There is no question that in the ever-competitive photography industry you need every advantage to set yourself apart from your competition. It’s no longer enough to just place an ad in the local Yellow Pages and wait for the phone to ring. You need to start thinking outside the box when it comes to your advertising efforts and you need to start now.

Unless you have been living under a rock or have been so busy the last couple years, in which case you probably don’t need to read this article, you’ve heard of social media networks such as MySpace and Facebook. These websites are generally used to connect with friends and family, but lurking just beneath their exterior is a wealth of marketing gold. For little to no money you can tap into the over 100 million registered members that comprise the facebook network alone. Try doing that with your local yellow pages.

At this point you are probably still wondering how this is all applicable to you as a photographer, so let me show you how by placing a small facebook advertisement you can directly tap you into your target audience.

For example, if you are a High School senior photographer you can use the Facebook advertising system to locate all 17 – 18 year old kids in your local town that have accounts on facebook. Each day as eager young high school kids in your home town log into their facebook accounts, your ad will be served up in all its glory for them to view.

Let me walk you step by step through the process of creating a facebook advertisement of your own and get you well on your way to generating new leads for your business.

(more…)