Could Instagram be the new bio? Find out on this episode of Workbook Radio.
Workbook Regional Representative Heidi Goverman talks Instagram with brand visionary Shauna Bigby Davis, senior art producer Jessica Mirolla, art & print producer Suzee Barrabee, creative director Glenn Batkin, and senior photo producer Kenneth Zane.
Heidi starts by asking Shawna what she likes to see on a photographer’s Instagram feed.
HG: “Let’s start with you, Shawna. What do you wanna see on a photographer’s Instagram feed?”
SBD: “I’m going to say this first, don’t hit me up on Facebook. Facebook is for my family. Please don’t. Let’s keep it professional. Instagram is wonderful; LinkedIn is wonderful; please keep it to that.
“Instagram! I want to see what I’m not seeing on your website. I want to see your day-to-day, professional lens. Right? These don’t have to be the polished pieces that you’re putting up on your site. This could be a curation. You as photographers already have amazing eyes. I want to see your daily, your daily world. This is an opportunity, I think, for you to display a little bit more of your personality, a little bit more of your passions, who you are, and to also let loose a little bit and show a little bit more freedom. For me it’s exciting to see both the website and the Instagram. When I see that they are both reflections of each other? I’m a little disappointed frankly, because I feel like they’re just sort of…it’s just sort of a copy-and-paste. Instagram I think is an opportunity for you guys to show more flavor.”
Suzee talks about what it takes to get her to follow you.
HG: “Suzee, what would it take…how would somebody get you to their Instagram? Like what would attract you to photographers, to follow them?”
SB: “Just good work!”
HG: “Just good work?”
SB: “Yeah. Just wanting to see more. And I completely agree with Shawna. Please don’t do Facebook. That is personal. Also, I agree, Instagram can be fun! It should be fun. It should definitely be complimentary to your website. It should not be a repetition.”
Shawna talks about the importance of hashtags.
SBD: “If you guys aren’t using hashtags, get up on that now. Minimum of 24 hashtags, up to 30. That’s going to help people find your work. And be specific about it. You also don’t want to replicate. If you replicate the same hashtags over and over again, you’re going to get dinged, so you want to change that up all the time.”
HG: “What does that mean ‘dinged?’”
SBD: “In the algorithm because Instagram works on an algorithm, if you use the same [hashtags] again and again, it basically lowers your chances of getting higher rankings.”
Glen gives his take on Instagram and its bio potential.
GB: “You know, it’s interesting because I agree with a lot of the stuff [Shawna and Suzee] are saying. I actually think Instagram is the new bio. You know, I don’t think the bio for me means anything, and personally I don’t look at any emails. So, Instagram does everything. It tells me everything about what they’re doing, who they are, are they someone that I’d like to know?
“There was a photographer that I started following, and I started following his life basically through Instagram. I got to know him and never met him. He’s doing philanthropic things, he’s travelling, he’s doing a lot of pro bono work, and you see him in all these scenes. They’re not comedic but they’re just…wow, that guy you wanna sit and have a beer with, and probably want to work with because he seems like he has a good heart and so on and so on. So yeah, I think it’s hypercritical. And I say to my clients to look at Instagram feeds, on top of…‘Hey, take a look at their website. If you don’t have time for that, at least look at their Instagram and see who they are. Because you’re spending a lot of money, again. So, you’d probably like to see someone you’d like.’”
HG: “But I think you just said one of the greatest things: it is your bio. I love that. That is an important thing for [the audience] to hear and remember, that you guys are looking at it [in this way]. And it’s true. Of course, my Instagram is about my christmas tree, and it’s true! It’s the thing that jazzes me. You’ll know so much about me by looking at my christmas tree and how bizarrely I obsess about it. So, I think that’s a really interesting point. Thank you.”
GB: “Well here’s what it does, just to add one more thing. I think people today use Instagram as communication and entertainment in between doing lots of stuff, whereas I don’t think emails (at least for me) do that at all. I think of emails at work, and I think of Instagram as everything else. But, if you’re really feeling your Instagram feed, and I’m following you, you’re top of mind endlessly because I’m looking at [it] like 30-50 times a day. And anyone who tells you they’re not doing that I don’t actually believe. So therefore, I’m seeing what you’re doing without it being labored and hitting me with email after email, like [Ken] was saying, get an email every day. I don’t mind following, if I like the work; I want to see what you’re doing day to day.”
HG: “That’s interesting. You don’t want an email every day, but you would see the Instagram every day. It’s a really good point.”
GB: “Sure! It doesn’t bother me. It’s a picture!”
SBD: “Well it’s also a passive experience, right?”
HG: “Exactly.”
SBD: “It’s us going out as opposed to being bombarded with more information.”
GB: “Right.”
SBD: “Like, I’m seeking it out.”
HG: “Absolutely.”
So how do creatives find your profile? The panelists weigh in.
HG: “So [Jessica] will, if I have it in my [email signature], but how do [the rest of you] get to their Instagram? How do you find these people?”
GB: “I’m working on hunting all the time.”
HG: “[Jessica] you look at recommendations all the time, which I think is brilliant.”
JM: “I’ll look at recommendations and if something comes across my desk. Again, if I’m looking at your site, and I’m looking at emails coming from you, and you’re mirroring it on Instagram, I’m probably not following you on Instagram. I’m constantly digging. I’m the one that when I find a new Instagram and it [suggests] ‘what about these people?’ I’ll go and look at all those people.”
HG: “Oh, okay so…“
JM: “You never know who you’re going to find. I’m following, like the tried and true, like NatGeo’s, Magnum’s; I love to look at that all the time, that’s easy.”
HG: “And it recommends people.”
JM: “It’ll say that. So, let’s say that I hit Magnum. It says, ‘Oh! So, if you like Magnum, what about these folks?’ And then I’ll go in and start looking. Also, when people turn me on, ‘Hey, have you seen so-and-so’s site?’ And I agree with [Suzee]; I like your website, I want to see the world from your point of view daily [on your Instagram]. Like if I’m following you, I like that. Like, we’re all in Palm Springs. What are you taking pictures of?”
Does a follow mean a follow back? Jessica starts.
HG: “And what if I start to follow you? Do you look at me if I start to follow you?”
JM: “Mine’s private. It has a lot to do with my son and my life, so I have very few followers, and I follow a lot of people.”
HG: “Okay. Fair enough. Do you guys agree with that?”
SBD: “Same. Up until last month, my Instagram was private. I have like…maybe 500 people on it. If you looked at me [my profile] you’d [think], ‘You know nothing about Instagram.’ It’s just that I choose to be a lurker and a voyeur, rather than a post-er. Hashtags for me are really key and then on recommendations.”
Finally, the panelists weigh in on Instagram curation. Glen starts.
GB: “As far as the curation and the pagination…sure, I think that if it looks good. It should be curated, if that’s what you mean. You know, as opposed to extremely random, where there’s no rhyme or reason to any of it, I think there should be some thought behind what you’re putting out there. It’s not just like Facebook, where you’re throwing anything up there at a moment’s notice. I think it should be thoughtful.”
Shawna follows up with a qualifier.
SBD: “Curation? Fantastic. Like [referencing an example feed presented to the audience] by size and color, and shape, so they feel like ‘like’ images. But when you take an image and you block it out to six or nine [different posts]?”
HG: “Yeah you don’t know what it is until you see the whole [feed on a profile page].”
SBD: “Yeah, I don’t dig it.”
JM: “Are you getting all six or nine of it? Because that’s my issue. I want you to edit. I don’t want seventeen photos from you in one day. I follow a lot of people, as much of a photo addict as I am. I probably look at my [Instagram] more because I’m like ‘Pictures! Pictures!’“
GB: “Well, yeah. Plus, it’s your job.”
HG: “Yeah!”
JM: “I don’t want to see nineteen photos.“
HG: “From the same person in an hour.”
JM: “Right. So this [presented stream], so this looks like it might be coming through the day.”
HG: “[My colleague] taught me that. She said, ‘Don’t throw up on people’s Instagram.’”
Glen laughs.
SBD: “Yeah.”
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