How many times have you been on Facebook, or LinkedIn, or visited a website that has a photo of the person on it, and the photo is simply a snapshot at some family event (or worse yet at the bar) and they cropped it down to their face? If the photo is on Facebook it is passible since that is suppose to be a place for us to let our hair down and hang with our friends and family. It is sort of like a cyber bar of sorts. But when you are posting a photo on a professional site like LinkedIn that is totally unacceptable. You are projecting an image with your photo. You want that image to be professional, to show that you are someone that they should consider hiring, or contracting, or doing business with. You don't really want to skimp on your image. This is some of the most important marketing dollars you will spend. 

This is also true of social media that you are using to promote your business. This is where image becomes very important on Facebook. My daughter and son-in-law run a business specifically to help people market their business on social media. They have helped a number of businesses already in creating a positive and successful social media presence. The photos in this particular blog post are from a shoot I did for one of their clients. He works as a loan originator, helping people get their dream homes. So he needs to show an image of trust, but also wants to show that he is approachable. This is how he can attract business. So when we did the photo shoot we worked at showing those qualities. Now he has photos that can be used in the social media marketing that he is working on building with New Media Design Studios. I worked with the designers about what type of image they wanted. I also talked with Nick. We then did a shoot to get photos that fit the look. 

It is not uncommon to hear from budding photographers how they can make money with their photography. Well this is a good example of a niche market that cannot be outsourced to another country, and can make you money. If you can learn to help create the proper image for a business person, or a business, then you have a great business of your own. And make sure you get good photos of yourself to market yourself to others. Oh, and a photo of "guy/gal with camera" taken in a mirror does NOT constitute a good photo for a photography business. That just shows lack of imagination. It is one of those majorly overdone cliche shots often seen on photography lists and even in photography marketing. And worse yet, many people take the same photos in a bathroom and posting it on Facebook or Hot-or-Not thinking it makes them look all sexy. This is a good time to trade services with another photographer. Shoot each other. 

So sometime this week go up on LinkedIn and scan through your friends photos. Take a look at what they post. See how many use junk photos. And if they live close call them up and tell them you can help them with their professional image. It could be fun, and might even net you some money to help get that next camera or other bit of gear.