How to up your Instagram game with David Lazar

Exceptional travel photographer David Lazar shares with us his views on the social media platform, Instagram.

How do you use Instagram as a communication tool?

I use it to share my photographs from my travels around the world.

Should you separate your personal & business accounts?

I would say yes, although I only have one account which showcases all of my travel photography work.

How do you monitor your marketing progress on Instagram?

I focus on the number of likes I get per photograph to see which photo people react to more. This helps me to learn what kind of photos are better received: These generally are photos with a very clear subject and focal point – something people can relate to.

What is your Instagram marketing strategy?

I try to post at a time where most people around the world is awake. There is a period of time when it’s very early in America, daytime in Europe, afternoon in South Africa and the Middle East, and evening in Asia and Australia; this time-frame gives me the best exposure.

How do you keep your audience growing?

I try to post regularly and keep the quality of the photos high. I find that when my photos are shared by other accounts with a good following, my audience will grow as a result of that.

What’s your advice with regard to hashtags?

Use hashtags that are related to the image you are sharing, such as the country it was taken in or anything specific in the frame. When you use general words, your photographs can easily get lost among others.

Why are captions important?

Captions are important to inform the viewer of what is going on in your images and they show that you care about the process of posting on Instagram.

How do you choose your photographs for Instagram?

I use my instinct and go from there. I try to pick photos from all my trips and refrain from repeating anything. I constantly change and mix up the subject matter of my feed.

Why did you choose travel photography?

When my travels began and I started to see other photographs from around the world which I admired. Travel photography was the genre I was drawn to. I am interested in scenes that don’t represent the modern urbanised world, but rather scenes of different people and cultures that could have existed over a hundred years ago.