EP 47: Oversharing or Just Right? What to Post on Instagram Without Cringing

00:00:00 [Alison]
But when it comes to what, when, and how we post, we really wanna take the confusion and the decision fatigue out of this and just take a big fat chill pill.
00:00:09 [Alison]
Hey, I’m Allison, military spouse and family photographer.

00:00:12 [Melissa]
Hey, I’m Melissa, also a military spouse, lifestyle newborn photographer, and SEO expert for photographers.
00:00:17 [Melissa]
Between the two of us, we have a combined twenty seven years in photography and have nine business relocations.

00:00:22 [Alison]
We’ve coached each other through all these challenges, and now we want to share our experience with you.
00:00:26 [Alison]
On this podcast, we’ll give you actionable steps to help you keep it moving.

00:00:34 [Melissa]
Hey, guys.
00:00:34 [Melissa]
Thanks for joining us again.
00:00:35 [Melissa]
This week, we’re talking all about Instagram and the social media struggle.
00:00:39 [Melissa]
But first, we’re gonna do a tool time.
00:00:41 [Melissa]
And this week, we’re gonna chat about Canva.

00:00:44 [Melissa]
So I don’t know if you guys have heard about Canva.
00:00:46 [Melissa]
I feel like all of us have.
00:00:47 [Melissa]
I call it the Photoshop for everyone.

00:00:49 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:00:49 [Alison]
It completely nullified my entire visual communication degree.
00:00:54 [Alison]
Like, completely.
00:00:54 [Alison]
Like, learning how to use Quark and pen design and illustrator, which is all collegiate level classes at the University of South Carolina, it just went yeah.
00:01:02 [Alison]
That was completely unnecessary.

00:01:04 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:01:05 [Melissa]
I feel like I used to use Photoshop for a lot of the like, if I had PDF not well, I guess PDFs a little bit, but, like, you know, pricing pages or mock ups and stuff like that.
00:01:15 [Melissa]
And now it’s all Canva, Canva, Canva.
00:01:17 [Melissa]
Canva, Canva.
00:01:18 [Melissa]
Because they made it so easy.

00:01:21 [Melissa]
So easy.
00:01:21 [Melissa]
I was doing something the other day because all of my lead in Canva, and I was trying to, like, get the buttons to, like or it was like a it was something where I was trying to get stuff to line up, and it has a little I can’t even remember what it was, but it was like the funny thing where it was like, you want us to fix that for you?
00:01:35 [Melissa]
And I was like, yes, basically I do.
00:01:36 [Melissa]
But what the wording was on it just threw me.
00:01:39 [Melissa]
And I’m like, yeah.

00:01:40 [Melissa]
Like, just I think it was like clean up.
00:01:42 [Melissa]
Would you like to clean this up?
00:01:44 [Melissa]
I’m like,

00:01:44 [Alison]
yes, please clean it up.
00:01:45 [Alison]
Please align everything.
00:01:46 [Alison]
Or like the simple fact, like, the technical term is kerning.
00:01:48 [Alison]
That’s the space between individual letters.
00:01:50 [Alison]
Well, what if we just called it letter spacing?

00:01:52 [Alison]
Right.
00:01:53 [Alison]
That’s that helps too.
00:01:54 [Alison]
You know?

00:01:55 [Melissa]
So

00:01:55 [Alison]
it’s the jargon.
00:01:56 [Alison]
So yeah.
00:01:56 [Alison]
So I use Canva, and I’ve used Canva forever.
00:01:58 [Alison]
I pay for it.

00:01:59 [Melissa]
Yep.

00:02:00 [Alison]
So, if we can get on their affiliate link, we will have an affiliate link.
00:02:03 [Alison]
It’s not user friendly in that way.
00:02:05 [Alison]
But some of the things we use it for, obviously designing Instagram posts, we do that all the time.
00:02:09 [Alison]
We love going in and getting templates on sale from designers.
00:02:13 [Alison]
And then the change all function when you change one color to all the yes.

00:02:17 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:02:17 [Melissa]
Because it was what?
00:02:18 [Melissa]
I think it was two years ago, Black Friday, I was hand creating all kinds of graphic design elements for my Black Friday sale.
00:02:25 [Melissa]
And I was like, this is ridiculous.
00:02:26 [Melissa]
I wanna do this again.
00:02:28 [Melissa]
And I ended up at Black Friday purchasing from a girl who had a Canva template shop an entire, like, I have templates that are all the same type of feel to them, the same type of design for everything from, like, YouTube covers to email signature, to Instagram posts, to Facebook, to ads.

00:02:44 [Melissa]
Like, I bought the whole shebang.
00:02:46 [Melissa]
And it just makes everything so much easier.
00:02:48 [Melissa]
And then on the photography side, mock ups for showing clients, like, ideas of how their stuff could look.
00:02:55 [Melissa]
Mhmm.
00:02:56 [Melissa]
Even if it’s not necessarily something I sell in particular, just getting their brains going of like, oh,

00:03:02 [Alison]
look at that large print over a couch.
00:03:03 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:03:03 [Alison]
Demystifying the vision for

00:03:04 [Melissa]
sure.
00:03:04 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:03:04 [Alison]
For sure.
00:03:05 [Alison]
That’s its own rabbit hole.
00:03:06 [Alison]
But also real covers.
00:03:07 [Alison]
Like, when you don’t wanna have picture of your face, like, half closed.
00:03:10 [Alison]
Right?

00:03:10 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:03:10 [Alison]
Like, oh

00:03:11 [Melissa]
my god.
00:03:11 [Melissa]
That looks We just did that.
00:03:13 [Melissa]
We just went through and created real covers for all of our stuff on our PPR account because I looked at our PPR account and I was like, my face looks so weird in, like, half these photos

00:03:23 [Alison]
and I can’t stand it.
00:03:24 [Alison]
So I was like, no.

00:03:24 [Melissa]
No.
00:03:24 [Melissa]
No.
00:03:25 [Melissa]
No.
00:03:25 [Melissa]
We’re gonna put actual covers on.

00:03:27 [Alison]
And yeah.
00:03:27 [Alison]
And you mentioned lead magnets.
00:03:29 [Alison]
And so I did the same thing, but you can automatically connect your Google documents.
00:03:32 [Alison]
It’ll refresh.
00:03:34 [Alison]
And I’m pretty sure, don’t take my word for this, but it’ll refresh that link if you update that link.

00:03:38 [Alison]
Like, if that link will stay the same, but you meant will be refreshed.

00:03:41 [Melissa]
Okay.
00:03:42 [Melissa]
Thanks.
00:03:42 [Melissa]
So Interesting.

00:03:43 [Alison]
I use it for my pricing page too.
00:03:45 [Alison]
So it’s like a beautiful blend between a PDF and a website page, like a hidden page.
00:03:49 [Alison]
One, it’s on your website, so it cannot be hidden.
00:03:51 [Alison]
Like, I actually one time I was doing some competitor analysis, and I found a competitor’s hidden pricing page on Google.
00:03:58 [Alison]
And I was like, I used

00:03:58 [Melissa]
to look for those all the time.
00:04:00 [Melissa]
I was like,

00:04:00 [Alison]
I don’t know if you know this, but this is indexed.
00:04:03 [Alison]
I found

00:04:03 [Melissa]
it yet.

00:04:04 [Alison]
I know it’s super old.
00:04:05 [Alison]
So she was, you know, kind of embarrassed, I think, but, but here’s what I like.
00:04:09 [Alison]
It’s the same link.
00:04:10 [Alison]
It’s the same live link anybody can, but anytime, like when I just updated my prices for 2025, that link, no matter who had it past or present or future, everything I did was automatically updated.
00:04:21 [Alison]
So there’s no outdated PDFs floating around.

00:04:24 [Alison]
There’s no, but you said this, which I do honor previous years prices for my current clients.
00:04:29 [Alison]
But that’s another thing.
00:04:30 [Alison]
But what I’m really excited for for Canva because I’m paying for it is the scheduler aspect.
00:04:35 [Alison]
I’m in the process of moving some of my accounts to business accounts so that I can connect them to Instagram so that I can take those graphics that I made, have to export them, download them, re upload them, want, want, want, want, want, and just schedule them straight out of Canva and be done with it and just nix the middle stuff.

00:04:53 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:04:53 [Melissa]
Allison was just telling me about this, and I was like, oh, I’m gonna have to tell my social media girl about this because, yeah, we’re kinda doing that where it’s coming out of Canva with the cover.
00:05:00 [Melissa]
And if she can schedule everything in there, that would be fabulous.

00:05:04 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:05:04 [Alison]
And I actually just canceled my other social media later.
00:05:08 [Alison]
Let’s go, Canva.
00:05:10 [Alison]
Girl, are you still struggling to get profitable?
00:05:13 [Alison]
Are you relaunching your business or trying to profitability?

00:05:16 [Alison]
Allison here, and I’ve been there.
00:05:17 [Alison]
As a military spouse for fifteen years, I’ve moved my photography business seven times, effectively launching a new business with each move.
00:05:23 [Alison]
I’ve never worked anywhere longer than three years.
00:05:25 [Alison]
I’ve had all inclusive, hybrid, and virtual IPS structures, and I know what it takes to adapt and thrive.
00:05:31 [Alison]
I went from barely supporting my hobby in the early years to generating consistent 6 figure sales, supporting my crazy family along the way.

00:05:38 [Alison]
If you’re ready to break through the roadblocks, attract dream clients, and finally see the profits you’ve longed for, let’s work together.
00:05:46 [Alison]
Visit app co to learn more or DM me on the gram at keep it moving pod.
00:05:50 [Alison]
Links in the show notes.
00:05:51 [Alison]
Let’s do this.
00:05:53 [Alison]
So, yeah.

00:05:54 [Alison]
So today today, we’re talking about something completely different with Instagrams.
00:05:58 [Alison]
What kind of feels do you get, Melissa, when you’re thinking, okay, what am I gonna share on Instagram or any social media?

00:06:03 [Melissa]
I’ve been okay as long as I have a plan.
00:06:06 [Melissa]
So And that’s when you’re making

00:06:08 [Alison]
that plan, how do you feel?

00:06:09 [Melissa]
I have to Google, like, what do people post on Instagram?

00:06:11 [Alison]
Like, what am I supposed to be posting?
00:06:14 [Alison]
It’s pretty paralyzing.
00:06:15 [Alison]
And this whole concept is more than just Instagram.
00:06:17 [Alison]
TikTok, Twitter, like, all the things.
00:06:19 [Alison]
It’s social media wide.

00:06:21 [Alison]
Right?
00:06:21 [Alison]
Is this concept of post paralysis, like, overthinking the what, the when, the caption, like,

00:06:27 [Melissa]
oh my god.
00:06:28 [Melissa]
We avoid Instagram usually.
00:06:30 [Melissa]
Like

00:06:30 [Alison]
Right?
00:06:31 [Alison]
And I love Instagram, and I have gone through every variation of this of, like, I’m posting everything.
00:06:37 [Alison]
Who cares?
00:06:38 [Alison]
So, like, business focused and, you know, and unintentionally just because it’s coming easy to I’ve got a whole database.
00:06:45 [Alison]
I’ve got maybe six months worth of content, like, content ready to roll.

00:06:50 [Alison]
If I were to post one to two a week, I could not write another caption.
00:06:53 [Alison]
Right?
00:06:54 [Alison]
Like,

00:06:54 [Melissa]
That’s the way to do

00:06:56 [Alison]
batching.
00:06:56 [Alison]
Most recently, I’ve not posted at all because we are coming out of the holidays into January, and I’m just like I’m I’m just taking things easy, and I’m okay with that.
00:07:05 [Alison]
Right?
00:07:06 [Alison]
So I this is coming from somebody who’s felt and is currently feeling all the feels about Instagram.
00:07:11 [Alison]
But when it comes to what, when, and how we post, we really wanna take the confusion and the decision fatigue out of this and just take a big fat chill pill.

00:07:21 [Alison]
Cause some of the things we as photographers gravitate towards are what session shares.
00:07:26 [Alison]
Like here’s a reel of all the photos from the session.
00:07:28 [Alison]
Totally cool.
00:07:29 [Alison]
Nothing wrong with that behind the scenes of the shoot.
00:07:31 [Alison]
That’s even cooler than a session share, but there’s only so many of those we can do.

00:07:36 [Alison]
Right.
00:07:36 [Alison]
And then if you’re really awesome, you’re taking our advice and rehashing those blog posts into some reels, like top three X, Y, and Zs or best ways to, or things for mom to wear.
00:07:48 [Alison]
But I think even as photographers, even if it’s a business account, need to zoom back even more and get out of the photography box.
00:07:56 [Alison]
Because at the end of the day, you are your secret sauce.
00:07:59 [Alison]
Even as a photographer, Like, people hire me because I have four kids.

00:08:03 [Alison]
They’re like, oh, you’re not gonna judge me for all the kids.
00:08:05 [Alison]
Or they hire me because they know, like, I’m gonna take care of them in Hawaii.
00:08:09 [Alison]
Like, I know where to go.
00:08:10 [Alison]
They like the stuff I provided for them.
00:08:12 [Alison]
I’m the secret sauce to why they hire me.

00:08:14 [Alison]
But there’s other things that we need to be sharing that make us unique.
00:08:17 [Alison]
Right?
00:08:18 [Alison]
And back when I was homeschooling, I would share homeschool stuff.
00:08:21 [Alison]
I got on there and danced.
00:08:23 [Alison]
So, like, you so I want you to think back, zoom out of that photography box, and think about what makes you unique.

00:08:29 [Alison]
And you can think about this as a person and as a photographer.

00:08:32 [Melissa]
I mean and that reminds me, like, back in the day when I first was like, okay.
00:08:35 [Melissa]
Well, I’m gonna spend more time on Instagram.
00:08:37 [Melissa]
Jenna Kutcher had, like, the whole, like, JK five.
00:08:38 [Melissa]
Like, come up with five things.
00:08:40 [Melissa]
And so I remember at the time for me, it was newborn sessions, maternity sessions, the boat.

00:08:46 [Melissa]
I think I was doing tips and products.
00:08:49 [Melissa]
I can’t remember what number five was, but I had, like, a set of these were the five things that I was gonna be posting.
00:08:55 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:08:55 [Melissa]
That just that makes it easier.
00:08:56 [Melissa]
And I was making sure, like, that I was showing up in those posts.

00:08:59 [Melissa]
I think it might have been interior design type stuff, but I was showing up in the post of, like, things of our home or things of us on the boat.
00:09:04 [Melissa]
So I was appearing because let’s say you wanna have your face in at least one of those nine grid spots.
00:09:10 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:09:11 [Melissa]
Probably.
00:09:12 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:09:12 [Melissa]
There’s a lot of

00:09:13 [Alison]
things people say.
00:09:14 [Alison]
But yeah.
00:09:14 [Alison]
Like, so somebody I used to follow would say things like your pillars.
00:09:17 [Alison]
It’s called the same same thing.
00:09:18 [Alison]
Same exact yeah.

00:09:19 [Alison]
Same concept, different packaging.
00:09:21 [Alison]
Right?

00:09:21 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:09:21 [Alison]
Like, your four or five pillars of what are you talking about on Instagram, and you just keep it going.
00:09:26 [Alison]
And then you put it in a grid and you have four things under four pillars and then ta da, you have 12 posts.
00:09:30 [Alison]
Right?
00:09:31 [Alison]
Right.
00:09:31 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:09:32 [Alison]
16.
00:09:32 [Alison]
Sorry.
00:09:32 [Alison]
Let me do math.
00:09:34 [Alison]
And mine same thing.
00:09:35 [Alison]
Mine was homeschooling, photography, military life, middle spouse stuff.

00:09:40 [Alison]
Oh, and mom life.
00:09:41 [Alison]
Just general mom life.
00:09:42 [Alison]
There is homeschool life and then, like, mom life of, like, boy life stuff.
00:09:45 [Alison]
What is your everyday, guys?
00:09:47 [Alison]
Think about your family, your pets, your style of humor, things you like in in home.

00:09:52 [Alison]
Like, Melissa, I think about you and your interior design stuff.
00:09:54 [Alison]
Like, you love that.
00:09:56 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:09:56 [Alison]
That like, and you’ve made that work on your blog.
00:09:59 [Alison]
You’ve made that work for your newborn stuff, and you were sharing it on your Instagram.

00:10:02 [Melissa]
So Yeah.

00:10:03 [Alison]
I think,

00:10:03 [Melissa]
oh, it was nursery features.
00:10:04 [Melissa]
That’s what I was doing.
00:10:05 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:10:05 [Melissa]
That was the that’s what that was how I had the interior design.
00:10:08 [Melissa]
So then I wish people’s, like, homes and stuff and not even my own.

00:10:13 [Alison]
Well, think about like mom to mom.
00:10:15 [Alison]
Like, what the hell are you feeding your kids for lunch this week?
00:10:18 [Alison]
You know, like, what are you buying from Target?
00:10:20 [Alison]
What are your Costco hauls?
00:10:21 [Alison]
What’s the good stuff that I need to know about too that what are the things that y’all are buying that I need to buy?

00:10:26 [Alison]
Or what are the hacks that y’all are doing that I need to do?
00:10:29 [Alison]
Things like that.
00:10:29 [Alison]
Like people, people are people.
00:10:32 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:10:32 [Alison]
People know, like, and trust from people, other people, and they wanna connect from you.

00:10:37 [Melissa]
And I think this that goes into the whole, like, with this big push for a of, like, oh, just having you write everything.
00:10:43 [Melissa]
I’m I’m I feel this in my gut.
00:10:45 [Melissa]
There’s no, like, no articles or no research behind it, but I feel it in my gut that the more that you still stick with your words, your stuff that is gonna stand out in the AI generated things.

00:10:58 [Alison]
100%.

00:10:59 [Melissa]
And that’s the thing.
00:11:00 [Melissa]
If you’re sharing you know, if Allison’s sharing pictures of her and her kids and talking about an experience that they’re having, that’s gonna sound so much better than an AI generated, you know, blog post about a mom with kids.
00:11:11 [Melissa]
Like, it’s just not the same.
00:11:12 [Melissa]
It’s not gonna hit the same.
00:11:13 [Melissa]
And I have a feeling that we’re gonna start seeing a backlash to the people who are just like, hey, AI, create me 15 Instagram posts and then copy and paste.

00:11:22 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:11:22 [Alison]
And that’s another vote and reason you wanna have good branding.

00:11:26 [Melissa]
Right?

00:11:26 [Alison]
Like Yeah.
00:11:27 [Alison]
You are your secret sauce.
00:11:28 [Alison]
You are your brand.
00:11:29 [Alison]
Your people are your brand.
00:11:31 [Alison]
And the more you and your voice are present on your website and your social media and just authentically you Yes.

00:11:37 [Alison]
The more

00:11:37 [Melissa]
Tell your stories.

00:11:39 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:11:39 [Alison]
Your stories.
00:11:40 [Alison]
Like Mhmm.
00:11:40 [Alison]
That’s that’s another thing.
00:11:41 [Alison]
We got that coming up.

00:11:42 [Alison]
Couple weeks, we’re gonna have that episode.
00:11:43 [Alison]
So for me, that has looked like when we got our dog as a puppy.
00:11:47 [Alison]
Like, we I had reels about the puppy.
00:11:49 [Alison]
Like I think I left.

00:11:50 [Melissa]
I was like, Allison, you have content for weeks now with this puppy.
00:11:53 [Melissa]
I did.

00:11:54 [Alison]
She’s no longer on puppy.
00:11:55 [Alison]
I’m not that interested in her anymore.

00:11:56 [Melissa]
You had a funny one of her.
00:11:58 [Melissa]
I remember the kids my kids watched it, like, 15 times one night Yeah.

00:12:01 [Alison]
Or something.
00:12:02 [Alison]
Because it’s so cute.
00:12:03 [Alison]
My puppy dog.
00:12:03 [Alison]
It was the Yes.

00:12:04 [Melissa]
That was my baby my baby dog or something?

00:12:06 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:12:06 [Alison]
My baby dog.
00:12:07 [Alison]
Yes.
00:12:07 [Alison]
I’ll I’ll put a link to that in the show.

00:12:09 [Melissa]
It’s seriously my kids watched it, like, over and over, and then we’re, like, saying that for, like, a week later.
00:12:13 [Melissa]
I was like, thanks, Allison.

00:12:14 [Alison]
She likes later.
00:12:15 [Alison]
She was kind of in this weird, awkward middle, like, not full grown, but not a puppy stage.
00:12:19 [Alison]
And the real the audio of, like, oh, somebody called me awesome.
00:12:23 [Alison]
The exact phrase was, somebody called me pretty today.
00:12:26 [Alison]
The exact phrase was pretty annoying, but I’m focusing on the positive.

00:12:29 [Alison]
Like, I did that real with her.

00:12:30 [Melissa]
That was funny.

00:12:30 [Alison]
And I was like, with a perfect had the perfect head tilt in it as well.
00:12:33 [Alison]
So we’ll have to put that in the show notes.
00:12:35 [Alison]
But things like, oh my God.
00:12:36 [Alison]
I had a, reel about school shopping, like back to school shopping with the boys of them climbing.
00:12:42 [Alison]
That’s the worst.

00:12:43 [Alison]
It, it really is.

00:12:44 [Melissa]
There’s no clothes for them.

00:12:46 [Alison]
Just some clips of them throwing, hiding in the shelving, like chasing each other down, throwing stuff in the store.

00:12:53 [Melissa]
Do you mean like a normal shopping trip with boys?

00:12:55 [Alison]
Normal.
00:12:56 [Alison]
This is nothing about this is like Instagram worthy, but I made the reel and it got the views because it hit home.
00:13:02 [Alison]
Right.
00:13:03 [Alison]
So I’ll share that.
00:13:04 [Alison]
But also, like, life in Hawaii that I’m paddling on Tuesdays now.

00:13:07 [Alison]
I’m sharing more of that content.
00:13:09 [Alison]
Soccer and baseball life as, like, those two sports were in my life.
00:13:12 [Alison]
So, like, baseball humor is really hilarious to me.
00:13:14 [Alison]
So sharing my own perspective on that, those are some of the things, and this can be psst, these can be stories.
00:13:20 [Alison]
These can be reels.

00:13:21 [Alison]
I myself even get into the whole trap or lie that my entire grid has to be photography related.
00:13:29 [Alison]
And it doesn’t.
00:13:30 [Alison]
I don’t want them to be confused.
00:13:31 [Alison]
I want them to know that I’m a photographer.
00:13:32 [Alison]
I would like at least half to majority of it to be obvious photography tips, tricks, and scenes, but it doesn’t even have to be.

00:13:39 [Alison]
Like, that’s a personal preference.
00:13:41 [Alison]
Like Yeah.
00:13:41 [Alison]
Be you.
00:13:42 [Alison]
Right?
00:13:43 [Alison]
So what are some of the ways that y’all can lean into a unique perspective on photography outside of your life, outside of like your mom’s that are your everyday?

00:13:51 [Alison]
Because we tend to think that that’s so boring, but it’s not.
00:13:53 [Alison]
We’re all freaking nosy, myself included.
00:13:56 [Alison]
What are some of your unique things when it comes to photography specific?
00:14:00 [Alison]
Some of the things I think about are like unpopular opinions.
00:14:04 [Alison]
My unpopular opinion is that Christmas cards don’t count as printing your pictures.

00:14:08 [Melissa]
Oh, okay.
00:14:08 [Melissa]
I was like, as what?
00:14:10 [Melissa]
As pictures.
00:14:10 [Melissa]
So like, I

00:14:11 [Alison]
mean, I hope other photographers agree with me, but like, just because you printed your picture on a Christmas card, doesn’t mean you’re done, honey.
00:14:17 [Alison]
Like put that thing on a canvas, put that somewhere else.
00:14:20 [Alison]
So I like to make reels and hashtags out of that.
00:14:22 [Alison]
Actually made a hashtag out of that.
00:14:23 [Alison]
Hashtag Christmas cards don’t count.

00:14:25 [Alison]
So please go follow that and add to it.
00:14:27 [Alison]
I bring tequila to my photo sessions.
00:14:30 [Alison]
I’ve got reels about that.
00:14:31 [Alison]
Go to my Fall Photog, one of the top 10 posts about my pep talk for dads.
00:14:36 [Alison]
Drink some tequila.

00:14:37 [Alison]
That’s good for your emotional support.
00:14:39 [Alison]
100%.
00:14:40 [Alison]
Or like printed product.
00:14:41 [Alison]
I provide a full service when it comes to the prints.
00:14:44 [Alison]
So that’s my unique value proposition, my UVP.

00:14:47 [Alison]
Some other things, posing tips and tricks that you like the most.
00:14:50 [Alison]
Like, I’m super fun and playful with my session, so I like to tell people how I approach that and how I run that session because it’s different from other photographers.
00:14:58 [Alison]
Your editing style, how you edit on the back end, time lapse of how you go from straight out of camera, a deliverable product, that can be really popular.
00:15:06 [Alison]
Or And I think

00:15:07 [Melissa]
with all of that too is, like, picking something that, like, feels authentic to you.
00:15:10 [Melissa]
Because if you don’t do a lot of editing or behind the scenes stuff, like, find something that is you.
00:15:15 [Melissa]
You don’t have to do all of these things.
00:15:16 [Melissa]
Allison’s sent you guys a lot of ideas that you can pick one of those things, and then that’s your thing.
00:15:21 [Melissa]
So, like, if it’s posing tips or hacks, like, you could just create a talking to camera video every week with, like, a different posing tip or a different tip for people who are getting their photo taken, you know, that kind of thing.

00:15:33 [Melissa]
Just find one thing that fits you.

00:15:35 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:15:35 [Alison]
Making your clients feel comfortable.
00:15:36 [Alison]
I personally, and that’s a good point.
00:15:38 [Alison]
I don’t like editing.
00:15:39 [Alison]
I outsource the mess out of that.

00:15:40 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:15:41 [Alison]
I don’t wanna touch it.
00:15:42 [Alison]
But there are other photographers who hold it dearly and love it.
00:15:44 [Alison]
It’s like their favorite part.
00:15:45 [Alison]
Like, that would be a great option for them of just set that phone up behind them, do a thirty second time lapse of, like, how they start and finish a single image.

00:15:53 [Alison]
That’s interesting to me.
00:15:54 [Alison]
I like to see the before and afters.
00:15:55 [Alison]
I think we’re all like that.
00:15:56 [Alison]
Right?
00:15:57 [Alison]
Oh, yeah.

00:15:57 [Alison]
Even if you’re not a photographer.
00:15:59 [Alison]
So that’s one way to lean into what to share outside of your personal life.
00:16:03 [Alison]
Some tips for thinking about this and getting creative for yourself.
00:16:06 [Alison]
Number one tip here, y’all, stop following other photographers.
00:16:10 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:16:11 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:16:11 [Alison]
That’s actually an algorithm hack as well because when you’re when you start following a bunch of other photographers, the algorithm’s gonna feed you more photographers.
00:16:19 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:16:19 [Alison]
And then you can kind of get up in your head about your style and comparison and who’s doing what, and dah, dah, dah, dah.
00:16:25 [Alison]
So I would say clear out your photographers unless you’re actually really good friends

00:16:28 [Melissa]
with them.
00:16:29 [Melissa]
And don’t get offended if you notice a photographer has unfollowed you because it may be they’re protecting their own mental space.

00:16:35 [Alison]
A 100%.
00:16:36 [Alison]
And, or unless you’re really inspired, like all of this is loose.
00:16:39 [Alison]
These, none of these are dead rules, guys.

00:16:41 [Melissa]
Right.

00:16:41 [Alison]
Hold them loose.

00:16:42 [Melissa]
You’d be better off to be following, like, local businesses in your area Mhmm.

00:16:46 [Alison]
And

00:16:46 [Melissa]
any of your clients, stuff like that.
00:16:47 [Melissa]
There was a point in time where I would open up my Instagram and it was literally all babies because I followed all of my past clients and I was constantly seeing their kids all the time.

00:16:56 [Alison]
That’s funny.
00:16:57 [Alison]
That’s funny.
00:16:58 [Alison]
Or okay.
00:16:59 [Alison]
So don’t overthink it.
00:17:00 [Alison]
Keep it simple.

00:17:01 [Alison]
So you’ve got your ideas.
00:17:02 [Alison]
You’ve got your unpopular opinion.
00:17:04 [Alison]
Edit, edit, edit.
00:17:05 [Alison]
Keep it simple.
00:17:06 [Alison]
Do not overwhelm whether you’re making a reel or a post.

00:17:09 [Alison]
The minute dumbed down version of that is perfect.
00:17:13 [Alison]
They’re not reading novels here.
00:17:16 [Alison]
Nobody has the attention span past three seconds.
00:17:18 [Alison]
If they have to read it twice to understand it, it’s too much.
00:17:21 [Alison]
You know what I mean?

00:17:22 [Alison]
So keep it simple.
00:17:23 [Alison]
Get out and live real life.
00:17:25 [Alison]
Honestly, this is some advice I’ve had to give myself here in the last four or five months.
00:17:28 [Alison]
That’s why I started paddling on Tuesdays because I needed to get out.
00:17:32 [Alison]
This whole sitting at my desk during the daytime school hours and working and writing blog posts and Instagram posts and editing and talking to clients was just wearing thin on extroverted self, and so I needed out.

00:17:43 [Alison]
So I get outside, I get with people, I’m moving my body, and I’m in the water, and it’s feeding my soul in many ways.
00:17:49 [Alison]
So do that.
00:17:51 [Alison]
Do that for yourself.
00:17:52 [Alison]
Get out of the house.
00:17:53 [Alison]
Get out of your routine.

00:17:54 [Alison]
Do something that interacts with other people.
00:17:56 [Alison]
Do something that gives you life, and that’ll help give you content, content for social media.
00:18:00 [Alison]
And then if we’re gonna stop following those photographers, start looking at other industries to get ideas and inspiration and how to adapt.
00:18:08 [Alison]
So things I like for myself are like cross stitching.
00:18:11 [Alison]
I really like cross stitching.

00:18:13 [Alison]
Or like dog videos.
00:18:14 [Alison]
My kids really like the dog reels, but they have some of the funniest audio and you can reuse that and be inspired by that.
00:18:21 [Alison]
Or somebody I was listening to said they really liked gaming, like gaming reels.
00:18:27 [Alison]
And when I said gaming, like card game, like Pokemon cards.

00:18:31 [Melissa]
Oh, okay.

00:18:31 [Alison]
It was like yeah.
00:18:32 [Alison]
You’re getting random audio that may not be floating around the photography or photo or artistic creative world, but it’s floating around a whole different other subsect of the social media world.
00:18:44 [Alison]
Even the girl that

00:18:45 [Melissa]
I follow, she started doing, like, a hook of the week.
00:18:47 [Melissa]
Like, she does, like, content creation.
00:18:48 [Melissa]
So she was doing, like, a hook of the week, a hook of the week.
00:18:50 [Melissa]
And so then I looked at that and I thought, okay.
00:18:53 [Melissa]
How can I create something that’s gonna be every week, And it’s just this is expected on this day?

00:18:58 [Melissa]
I’m dropping a tip on that.
00:19:00 [Melissa]
And that’s how I started the blog post topics.
00:19:02 [Melissa]
I just took my freebie lead magnet and started with some of those.
00:19:04 [Melissa]
And just once a week, I’m dropping a tip.
00:19:07 [Melissa]
And then after that was going well, I was like, okay.

00:19:09 [Melissa]
This is working for me.
00:19:10 [Melissa]
Because that’s the big thing too, is figure out what works for you guys.
00:19:12 [Melissa]
So that started working for me that I’m like, I can sit down and batch record those.
00:19:15 [Melissa]
I’m just talking to like, I feel more confident with those now.
00:19:17 [Melissa]
And then I added in the SEO tip of the week after that.

00:19:19 [Melissa]
So even if you only pick one of these things and you start posting once a week and you get comfortable with that, then you can add on some of these other ones.
00:19:27 [Melissa]
It’s that whole crawl before you walk.

00:19:28 [Alison]
Exactly.
00:19:29 [Alison]
And it all goes back to the very first thing we said.
00:19:31 [Alison]
You are the secret sauce.
00:19:33 [Alison]
So if you are overwhelmed with ideas, like I might be right now, stop.
00:19:38 [Alison]
What do you like most?

00:19:39 [Alison]
What gets you excited most?
00:19:41 [Alison]
What do you have the most content category for?
00:19:44 [Alison]
And just do one thing.
00:19:45 [Alison]
And if you forget about the rest, so totally fine.
00:19:48 [Alison]
You know?

00:19:48 [Alison]
And then if you’ve got all this content, go to the pillars that we are talking about.
00:19:52 [Alison]
Pick four pillars.
00:19:53 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:19:53 [Alison]
Make four posts about each pillar, and there you go.
00:19:56 [Alison]
16 posts.

00:19:57 [Alison]
And if you wanna do three posts a week, that’s sufficient.
00:19:59 [Alison]
If you wanna do two, that’s sufficient.
00:20:01 [Alison]
Consistency is key.
00:20:03 [Alison]
Overwhelm is not.
00:20:05 [Alison]
Anything that you feel overwhelmed to do, you’re gonna wash out on and it’s not gonna have mattered anyway or work anyway.

00:20:11 [Alison]
So pick your minimum level of effort and stick to it.

00:20:14 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:20:15 [Melissa]
You can build up from it later, but start Yeah.
00:20:17 [Melissa]
Exactly.
00:20:17 [Melissa]
Start small.

00:20:18 [Alison]
And then always use a planner.
00:20:20 [Alison]
All my static posts and carousels are posted by a scheduler.
00:20:25 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:20:25 [Alison]
Only my reels do I post live myself.
00:20:28 [Alison]
I pick the time my people asked.

00:20:29 [Alison]
I auto post it.
00:20:30 [Alison]
I set up a month at a time, and I only do two to four weeks of content scheduled at a time, and then I don’t touch it for two weeks.

00:20:38 [Melissa]
I was just telling Allison that, like, last Friday, I had curled my hair and done my makeup because I was going out with my husband that night, and I batch recorded, like, 30 videos.
00:20:46 [Melissa]
And half of them were blog post topics and half of them were SEO topics.
00:20:49 [Melissa]
And I changed my shirt a couple times and threw on a sweater just because that’s what works for me.
00:20:52 [Melissa]
Like, I’m not gonna be able to sit there and do it every week and remember.
00:20:56 [Melissa]
But if I can sit down and batch out all the stuff and then we started using ClickUp.

00:21:00 [Melissa]
So listen today, like how we have everything scheduled in ClickUp for my, I’m now passing it over to my social media girl.
00:21:05 [Melissa]
Like, here’s the video.
00:21:06 [Melissa]
Here’s the day I want it posted.
00:21:08 [Melissa]
Go make it happen.
00:21:09 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:21:09 [Melissa]
And then I don’t have to worry about it.
00:21:11 [Melissa]
And that’s perfect for me.

00:21:12 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:21:12 [Alison]
That batching, I can’t say enough about the batching and releasing.
00:21:15 [Alison]
Like, poof, be done.
00:21:16 [Alison]
Get your mind out of that.
00:21:17 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:21:18 [Alison]
So if any of this is overwhelming to you, go back to our basics.
00:21:21 [Alison]
Remember, we’ve got the freebie for the blog tracker.
00:21:24 [Alison]
We say we’ve got another episode we’ve talked about too about start from your blog post.
00:21:27 [Alison]
Start with what you’ve already gotten written and take that and then hash it out into some ever sent, create a few carousels, create a few static posts, and then get those going.
00:21:36 [Alison]
So And then

00:21:37 [Melissa]
you can reuse those too.
00:21:38 [Melissa]
Like Allison mentioned, she’s got evergreen content on stuff.
00:21:40 [Melissa]
So maybe you schedule a post for next week, and then you schedule that same post for six months from now.

00:21:45 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:21:46 [Alison]
Or two months from now.

00:21:47 [Melissa]
Then you

00:21:47 [Alison]
get two months, the same post.
00:21:49 [Alison]
It’s totally fine to do that.
00:21:50 [Alison]
It’s totally fine.
00:21:51 [Alison]
It’s amazing how much you can repeat.
00:21:52 [Alison]
But if you want some help containing that, tracking that, keeping it all organized in one spot, I have a freebie linked in the show notes right now.

00:21:59 [Alison]
It’s called a keyword blog tracker.
00:22:00 [Alison]
It’s a whole lot of things that can be as robust or as sought from your blog, the keyword used on that blog, the URL, and then you can either make it a checklist for all the social media platforms you’re using, or you can make it a kind of database of evergreen content spliced up, like the captions from that blog post in one spot so that you can just have it all together.
00:22:20 [Alison]
Make sure you download that, use that, and let me know how it’s working for you.
00:22:24 [Alison]
Awesome.
00:22:24 [Alison]
Well, thanks, guys, for listening.

00:22:25 [Alison]
Hopefully, that’s helpful.
00:22:26 [Alison]
As always, share this episode with friends.
00:22:28 [Alison]
If you found it helpful, leave some reviews and stars for us.
00:22:31 [Alison]
And let us know if you have any questions.
00:22:33 [Alison]
Thanks for listening.

00:22:34 [Melissa]
Thanks so much.
00:22:34 [Melissa]
Bye bye.
00:22:38 [Melissa]
Thank you so much for listening.
00:22:40 [Melissa]
If you’re enjoying the show, would you do two things for us?
00:22:42 [Melissa]
First, leave a review.

00:22:44 [Melissa]
Just stars would be awesome.
00:22:45 [Melissa]
And two, forward this episode to a biz bestie, nil spouse, or anyone facing moving their business.
00:22:51 [Melissa]
We’d love it if you shared this episode with even just one person.
00:22:54 [Melissa]
If you have questions, you can reach out to Allison on Instagram at alison belle photog, or you can find me, Melissa, in my Facebook group, Picture Perfect Rankings.
00:23:03 [Melissa]
Check the show notes for links, and we’re so excited to have you guys here.