Wedding photographer and Instagram enthusiast, Matt Masson, answers some of the most asked questions when it comes to this trending social media platform used by more and more photographers each day.

Grow your audience

The best way to grow your audience in 2018 is to engage with other users by liking their posts and commenting on their work. You can also look at feature accounts – by getting featured on another account or page, you’ll often gain followers from their reach.

Create an Instagram marketing strategy

Draw up a content calendar for your business. Decide on how often you want to post, then export images and slot them into your calendar for posting, and stick to that!

Wedding photographer Matt Masson

© Matt Masson

How to monitor your progress & results from marketing

For business accounts, you have a full suite of analytic tools built right into Instagram. This information is excellent and lets you determine your most popular posts, changes in followers and engagement. It’s great to use this tool to track which posts are most effective and which don’t really work.

Should I separate my personal and business accounts?

Yes. Most brides who follow Instagram accounts for wedding inspiration won’t want to see a photo of last night’s lasagne. Separate accounts let you create consistency in your feed and your brand image.

Instagram or Facebook?

Instagram and Facebook! Instagram is great for photography because it’s entirely photo-based sharing. People use Instagram specifically to see photos and short videos, so it just makes sense for photographers. Facebook allows more content in each post, letting you create albums and lengthy text posts. It’s good to use both. Go where the people are – right now people are still using both platforms.

Using Instagram as a communication tool

Instagram is the single most powerful communication tool available right now. We have access to almost anyone in the world via a DM. I message people constantly on Instagram – whether its for collabs, potential business relations, or just to encourage others.

Wedding photographer Matt Masson

© Matt Masson

Which hashtags should I use?

Do your research. It’s important to consider your photographic genre and what it entails. If you do landscape photography, find a large feature account which reposts images of landscapes and use their hashtags. Note that it does vary heavily between the type of work you’re doing.

Why are captions important?

Captions give context to an image and allow you to tag any collaborators or models who you’ve worked with. It allows you to create engagement by asking questions or acts as a call-to-action.

Wedding photographer Matt Masson

© Matt Masson