*For more information visit AdoramaTV YT page, and of course you can keep up with Vanessa on Instagram  @VanessaJoy

Another lesson from Vanessa Joy and her show “Breathe Your Passion” on AdoramaTV, which explores 4 best ways to capture clients attention on Instagram and persuade them to hire you!

Vanessa shares: “Number one is posting frequency. You want to make sure that you are  posting consistently.  You can’t just go AWOL on Instagram  and expect them when you post for it to  be successful so figure out a consistent  posting schedule.  I recommend one post in your regular  feed, your regular page once a day or  once every other day, and then your  stories… you want to post more frequently.  I like to do five to ten stories per day,  and I know that sounds like a lot so use  some kind of scheduling app.”

“Number two. When it comes to  your stories – really be intentional. I like to use my stories to figure  out ways to connect to my clients.  Clients like to see behind the scenes,  they want to see how you work, so show  them how you work.  Show them your day today,  and you know not everything has to  be what I call instagram-worthy.  It can be a little bit rough. People like to see you come out of  failures, come out of struggle.  Now stories… I know they live  for 24 hours, but you can save them as  highlights, and I highly recommend you  having highlights on your Instagram  profile.”

“Number three is to turn your  Instagram account into a mini website.  Put testimonials on there,  or reviews, and it doesn’t have to be  complicated just do  screenshots of your website where all  that information already is in a mobile  vertical form, and put them in your  highlights. People can go to my Instagram  and get all the information they need  and not even go to my website.  “

“Number four, this is the one that I  promise you is gonna be good, because  people mess this up all the time, and  they don’t take advantage of it, you have  to tag your photos. Did you know that  there are four different ways that you  can tag your photos? So number one are  hashtags, and that’s the one that people  usually know.  Now here’s the trick about  hashtags don’t do the generic hashtags,  where there’s a bazillion and a half  hosts with that hashtag.  Here’s some homework for you, and what  you need to do you have to find hashtags  that are relevant to your type of  business… your type of photography, but  you also need to find hashtags that are  appropriate for the visibility power  that your Instagram account has.  Here’s how you do that.  Post a photo, post 30 hashtags on it and  range the hashtag, so put some hashtags on there that have  10,000 posts, put some on there to have  500 posts, like really niche ones that  don’t have a lot of posts right, and then  put some bigger ones on there that have  a hundred thousand, five hundred thousand,  or maybe even like a million. And then a  few hours later I want you to go to  those hashtags, and look through the top  post and the recent  post, and see if you show up. If you’re  not showing up, or maybe you’re showing  up after seventeen and a half swipes – not  a good hashtag for you, but if you’re  showing up in the top post, or towards  the top of the recent post, then that is  a good hashtag for you to use.  So find hashtags are gonna work for the  power of your account.  The second type of tag that  you’re going to use is a photo tag.  This is where you tag the actual photo and  tag different accounts in that photo. The goal here is to get your photo on their  tagged photo feeds. Your photo shows up in more places. Now this is where you  also want to tag relevant accounts,  places where your clients are going,  where they’re searching, and obviously  relevant to the photo otherwise they might delete it, and not let it show up  on their account.  Number three – description tags, the text that  goes along the caption with your photo,  and you put at and then an accounts name.  This doesn’t really help your visibility,  but this does help your networking where  you’re communicating with other people  via your posts.  Giving people credit for working with you  perhaps, or a vendor at a wedding helps build relationships, and  then maybe they’ll share your post as well,  which fingers crossed is another goal  because they have a lot of people with  similar clients, following their account. And when they post your photo on their  account, you get in front of potential clients. The fourth one that a lot of people don’t  use is this, is the location tag.  You want to put a location on any of  your posts, reason is that people do look at the location, and see the photos  that are taken there.  So you want the opportunity for your  photo to be seen there,  but then you want to do the  reverse go to a location like a high-end  venue near you.  If you’re a wedding photographer after the  weekend, maybe on a Monday and look at  all the posts that were there from that  weekend,  Find all the couples that look like they might be  getting engaged, or are engaged soon and talk to them.  DM them, comment on their stuff, follow  them, like them. It will give such power  to your Instagram, and you literally are  going to weddings where your potential  clients are, and connecting with them.”

Check out our WORKSHOPS in Los Angeles that teach you hands-on how to make great photos!

Watch the full episode with Vanessa Joy and Adorama TV: