Archive 2013 · Facebook question

friscoron
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Facebook question

I never really mind posting my HS senior portraits, family portraits, or wedding pictures on Facebook as the ones I post are being delivered to the client as part of the package they purchased.

When I shoot dance, I normally post to my online gallery where prints can be purchased, or people can purchase digital downloads. Not really thinking about it, I posted 15 of my best Nutcracker pictures to my Facebook page today, and then had Ballet Chicago share it to their Facebook page, and that album has been going crazy all day. I've gotten a number of new likes for my FB page, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

Because of all the attention to my page, I thought it would be a great idea to release more pictures on Wednesday, and again more on Thursday and Friday. Just keep my Facebook page humming along and gaining more likes. That's when I remembered that people can take your pictures. Sure, it's at a low resolution, but I just downloaded one and pulled it into Photoshop to check it out. originally it was 295 kb at 2048x1363 pixels at 72 dpi. But when I increased the dpi to 300, it appears like it would print quite nicely on a 5x7 print. Scheize. That's not good. I rely on these print sales from the dance shoots.

I could put them in my online gallery like I normally do, but it's not going to drive the traffic to my Facebook page.

I think I just have to bite the bullet and not put them on Facebook. Instead, just put them in their normal gallery. I always upload to Facebook at full resolution so they don't appear pixelated.

Just curious what anyone else does in a situation like this. I want to continue building up my Facebook page, but I can't afford to lose the sales.

Thoughts?

Ron

Dec 17, 2013 at 05:27 PM

Evan Baines
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Facebook question

Rock < Ron < Hard Place

How important is FB to your marketing strategy?

This is part of the reason the print sales model can be so tough to pull off these days. Not that it can't be done, but that its tough.

Dec 17, 2013 at 05:31 PM

friscoron
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Facebook question

Yeah, Evan, I don't try to generate print sales for weddings and portraits. Prints are included as part of the package. In weddings, I often sell prints to guests from my online gallery, but it's a small part of what I do and I don't lose any of those sales (not that I care) when I post 30 pictures or whatever from the wedding on Facebook.

My print sales for dance is completely different. I've generated more than $1500 in sales from my Nutcracker photography, so this actually is important. And your analogy of me being between a rock and a hard place is exactly on the money.

I'm thinking I've got to put them on my gallery, and not on my Facebook page. Funny how it didn't occur to me when I posted the first pictures. Ugh.

Dec 17, 2013 at 05:41 PM

danlona
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Facebook question

Ron did you place a link to your online gallery on you FB page? And post really small low res of your image there and place your watermark maybe slightly bigger than usual ? I don't know.

Danny

Dec 17, 2013 at 05:45 PM

kensglamour
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Facebook question

Ron, what's the attraction for Facebook "likes"? It's like a five year old saying "like me, like me!". I reluctantly use FB. First off, the more your image is processed, the worse the quality is. Secondly, you can figure that anything you post will be stolen.

I post to FB only a few teasers from a photo shoot, all with prominent watermarks in low res. Then I invite the viewers to see the real images on my web site which has had over 700,000 photo views this year and is right click protected. I don't even know how many "likes" I have and don't care.

Ken

Dec 17, 2013 at 05:52 PM

jefferies1
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Facebook question

I don't think many people know the difference in a print quality file vs web quality so if there image is on FB they are fine with that. Even if you placed a watermark in the middle they will still copy and share it as if it is not there. I have even seen people with prints on the wall and a watermark dead center. They never think the watermark is to prevent use. Most think some big ego photographer just wants his name to be seen. Funny how non photographers see things.

I would make a cluster photo. A few images maybe 3/4-1" square that will fit the timeline display size of 403x403 px as a PNG file. They seem to stay sharper than JPG. That way you get seen but no one has an individual image to keep. Link to your sales page. Maybe offer a coupon code for a discount on the print site.

For the next post take a photo of a wall size print in a living room. Give them the idea of a canvas or something really special being done. Again link to the sales page with a coupon code for the canvas. Seems like the more you can show the more sales you might make.

Those who print the images with watermarks in the middle will never buy a print anyway. You know the type.

Dec 17, 2013 at 06:00 PM

friscoron
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Facebook question

danlona wrote:
Ron did you place a link to your online gallery on you FB page? And post really small low res of your image there and place your watermark maybe slightly bigger than usual ? I don't know.

Danny

Yeah... Lisa says the same thing. I'm thinking about it, just not really a watermark sort of guy. My wife thinks that is what I need to do as well.

Dec 17, 2013 at 06:19 PM

friscoron
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Facebook question

kensglamour wrote:
Ron, what's the attraction for Facebook "likes"? It's like a five year old saying "like me, like me!". I reluctantly use FB. First off, the more your image is processed, the worse the quality is. Secondly, you can figure that anything you post will be stolen.

I post to FB only a few teasers from a photo shoot, all with prominent watermarks in low res. Then I invite the viewers to see the real images on my web site which has had over 700,000 photo views this year and is right click protected. I don't even know how many "likes"...Show more →

Ken, appreciate the feedback. My business model is driven to use Facebook as a marketing tool, one of the many that I use. I usually get at least one new client a month from Facebook, so it's proven to be a valuable tool for me. And that's with just 600-plus followers. It will only grow from there as the numbers go up.

And yeah, I'm aware that pictures can be stolen. For the most part, I don't expect additional sales from pictures on Facebook. But my dance pictures do drive additional print and digital download revenue.

Dec 17, 2013 at 06:22 PM

friscoron
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Facebook question

jefferies1, I'm with you. And yeah, that group isn't going to buy prints. This dance school has more affluent parents, so my sales are more significant than other schools I've shot for.

Dec 17, 2013 at 06:30 PM

VilleK
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Facebook question

kensglamour wrote:
Then I invite the viewers to see the real images on my web site which has had over 700,000 photo views this year and is right click protected.

"Right click protected" doesn't mean anything if your viewer wants to save the photo. If the photo can be seen it can also be downloaded with relatively small amount of work and it cannot be prevented. This is the price you need to pay for the increased visibility.

I usually upload only low resolution images (<1024x1024) since you cannot produce a decent print from that small photo. It is the best compromise between my ability to control the usage of the photos and the quality viewed by potential customers.

Dec 18, 2013 at 03:22 AM

bruce smith 10
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Facebook question

We do events and sports and have and online sales and sometimes onsite sales. As soon as you upload images to anything on the web, Facebook or your web site without a really big ugly copyright across the middle it will be stolen. It’s not a question about if but when. In 2006 we had placed in middle of every image" copyright”. After seeing our images stolen we added our name to copyright...more stolen. About 2010 we had to go to this big ugly copyright “if you see this (c) symbol of our images anywhere other than our web site. . IT’S STOLEN. Please contact us for reward" People would say ohhh i thought I was helping you by advertising your work before we added the STOLEN. Every walk of life, Coach, trainer, teacher, parent, subjects in image but mostly kids are caught because they post on FB . The others just have them on the computers.
Some Folks now contact us when they see our ugly copyright of our photos on FB to report others. I think most are just embarrassed to post now with the stolen part but many still do. With print screen and now the snipping tool they steal them for their PC or phone and many only want the memory and really do not care if there is a big ugly copyright all over the image or if the quality is horrible. So making them low resolution and a small size does not even matter. They are not printing these. Obvious that “right click disabled” has never protected us. We do sell many many prints every year to pay our bills.
If you have low res files on the web without a big ugly copyright and they steal them and do print them and they show friends the friends will think your work is horrible because of the low quality! You are crazy to place a small copyright on lower part of image as that will be cropped.
We sometimes set up viewing stations at events and people would take photos of photos on the viewing station monitor…..horrible quality but it’s mostly about a memory and not about quality. Even with big signs stating “no photos of our photos-it’s illegal” They are not printing these. We had a few tag teams (Mom & child) where one would try to block our view of the other taking a photo of the monitor. . I think only post images on Facebook that have sold or ones you think will never sell. Very tired of being the Facebook police and now Instagram but if you upload to public site that’s the reality.

Dec 18, 2013 at 09:27 AM


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