Why Social Media Is NOT Your Portfolio
Why social media is not your portfolio
“I can’t post that picture on my feed! It’s not of my work!” she told me while sipping coffee. We had an in depth conversation about how she will only post pictures of her work (wedding photography in this case), because social media was her portfolio. She said things like, “ My followers only want to see my fully edited work”, “I can only post pictures that I’ve fully edited so everything matches aesthetically when they look back through my feed”, “it has to be perfectly curated so they know I’m high quality”. I could keep going, but I want to stop here because I have a question for you: does this sound like you?
If it does, let me ask you something: is that what you expect of the people you follow online? Do you only follow people who ONLY post about their work? Or ONLY post pictures that fit the editing style you’ve come to expect of them? Or ONLY post highly curated and perfect content? I know I don’t and I have a feeling you don’t either. This is a HUGE shift we’re seeing online and it’s something you need to be aware of as a business and as someone who uses social media…
People want to see more of you and your personality in a real, imperfect way NOT your highly curated work.
Social media users are sick of the perfect content, the overused presets, and the lack of connection online, so they’re taking action to get back to the purpose of social media: TO BE SOCIAL! People are craving to build relationships with those they follow, learning about who they are, the face behind the account, and connecting with them in a real, honest way. They want to see the messy, “behind the scenes” looks, not the perfect blogger images. With more and more proof about how social media is fostering dishonesty and general fakeness (Fyre Festival ring a bell?), people are craving what they know is real and true. Don’t believe me? Check this out
Jenna Kutcher: A Case Study
If you don’t know who Jenna Kutcher (https://jennakutcher.com) is, please do yourself a favor and check her out! She’s an educator, podcast creator, and past wedding photographer who started with a $300 craigslist camera, who used to post a lot about her wedding photography clients. (No, I’m not affiliated with her or her brand in any way. Just a student of hers and a follower of her life). She has a podcast episode (https://jennakutcherblog.com/instagram-growth/) where she talks about how she changed her content strategy and posted nothing but a picture of herself for a month. Sounds scary right? When she looked at the numbers, though, those posts were her posts with the most engagement and her account grew by leaps and bounds that month. Check out her episode for all the details, but moral of the story: people want to see YOU, not your portfolio.
My personal experience
I’m no Jenna Kutcher, but I’ve seen the same trends on my own, much smaller than her’s, accounts. Posting beautifully edited pictures of my clients got decent engagement. Posts about my business, like sales, upcoming events, bookings opening - well those basically always tanked. Posts about the behind the scenes of my business, like my messy desk, behind the scenes on a photoshoot, or my laptop screen with a project I was working on, they seemed to do a little better than my client images, but I assumed it was a fluke. After listening to Jenna’s podcast, and noticing the same shift in a lot of the social media realm, I gave it a try. I posted pictures of myself (not even relating to my business, but just my personality) for 2 days a week for a month. And I’m not talking lovely headshot-quality images. No, these were low light cell phone pictures that as a photographer, I felt ashamed to post. Can you guess which posts had triple my normal engagement? Yepp. Pictures of me. The proof is in the posts, babe. People want to get social.
Do you remember Myspace?
Maybe posting something other than your high quality work scares you shitless. Maybe you’re thinking, “well good for her, but that will never work for me, my followers won’t like that”. Let’s think about this, then. What happens if you’re using social media strictly as your portfolio/how potential clients contact you and whatever platform you’re using just disappears one day? Don’t think it could happen? Uh, babe, do you remember Myspace? Or Periscope? Trust me, it can happen. So what happens then? Cyrissa of The Sparkle Society (LINK) (who happens to be my amazing business coach and unofficial older sister) says it best when she preaches, “YOU DO NOT OWN SOCIAL MEDIA”. Say it again, write it down, whatever you need to do to remember it. You don’t own social media. You do not control what happens on those platforms. If they shut down, they shut down. They owe you nothing. So what’s your backup plan? If you were using the platform as your portfolio or basically your free website, you’re now sitting there, panicking, wondering how you’re going to start all over from 0….but if you were just using the platform to be social, you could easily find another way to be social with those same people, WITHOUT your business coming to a crashing halt. If you need solid, strategic evidence as to why your social media should be social and not your portfolio, just remember Myspace, mmkay babe? Also, make sure you have a website in case that apocalyptic nightmare does occur so you’re not starting from 0.
So here’s my challenge to you: try it out for yourself. I know it sounds scary, but the pressure is off to be perfect, because people want real. So snap some pictures of yourself with the timer on your phone’s camera. Show off your personality. Let people get to know you, and start getting social on social media. I am challenging you right here, right now - give it a try for 2 weeks just to see what happens. If it doesn’t work, go back to whatever you were doing, not a big deal...but I’m willing to bet you’re going to see a BIG change. So get it posted, track your numbers, and see what happens!
And if you’re sitting there thinking, “I want to give it a try, but what the hell do I take a picture of me doing? Just smiling at the camera? What do I talk about in the captions? My life is boring, no one wants to see that!”, trust me when I say I’ve been there and felt the same way. That’s why I created these 6 social posts (LINK) just for you to help you know exactly what to do and say to show up on social media. If you want them, click the button below to grab you 6 posts for free and start giving this crazy idea of being more social on social media a try!
Babe, when you realize this is the KEY to growing your tribe, finding real people who want to engage with you, and finding the most perfect clients, you’ll be hooked for life, I promise!
xoxo,
Courtney Jo
about the blogger
Hey babe! I’m Courtney Jo! I’m a content creator who coaches girl bosses on how to create their dream life of freedom through content creation, business, and mindset! I’m also an award winning, nationally recognized portrait photographer and I sling some amazing natural hair and skin care products on the side that has changed my confidence and life!
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I’m Courtney Jo! A photographer, girlboss coach, and shampoo slinger, with a goal to help boss babes create their dream life through content creation & coaching!
xoxo, Courtney Jo
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