A new reality for models and photographers.
As a photographer I have struggled with creating more web site traffic and with other forms of social media each of them took a lot of my time and energy to develop and maintain. The results varied but I was either not great at it or did nto have enough time to make it work to my satisfaction.
Then Facebook created pages for businesses which is nothing more than a profile with a few different features to eliminate the possibility of spamming and still ensure that all fans were updated in an unobtrusive and more polite manner. So I created one and invited my friends and associates.
The page slowly grew and grew and grew and now contains 17,000 followers. I publish my photos of the models that I photograph and they are presented on my followers walls and with likes and shares etc sometimes posted to their friend’s walls. So the numbers kept growing.
I recently noticed one of my image posts had been presented 43,000 times. So I went to review this statistic over a longer period. I discovered FB has not published this figure to page owners for even a year yet, so I took a few minutes to add up all of the times my posts has been presented for others to view.
I am astounded that the total is currently over 1,250,000 in3 months.
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Ammendment
after downloading accurate stats from FB insites
for three months Aug-Oct 2010
Daily Impressions of stream stories generated by your Page (Total Count)1,998,532
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It occurred to me that the wholly grail for models and photographers was or is to be published in a magazine. There were two primary reasons and the first is a recognition that the image met the criteria applied by that publication and it was good enough to help market the magazine. So it suggested that the image was of commercial quality and that the model and photographers skills were being recognized. The other and maybe more important reason was the opportunity to be seen and to be appreciated by a larger audience. So it was and still can be a huge boost to ones career and an opportunity to capture some bragging rights.
According to Wikipedia there are about 30 magazines in Canada with a circulation over 100,000 a month which is what it might take to match the 1.25 million presentations I have received on FB in 3 months. In the USA there are 100 Magazines that produce more than 100,000 a month. The reason I chose 100,000 was to suggest that my little fan page produces the same or greater opportunities in the long run than most magazines might offer me if i had an images published an almost any of them. For one thing everyone who wishes to contact me is able to do so easily with just a few clicks and it is not a matter of getting the magnifying glass to read the fine print, if the magazine even credits the photographer. For the clients I post on my site it provides much the same kind of exposure.
If someone had suggested to me a year ago that millions of views might be possible I would have simply laughed at them, but this is a very new world and everything is about to change.
Real celebrities like Lady Gaga with 21,282,348 followers probably have a greater influence than any magazine on the planet as she has more readers than any of them. That is probably a very chilling statistic for any magazine editor and of course the life expectancy of any printed magazine.
I am not thinking I will become anywhere near that popular as i am jsut a regional photographer in a smaller city or region in a north amaerica but I know I can probably over the next frew years reach nearly 50,000 followers, at which time the images presented on this page will be presented well over 150,000 times each. That is far more exposure than I ever thought possible for a relatively small town regional photographer and his clients.
Models should have a much easier time creating a larger fan base much faster as they are the stars, and generally out an about meeting people in real life at shows and events. Given that most are simply advertising on modelling web sites that provide only a few hundred viewers, and only if they have to to imvest in marketing themselves. FB is an enormous leep forward to a brand new exciting level of exposure for any model starting out or experienced.
I wrote this to help others see the potential and help this pages followers understand the huge benefits a successful page might be for them. Also for my clients to see and understand the power of this media, and appearance on a page like this, to reach the audience they seek and bring people to thier own fan pages.
PS: Clients have optoins
Some do not want to appear on this page. (Private personal sessions – or jsut a desire for privacy)
Some like it but do not want to be identified. (Do not wnat to be attakced with 1000.s friend requests)
Some want the photos linked to thier pages for additional fan growth toward a growing celebrity.
(Understands the power and benefits of the pages for thier personal business)I will not link photos to personal profiles.
