In this episode Oh Shoot! podcast, Cassidy Lynne talks about TikTok strategies for photographers and more!
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In this episode, Cassidy Lynne gives her best strategies for posting to Tik Tok as a photographer including how to create a content schedule, how often you should post, what content should you create, etc.
TikTok Strategies for Photographers
The first, thing I want to address is Tik Tok getting banned?
Personally, I still feel like we are TikTok strong. Like there’s not a ton of people leaving Tik Tok I still feel like Tik Tok is a very important app. An important platform that a lot of people are using, so before you listen to this episode you’re like ugh well I don’t even need any of these tips because TikTok’s getting banned and I don’t care. NOT true, I mean it could get banned so it could be true but for right now not true okay! it’s a very very helpful app so let’s talk about why you should use TikTok Tok why is it going to be beneficial for you as a photographer, as a business owner, and as someone who wants to grow more bookings!
TikTok Strategies for Photographers
Why use TikTok?
Number one, it’s going to help you get shown to a new audience that isn’t on any other platform that you use! So, this is a big benefit to using multiple Platforms in your marketing strategy because not every single audience is on every single platform. I think about Charlie he really only uses Facebook okay guys, so his marketing is on Facebook, the people who are trying to market him and get him to buy things are putting ads on Facebook! Number two, it helps you get shown to a new audience that isn’t on IG. I think about someone like Miles, I did an interview with him a while ago, but he said that literally Kevin Jonas saw his video on Instagram and that’s how we got the gig to work with the Jonas Brothers and now he’s shooting for Olivia Rodrigo. Think about your audience on TikTok Tok it’s a completely different audience than your audience on Instagram you never know who is going to be on TikTok. And someone that’s on TikTok might not have Instagram so you want to make sure you’re not putting all of your eggs in that one platform! Other things why you should use TikTok are because, it’s easy to recycle your content if you’re already making reels, a lot of luxury clients are on TikTok, it helps you understand trends & catch them ahead of time it’s the best place to see how & why videos go viral.
TikTok Strategies for Photographers
So, when it comes to TikTok the first thing is CONSITENCY! 100% I am not lying to you guys right now this is like proven you don’t see success if you’re not consistent with it!! Seriously if you want to see a successful business grow from your Tik Tok you have to be consistent. I’m not saying you can’t go viral; you can be inconsistent and still go viral but success in my mind when it comes to the TikTok platform does not equal a viral video it equals creating revenue and meeting your goals. Don’t be so focused on views all the time that you lose track of like why am I doing this? Because one client booked me from Tik Tok that is 100% worth the time and effort that you put into it so keep that in mind. Growth is not going to come overnight and with TikTok, I do feel like people expect very quick growth and I just don’t think that’s really the case. I do think there are some accounts that kind of hit the jackpot hit the lottery and they just grow super quickly. But what you don’t see is the behind-the-scenes of sometimes these creators are posting for years consistently with only getting a couple hundred maybe a couple thousand views every single video. Personally, I have grown by being consistent over the past 4 yrs.
TikTok Strategies for Photographers
So, when it comes to Tik Tok I think it’s very important to have content pillars. And I do think this is for basically every social media platform. If you’re going to be creating short-form content it’s good to have a plan. It’s good to know what types of videos we create and what types of videos do well, and basically, you’re going to figure that out through trial and error. But we’re going to start with these content pillars. So for you what is the goal of TikTok, that’s what I want you to think. Do you want to book more clients from it? Is it you want to gain more of a community? Do you want to book more travel from it? You can have multiple goals but what’s the end goal here okay. That’s what you have to think about when we’re going into these content pillars. So, we’ve got 7 different types of videos for you to create which are kind of content pillars but first. When it comes to actual content pillars it’s not just types of videos. It’s okay, what’s the topic of your videos? So, I want you guys to think about what the pillars of your content are. And what is it that you mainly show I’m going to just throw some content pillars out there: educational videos, inspirational, entertaining, trend videos, BTS videos, your work in video form, and photo slides.
30 Days of Posting
So, my plan for you is 30 days of posting to TikTok. And this is very doable even though it’s a busy season guess what guys? You have the content right now; you are creating content I want you to keep creating content and I want you to be posting, okay? It is booking season! September is when people book for next year. Like it’s still far enough in advance that people are booking for 2025 in September of 2024.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| educational video | inspirational video | entertaining video 2 | trend video | BTS video | your work in video form | extra video of your choice |
| entertaining video 1 | N/A | photo slide 1 | photo slide 2 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
TikTok Strategies for Photographers
When it comes to filming the content, most of the videos in our content pillars are original audio! You can film all of your videos on Monday OR 4 videos on Monday and 3 videos on Thursday. And remember that your trending videos need to go out ASAP! Another thing to keep in mind original audio = batchable content! Original audio will ensure your content can be used on all platforms too. Original audio means talking to the camera, doing a voice-over, and creating a silent video & using unique trending audio per app when you go to post!
TikTok Strategies for Photographers
Create a posting schedule!
When creating a posting schedule, create a schedule that works for you! Remember, the more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of TT. A good thing to do is to sync your TT schedule with IG. I like to make my TT two days ahead of IG to see what performs well! Something you might be asking yourself is what type of edits do well. Quick edits with lots of cuts, having a cut within the first 2 seconds of the video, making a topic sentence via text within the first 3 seconds, motion right away at the beginning of every video, also editing to give people a reason to watch all the way through (showing results at the end)
TikTok Tips
Tips for you to try:
- Check your analytics for posting times, audience insights, etc.
- videos longer than 1 minute
- be the first to comment on your own video to encourage conversation
- Incorporate your personality
- try posting multiple times a day
- tag & hashtag your state/location you shoot at
- REUSE YOUR CONTENT
- the less perfect, the better
Show Notes:
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