by Annie Noon of Fotoforce Photography
In days gone by we created a brochure to promote our business which would last us for 2-5 years , had a business card printed and then made a wise choice to produce occasional magazine or newspaper advertisements and that was the typical promotional approach to business promotion. The ‘Playing Field’ has now changed and it’s name is social media, a constant ever changing barrage of digital information for your current and prospective clients to absorb on a daily basis.
Firstly choose your social media approach…
Facebook: with a personal and a business page for your family, colleagues, friends and potential new customers.
Instagram: A quick and convenient connection between your smart phone device with access to photo filters and editing.
Twitter: use of 140 characters or less and then add a photo or short video clip.
Linked In: Geared exclusively to business where you can meet new customers, access new employees, access vendors and keep up with industry news.
Snapchat: This app gives you the ability to take images with your smart phone, edit and add artwork or text.
Pinterest: A virtual idea and inspiration pinboard which lets you share your pictures and creative ideas; fantastic for the do-it-yourself crowd.
Tumblr: This hosts micro blogs and users can add multi media , images and short video clips.
Youtube: A video sharing service that holds billions of clips making it the World’s second largest search engine . You can see product reviews, music clips, promotional clips and ‘How To’ instructions for anything and everything.
Meet Up: A great way of promoting different organizations and groups around specific industries, interests and hobbies. In turn a great way of making new business contacts and friends and exploring a specific interest.
These are just nine of the more popular social media outlets and they are just the tip of the iceberg. Choose the social media outlets that suit your business and in turn your clients and customers, a multiple platform is going to work best. These days people want to see the faces behind the business so you need to be able to put yourself in front of the camera. You need to document what you are up to on a regular basis as it is your images that draw people in to want to read your story. The more creative you can get with your imagery , the more people are going to notice you and want to share your information. Write your message in the sand with a beautiful beach view beyond, spell out some words with scrabble letters or on a chalk board again in a stunning setting , use props, food, drinks and locations to convey a strong visual message which ties in with your brand.
If you have any events coming up that you are hosting, think of some easy competitions that you can run that will generate lots of images and interest. Two that I have done promotional photos for charity recently involved people writing a lifestyle message on their hands and then posting it on social media, this was hugely successful for the Bravehearts group another one involved photographing eyes for the Rize Up ( against domestic violence ) campaign . Great ideas for getting people on your band wagon to help support your viewpoint or even products which can often go viral. Coffee shops ask their customers to photograph their branded take away coffee cups in all sorts of exotic locations…a Late on the Lawn, a Cappuccino on the couch , a long black at the beach and so on, people will go to extraordinary lengths for you to come up with an interesting photo. Make a competition out of it with a monthly award for the shot of the Month. Another thing I’ve photographed at recent corporate events or product launches is the ‘flat lay’…have a couple of your products on hand and a basket of props to choose from. A low table top , some fabrics, flowers, mirror, appropriate props to suit your product and ask everyone to create an eye-catching ‘flat lay’ still-life image to post on Instagram using your hashtag. The results will be awesome and varied, then pick a winner with the most stunning image to win a product selection or gift certificate. And in turn access hundreds of potential new clients through everybody’s Instagram friends.
Most of us have smart phones or Ipads on hand these days where we can grab our shots as we go along. These can be perfect for your social media use but when you are looking for high quality state of the art imagery for websites, press release, magazine advertisements, display images or promotions you are best to use a professional photographer. Have a brain storming session with them pre-shoot to see what ideas you can come up with together for great imagery.
Think about future promotions that you have coming up so that you can get a small library of imagery that you can call on for different events throughout the year. I would suggest getting a professional photographer in once or twice a year to work on these ideas with you. Make sure you file your electronic images somewhere easy to find on your hard-drive so that you have easy recall access when needed. Make sure your images are supplied to the chosen medium in a size that suits the medium. For social media an image should be around 500KB – 1 MG in size , for press release 1-2 MG , and for full reproduction we would normally supply 5-8 MG files dependant on the finished output size of your printing.
Many people are nervous about having their photo taken, an experienced professional photographer will be able to help you feel relaxed and help you pose so that you look comfortable, attractive and friendly. We can then edit your images to enhance your look.
You don’t want to be over photo-shopped as this can make you look plastic , but it’s nice to know that any blemishes can be removed and that we can make your skin glow a little and your eyes sparkle .. the best version of yourself. At Fotoforce we like to think that we can help you put your Best Face Forward.
Annie Noon runs Fotoforce Photography out of her Burleigh Heads Studio on the Gold Coast along with her partner David Holman.
Fotoforce has been in business for 20 years on the Gold Coast and their clients include the Gold Coast Titans, Bond University, John Flynn Hospital, Ruby PR, The Small Business Association of Australia and Bartercard. Before this Annie was based in Sydney photographing fashion for Australia’s top magazines including Vogue Australia and received a travel grant to photograph the Greek Islands for a year from the Australian Arts council .
She also spent 5 years based in London photographing for Sotheby’s Art Auction house and various Model agencies. She has had various photographic exhibitions of her Art photography around Australia and has various photographic pieces housed at the Australian Art Gallery, the NSW & the Victorian Art Galleries. She also spent 7 years as a full time media and press photographer. All of the mediums of fashion, art, press, media, products & lifestyle & wedding photography give her a vast experience base for her Fotoforce business.
www.fotoforce.com Ph: 07-5576 3523
admin@fotoforce.com Mob: 0417-882 554