Social Media Platforms for Landscape Photographers in 2024
I remember once capturing my latest and greatest photograph, all enthusiast about stepping away from film camera’s into the digital era and making this even better was getting to share these images with friends, family and a newly enthusiast and growing photographic community on the web. It was something I was good at and the rewards of showcasing my hobby to the world was very gratifying.
That was more than 15 years ago now and today I use these platforms to market my profession in a complex digital age based on paid ads, algorithms, and a saturated market place. So what’s changed and what platforms are the most effective to use as a photographer looking to grow a community and market their business or hobby?
This is where these platforms stand for me now in 2024 and hopefully my experience will shed some light on how you can showcase your art to the world in the best way possible.
Although I was a bit slow to start using this plaform back in 2007, today I still find it very effective to stay in contact with clients/friends, showcase new work in a broad range of formats and grow my community base. I find if your content is interesting enough to stop and look at, your post will have a very high interaction and especially utilizing the micro communities (groups) specific to your post, even the newest of landscape photographers can showcase their work to a large community. For viewing, obviously your photographs aren’t seen at the highest resolution possibile, but it certainly beats an IG thumbnail. Little tip, don’t use hashtags or external links to other websites if you want high visibility.
This is certainly the place to be in 2024
I was a very late starter to IG. It always seemed like a kids toy application for putting trashy filters on poor photographs for children. I soon found out that I was missing the boat and all my landscape photographer piers that were making a name for themselves in the community had taken advantage of its rapid growth and for photographers to showcase their work at a fresh new audience that begged for top end content.
Although I didn’t gain 100K initial followers like many others, once I eventually stepped in it was beneficial for marketing my profile but in the last 12-24 months visibility and interaction has taken a serious nose dive, for a platform that only wants paying clients ads and TikTok competition.
I hate the way my images are viewed in a crop and size that you can only see on a phone screen and its disheartening to know that the only way I can reach out to my community here is by shoving reels in their faces to get their attention.
In my personal experience IG, although never a chosen platform to showcase our precious art, this place has only gotten worse for us as photographers.
The stories option however is an effective way to reach out in real time to your community and let them know where and what your up to in a easy, effective and quick fashion
Vero
This platform, one of the latest to hit to scene, promised so much to the community in the last few years, and with a mad rush of photographers moving their profiles onto the scene, it seemed like the right place to be. Great viewing on pc and app, good resolution, etc, however it seems the mad rush stopped, and things at least from my experience just really died off. I know this is a similar experience that I have heard from other photographers too, so lets hope that the platform can find a new way to revive itself into the new year.
500px
Up until 6-7 years ago now this platform, especially for enthusiasts was the place to be. Using a clever algorithm to put your image upload into a “pulse” percentage, where basically the more interaction your art got the higher up the rank it would take you. Photographers were showcasing the images to a trendy community who wanted to see the “best” image of the day.
This platform eventually got contaminated by outsiders who uploaded poor images and manipulated the algorithm to their own benefit and before you know it we all got up and left here, and what a shame it was
Youtube
I know that having your own channel here and vlogging yourself isn’t every landscape photographers cup of tea, but lets face it, some of the biggest names in the business have Youtube to thank for their success. Whether you like video or not, creating your own channel helps your clients to get to know you and expands your client base into a larger community.
I personally enjoy showcasing my photographs within a video as it gives even more importance to the final result.
It has a complicated algorithm however so don’t expect to become a star over night, especially since the market of photgraphers is very oversaturared here.
Make it stand out
Viewbug
This quirky little app seems a fun little place to upload your artwork and take you chance at a winner to odd photographic competitions that they put out there with some occasional good prizes too for the hobbyist photographer.
Although having 17K followers I cannot quite reach out to the community in a way i’d like. I am not sure if that’s because I don’t spend much time here and do not understand how it works properly, but i’d love to here other photographers opinions out there
In summary, every photographer has their own personal experience here, and some have created themselves a large following based on what they are showcasing to that audience specifically on that platform. This blog is based on my personal experience and hopefully it will help you create what you need out there in a very complex and saturated market. I’d appreciate your feedback about your experience so please contact me through the link below
