
Diane

globaltrekk-photos.com

Someday_Dreamer

Someday_Dreamer wrote: »

Hello All--

We have finally decided to take the plunge and do a Facebook page for our site. The questions are many--is there anyone that could fill me in on the 'best practices' for FB and Photos.

For example--Fan page or Business or Artist page?

Should we ever post the photos on the page or just links to our site..?
It is really easy to just pull the photo and right click -save

Advice Please--

Thanks-
Diane

globaltrekk-photos.com

Come on--Really? No one wants to jump in--brag--caution--educate..?

lisap

Hi Diane,

I post only low resolution, watermarked images on my Facebook business page. They don't look as nice as the ones on my web site, but I'm mostly posting them so my clients can tag and share them with their family and friends easily. Having the watermark on them serves as a form of free advertising for me as well.

Hope that helps.

Someday_Dreamer

lisap wrote: »

Hi Diane,

I post only low resolution, watermarked images on my Facebook business page. They don't look as nice as the ones on my web site, but I'm mostly posting them so my clients can tag and share them with their family and friends easily. Having the watermark on them serves as a form of free advertising for me as well.

Hope that helps.

Yes--that is the kind of stuff I am looking for-- Has FB really helped anyone's business get noticed??

THank you--

Anyone Else?

Ohiohiker

Facebook has helped me get my name out as a photographer to people that did not know I did photography. I use Lightroom to publish to Smugmug. From there I do a blog post using blogger and links to my Smugmug Images. This is automatically published to my personal and business Facebook page using Networked Blogs.

WaltonPhotos

Facebook has helped me get all of my clients this year.

PupWeb

Facebook is your oyster
I have an artist page b/c I don't want to be compete with Walmart photography b/c of a lot of reasons warranted for a separate post. My fb page is not very exciting....yet & as of this posting I have a whopping 35 likes.
I have a alot of ideas but haven't used many except for putting coupons for fb fans only and also announcing family portraits dates first on fb. I think there is a lot of potential with fb that photographers haven't/aren't taking advantage of.

The main things I do not like about fb is that it is constantly changing the theme and navigation structure and as for the business side fb doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up.

Also get 25 likes ASAP so you can reserve your custom url.

NikonsandVstroms

I've been wary of Facebook ever since I heard that posting your photo gives them rights to them. Does anyone know the current status of this?

ColoradoSkier

I generally post pictures to my website/ blog, and then link to those from the Facebook status line. There is actually a widget that picks up my most recent blog post automatically, so I just put the info in once and then it appears on FB automatically. http://facebook.com/chesterbullockphotography to see it in action (made a post this morning with the snow we just got). I also installed the Facebook "Like" system into my blog pages as well as Smugmug. When someone comes across a pic or post they like, they just have to click "Like" and it is good to go. See it above the photo at http://www.chesterbullock.com/2011/04/14/spring-in-colorado/ or http://photos.chesterbullock.com/ for the Smugmug implementation. I wish it went to the individual picture level on SM, but it doesn't right now because of how the SM gallery is built. I may move off of SM when my term is up this fall (too expensive for the limited amount of sales I get). If I do, I'll probably implement some kind of gallery tool on my own website that let's me put the "Like" button on individual images.

Most of your traffic on FB is going to come from your friends or other photographers, at least initially. For my senior photos, I post those to Facebook, get the kids to add me as a "Friend", and then tag the photo with their name. This does a couple of things:
1) The image firmly says it is in your photo gallery, thus promoting your business name;
2) Allows the person in question to use the image as their profile picture.

You could watermark or otherwise put your company name on the image if you want. I elect not to, since it is already obvious where it came from.

The "best practices" for everyone are going to be different because your target demo is different. What I have done above works well for me, but YMMV. Don't be afraid to test different things and see what works for your specific demo. Above all, pay attention and respond to comments that people make. The more engaged people are on your page, and the more frequent you post new content (2-3 times a week is reasonable), the more likely your status updates will appear in the feeds of your fans, hopefully getting them to click now and again.

Someday_Dreamer

ColoradoSkier wrote: »

I generally post pictures to my website/ blog, and then link to those from the Facebook status line. There is actually a widget that picks up my most recent blog post automatically, so I just put the info in once and then it appears on FB automatically. http://facebook.com/chesterbullockphotography to see it in action (made a post this morning with the snow we just got). I also installed the Facebook "Like" system into my blog pages as well as Smugmug. When someone comes across a pic or post they like, they just have to click "Like" and it is good to go. See it above the photo at http://www.chesterbullock.com/2011/04/14/spring-in-colorado/ or http://photos.chesterbullock.com/ for the Smugmug implementation. I wish it went to the individual picture level on SM, but it doesn't right now because of how the SM gallery is built. I may move off of SM when my term is up this fall (too expensive for the limited amount of sales I get). If I do, I'll probably implement some kind of gallery tool on my own website that let's me put the "Like" button on individual images.

Most of your traffic on FB is going to come from your friends or other photographers, at least initially. For my senior photos, I post those to Facebook, get the kids to add me as a "Friend", and then tag the photo with their name. This does a couple of things:
1) The image firmly says it is in your photo gallery, thus promoting your business name;
2) Allows the person in question to use the image as their profile picture.

You could watermark or otherwise put your company name on the image if you want. I elect not to, since it is already obvious where it came from.

The "best practices" for everyone are going to be different because your target demo is different. What I have done above works well for me, but YMMV. Don't be afraid to test different things and see what works for your specific demo. Above all, pay attention and respond to comments that people make. The more engaged people are on your page, and the more frequent you post new content (2-3 times a week is reasonable), the more likely your status updates will appear in the feeds of your fans, hopefully getting them to click now and again.

Thank you all very much for your responses---Everything and All things help.

Also of note--yes FB does own rights to any photos posted---thats one of the reasons that I posted the question is to see how people on SM are protecting themselves and their pictures...

THanks again-- ANYONE Else..?

rt2photo

Facebook can help - if you use it right. I get a lot of business through it. Key, is to keep it updated - like a blog, if you don't post, no one will see it and interest will wain. Simply having it there isn't enough, it needs to be used.

Here are some tips - off the top of my head, and pretty much at random - these aren't intended to be rules, or even best practices, just what I do, and what I've found.

• Set it up as a fan page, not a profile - you want people to come to you, not you have to "friend" them.
• Post often, but on topic. Link your blog to it if you have one, so blog posts also come to the FB page.
• Never post more than three photos at a time - FB will only show three shots together, if you post more, they aren't visible on walls and will get much less exposure.
• If you want to post more, do them in threes!
• Watermark everything - people can download FB photos, and make them their profile pictures too - make sure your name goes with them.
• Tag people - it gets your photos showing up on their walls, and exposure to their friends. If in doubt, tag - they will ask you to remove the tag, or do it themselves if they don't want it. I *always* tell my clients I'll tag them though, they tell me up front if they don't want it.
• FB recently let you login as your page - go and "like" other local businesses, post to their walls as your page instead of yourself - more exposure.

My workflow is that when I've done a shoot, I'll get proofs on Facebook first - three at a time, tagging the models / families / people involved (everyone - MUAs, models, families, organizers etc). When I get the full gallery up on SmugMug, I'll then use the Share feature on SM to post the entire gallery to my wall - so there is a teaser, then there is a gallery link.


Thats my two cents

colourbox

Someday_Dreamer wrote: »

Also of note--yes FB does own rights to any photos posted---thats one of the reasons that I posted the question is to see how people on SM are protecting themselves and their pictures...

Facebook has revised their terms a few times to respond to all the Internet rage. It's now somewhat on par with the amount of licensing you must grant to Smugmug, Flickr, etc if they are to be able to copy your photos around the world on your behalf.

Facebook doesn't claim ownership of your copyright.

http://www.facebook.com/terms.php

2. Sharing Your Content and Information
You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition:
For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos ("IP content"), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook ("IP License"). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.
When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others).

Just for comparison, Smugmug:

You retain the copyright in any User Content you post on the Site. SmugMug neither has nor wants any ownership of your Content. However, by uploading and/or posting any User Content to the Site, you grant SmugMug a perpetual, nonexclusive and royalty-free right to use the User Content and the name that is submitted in connection with such User Content, as is reasonably necessary to display the User Content, provide the Services and to facilitate, at Content Owner's direction, the license of Photos or the sale of Products on the Site.

http://www.smugmug.com/aboutus/terms/

I like that Smugmug's license is a little clearer about why the license is needed in the first place. It's interesting, though, that Facebook actually tells you that Facebook gives up its license to your content when you delete it, while Smugmug doesn't specify that they ever give up licensing your content. Not a big deal, we know Smugmug can be trusted...it's just interesting that now Facebook explicitly claims less ownership of your content than some other services seem to.

You should be exercising the same level of diligence (size, watermarks, metadata, etc.) with photos you upload to Facebook as you do everywhere else. But not necessarily a significant amount more. The main risk on Facebook now is not what Facebook will do with them, but what users will do with them, just as anywhere else.

Brieyasmom

I love my facebook page. After every shoot i post a few watermarked pictures and tag clients in them. It is the best free advertising for me. I am very thankful and LOVE getting comments from friends, clients and friends of clients. Who are they going to think of when they need a photographer.... ME , why because my work is in front of them the hours people waste on facebook (including me)

chrisjohnson

Facebook has not helped me at all business wise. Probably I will stop with it as it is too confusing. Friends and family mixing up with business contacts. I think I will stick with Linked-in for my business, Smugmug for photos, my own sites for in-between, and perhaps reinvent myself on facebook for family and interesting friends.

I hooked up with a few businesses on FB but they are mostly looking like spam. Facebook is 90% hype.