In digital marketing, establishing a robust online presence is crucial for businesses aiming to boost visibility, engage with their audience and build lasting relationships. One effective strategy that often goes underestimated is the power of tagging on social media. This post delves into how strategic tagging in combination with great brand photography can transform your social media presence and elevate your brand's identity, alongside some dos and don'ts to ensure you don't piss anyone off! 😉
Why Tagging Matters
Tagging on social media serves as a gateway to increased engagement and visibility. By strategically tagging products, partners or influencers in your photos, you not only enhance their reach but also tap into another audience, expanding your brand's exposure exponentially.
Enhancing Engagement Through Tagging
When you tag relevant accounts in your feed, you create opportunities for collaboration and cross-promotion.
Whenever I am tagged in a client's post, I always immediately like it, comment and share that post to my stories, therefore boosting their reach and sharing that business with my own followers. It doesn't just benefit me to be credited in their post, letting their audience know I was their photographer (because you never know who might notice and end up enquiring for their own brand photography) but it also benefits them by getting in front of a new audience too.
I've had bookings come in years later from a credit on a client's website that was noticed by a new start-up who liked my work and remembered my name. Likewise, I've had followers tell me they've bought something or hired someone based on my recommendation or shares from other accounts.
Additionally, tagged posts are more likely to appear in relevant searches, attracting users interested in similar content and boosting your engagement metrics.
Building Authentic Relationships
Effective tagging is not just about increasing reach; it's also a means to build authentic relationships within your industry and the business community. By acknowledging and promoting partners, clients, and influencers through tagging, you showcase a collaborative spirit and foster trust with your audience.
It also demonstrates your respect for partners, especially if it was through a collaboration. When people have donated their time and effort to help each other, I feel it's even more important to foster that trust and continue to help boosting each other, even more so when it's been specifically agreed upon.
For example, if I offer a "freebie" for whatever reason (model call, adding to my portfolio, etc.), I always request that my business be tagged and credited when those images are used. It's a small price to pay in return for hours of work, and yet it doesn't always happen.
Despite being in my contract for collaborations, I find it is often forgotten (to give them the benefit of the doubt) and seeing my work being used without credit is always disheartening. I always send a polite reminder once but I don't want to be a nag if it's repeated. Whilst disrespect is rarely the reason behind the lack of a tag on social, unfortunately it can be taken that way by the forgotten business owner and may mean they are less inclined to work with you again in the future.
I obviously don't require paying clients to tag me but some do anyway and it's always lovely to see. They understand that it helps us both. I always tag relevant accounts in my posts - I care about all my clients and want to help fellow businesses to succeed, so I give any additional promotion that I can to boost their business.
Leveraging Brand Photography for Success
Tagging is a simple yet powerful tool that, when used strategically alongside quality photography, can transform your social media presence from ordinary to extraordinary. Consider incorporating tagging into your brand photography strategy to unlock new opportunities for growth and visibility.
It's important that you don't just tag anyone and everyone though. It has to be authentic and relevant. People aren't going to thank you for popping up in their notifications all the time because you're hoping they might share it if they have nothing to do with what you're posting about.
A delicious breakfast I had at Tyler's Ground this morning, lovely people who I'm delighted to recommend!
(Not a client, I took these for fun.)
Think about what your audience wants to see, I share a lot of places we like to eat, independent brands I love and recipes too. I love to know where certain items are from in posts - be it fashion, food or locations in an image - I won't always have time or want to ask so if you're talking about a great new place you've found - tag them so I can easily find and follow them myself! It will also save you time having to field questions from people who want to know, put it right there in your post.
Edit: When I posted that photo of my breakfast last week, the business thanked me for sharing and shared it in their stories. I gained two new followers and I also had comments from two of my followers saying they were definitely going to visit Tyler's Ground based on my recommendation and photo.
The Visual Impact
Enhancing this insightful content you need visually captivating images that showcase your professionalism. A consistent image makes a big difference when building an authentic brand people can trust.
Embrace the visual narrative these images offer and envision the impact strategic tagging can have on your brand's storytelling.
What you should never, ever do is assume that because someone has tagged you in a post that you can take it and post it on your own feed, even with a tag crediting the original photographer. ALWAYS ask first. If you don't get permission then you're stealing; the Instagram/Meta T&Cs do actually state this and you could get in trouble for intellectual property theft and copyright infringement. If I'm asked in advance, I generally say yes and ask for a credit and I'll even send you a web-ready image rather than you having to use a low quality screenshot.
Dos & Don'ts
Basically...
DO tag relevant accounts in your posts
DO credit collaborators in the caption (a simple "Photo by @bex.photo" will do in my case)
DO ask before using images if you don't already have permission
DO share posts you're tagged in on stories (this links back to the original post)
DON'T steal images
Embrace the Power of Tagging
In conclusion, the power of tagging in brand photography cannot be overlooked. It presents a gateway to boost your social media presence, enhance engagement and build meaningful relationships. Start tagging strategically today to witness the transformative impact it can have on your brand's digital identity.
For further insights on optimizing your social media strategy and crafting a professional brand image, get in touch for a free chat with me to see how I can help...
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