For years, photographers old and new alike have enjoyed sharing their favorite work on social networking sites like Instagram. Sharing your images is fun and will generate conversation, engagement, and possibly sales. Today, the situation has changed.
I, like many others, love to share my photos on social media. Instagram is usually my go-to, and for a long time, engagement has been great. I will get more new followers, comments and likes. It feels great, when I feel my name is known and I receive a lot of invitations and photography jobs. Time has passed and the algorithms have changed, my engagement has plummeted, the work from social networks has decreased and I wonder: what is the problem?
Instead of valuable comments providing me with valuable critiques of my photos and questions, I now receive comments like “nice tone man” or countless comments. from bots saying “DM me for referrals on there and such.” The number of accounts my pictures reach has dropped dramatically, direct messages are now mostly spam and likes are almost nonexistent. These problems are not only experienced by myself but also many other people with whom I speak.
Platforms like Instagram have changed so much that they now favor products like Reels where revealing women try to lure you to their Onlyfans or useless financial advice from people no specialist how you can make a million dollars in a year by investing 1 dollar a month!
Social media has become so dangerous that it can destroy your self-esteem. For the vast majority of photographers out there trying to make a name for themselves using social media, detection is highly unlikely, even if your work is original and Great. You can post your best photo and probably only get 20 likes, and this can make you feel devalued, question your own abilities, or worry about your next photographic work. Where will your followers come from.
Some photographers rely heavily on social media engagement to find work. They want to run workshops and sell presets for Lightroom, prints, and other products. If the algorithm no longer supports them, they could lose a lot in the long run and will have to find other ways to market themselves and diversify their options.
There is an option to promote your image, but is this really worth it now? Unless you can afford a large budget, it’s best to avoid this.
Did you become a photographer just to become famous? I do not think so. You became a photographer because you love art, you love being in nature or working with different people, trying to create something beautiful. What you create is for you and your customers, and anything else on top is a reward.
For those of you who are looking for more photographic work through it, it might be time to look at additional ways to market yourself outside of social networks and I wish you all the best of luck, as apart from the other is very difficult.
