From: "Christine Aguila"
Work has hooked into the byways of social media, so I feel I have to
participate, and, frankly, I enjoy reading the status updates of FB posters.
I recently created a Twitter account as well, though I now realize I'll
have to upgrade my current phone of limited smartness to a full fledged
smart phone. This way I can participate in social media via phone rather
than computer, which is kind of fun when you're on the train or bus or those
lazy moments on the couch.
As to a marketing tool, well, John, if you're going to create a full-blown
photography business, I would think your first priority is to create a
strong blood & bones client base in your geographic location; seems to me
this necessitates an intial focus on traditional local advertising options
and positive word-of-mouth. Once this has been established, FB & Twitter
could prove useful as a way to stay in touch with your existing client base,
and help to expand it.
Cheers, Christine
Yeah. I can see where it could be useful to stay in touch with people
you have a real relationship with, even if that relationship is based on
them being customers. What bothered me was the full-court FaceBook press
solely because FaceBook makes it so easy to use people, particularly
high school kids.
My antipathy for FaceBook was pre-existing, taking the form of "You do
your thing, I'll do mine ... but, thank you, FaceBook really ain't my
thing. (... so quit telling me I *have* to have a FaceBook account. I
don't *have* to do anything if I don't want to.)" 8-D
The presentations just reinforced that antipathy by emphasizing how easy
it is to mount what I consider to be a sleazy, dishonest FaceBook
marketing campaign to use, abuse, manipulate and take advantage of a
bunch of kids.
Unh-unh! Not just No, but HELL NO! ... ain't gonna' do it!
Ain't gonna' do Twitter either. I got a phone so I can make phone calls,
and that's as smart as the phone needs to be. I already got computers
that are smarter than I am. Hell, I got a microwave that's smarter than
I am, it can cook popcorn without burning it.
I do have a blog that I don't update often enough. I probably should
spend the time I spend on PDML trying to figure out something worth
saying there. But I like PDML, so that's where I'm gonna' stay. It's all
the social media I need, because it actually is social and not some scam
to separate a bunch of high school kids from their lunch money.
The other thing is I'm NOT planning a "full-blown photography business".
I'm retired. Maybe I didn't get to my retirement quite the way I wanted
to, but I *am* retired now. I want to enjoy that retirement.
My goal is a part time photography business that supplements my
retirement income - $2000/month net for 6 months out of the year would
be terrific; $1000/month net for 6 months would be adequate. I'm
thinking in terms of no more than 2-3 weddings per month from mid-March
through Thanksgiving. I want to be able to give my prospective clients
good value at a reasonable cost.
(Give 'em something worth fighting over when they get their divorce.)
And if the clients want extras - portraiture, engagements, babies, wall
portraits ... or they want a Christmas or Valentines day wedding, I'll
do that for them, with the goal still being a favorable cost/benefit
ratio for the client - without me going broke or actually having to go
back to working for a living.
It's a funny equation. I have a retirement income that is adequate for
my basic cost of living. It's not much, but I've been reasonably frugal
all of my life, so my basic costs aren't that high. I can have a good
life if I don't bring in one additional penny in income.
The idea behind having a supplemental income from photography is to
provide the little bit extra that will allow me the luxury of being a
photographer. I want to earn enough to pay for new equipment and pay for
travel so I can go places and use that equipment. I guess it's the
difference between retirement and an *active* retirement.
But if I have to work full time, I won't have time to enjoy the fruits
of my labor? I, for damn sure, don't want to spend 24/7/365 marketing a
part time business. If I wanted that, I could do Amway.
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