Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Tried and True with a Dash of Woo, where we blend rock-solid tips with a little bit of magic. I'm Renee Bowen, your host, life and business coach and professional photographer at your service. We are all about getting creative, diving into your business and playing with manifestation over here. So are you ready to get inspired and have some fun? Let's dive in. Hey friends, welcome back for a super quick little bonus episode of tried and true with a dash of woo.

Speaker 1: 0:30

I'm your host, renee bowen, and I've taken a couple of weeks off because it's just been busy season. You know, if you're a photographer, you know what I'm talking about. I still run a photography business as well as my coaching business, so sometimes things just get a little nutty and I'm all about just feeling aligned. So if it doesn't feel aligned for me to get a show out, I'm not going to do it. However, I absolutely want to get this information to you guys out, and it's not on my regular schedule this is not a Wednesday when the show normally comes out but it's a short little snippet of a marketing piece of content that I think would be very valuable, especially to my high school senior photographers who are in my audience. So if you're a high school senior photographer or you need to market to teenagers in some way, this episode is for you. I'm specifically speaking to the new changes that Instagram just rolled out, speaking about how they are making it much safer on Instagram for teenagers. So if you haven't seen that little pop-up on your Instagram, you probably will, especially if you're a high school senior photographer. You've probably seen it, because we know that we need to be marketing to our teenagers. At least you should be. That's what I'm always talking about. We need to be marketing to both the parent and the teenager in different ways, which makes our niche, our genre of photography, very different than anything else. So if you are coaching with or being mentored by another photographer who specializes in something other than senior photography, they're probably not going to have this information because they're not used to the way that we have to market to teenagers. It's really really special, it's really unique and not a lot of people understand how to do that. I've been talking about this since 2014, because that's kind of when we saw the beginning of Gen Z stepping on the scene and being a lot more savvy in their social media usage just across the board, and now we're about to cross into Gen Alpha, which is like Gen Z on steroids, and I've got other shows all about marketing to Gen Z and Gen Alpha, so I'll try and link those below for you guys in the show notes if you want a little. You know quick tips on those.

Speaker 1: 2:38

But in addition to all of that these new changes that Instagram is rolling out it does make it harder for us to reach our target clients on those platforms. And if you have my program the creative team method, the way that I teach senior rep teams you know that a big part of it is reaching out to them on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. So how are we supposed to do that if we literally cannot DM someone if they're a teenager, unless they're a teenager, unless they're following us and we're following them? So the first thing I want to go over really quickly is that you need to be following them. So this is going to require a little bit more research and time on your end, and I know it sounds like a lot, but I promise you can do this. Just set the time aside. This is the kind of work that we kind of need to do. So if you are a senior photographer already, let's say that you have at least shot a few clients. You have some seniors class of 2025, let's say, you know on your roster or on your radar and you maybe even have already started a team or tested the waters with a senior rep team. Okay, use what you have. So, basically, any teenager you know, any teenager that's in your radar, start there. Okay, when I started my senior photography business back in 2007, I didn't have teenagers and I only knew a handful of people with teenagers, but I started with the people that I knew. Same goes for this Okay, follow those teenagers, follow those class of 20, 25 seniors now, and we can't force them to follow us back. I get that, but a lot of them are going to.

Speaker 1: 4:19

If your social feeds are, you know, looking like they should be, and what I mean by that is you need to have your Instagram bio optimized, not just for your target clients, but also for SEO. What does your Instagram name say? What does it say right underneath your actual username? Is it your actual name? Is it the name of your business? Does it tell people what you do Meaning senior photographer in your area, los Angeles senior photographer, et cetera? What does your little bio say? Is it professional? Do you have a presence on Instagram? If you don't have a professional presence on Instagram, these kids are not gonna wanna follow you.

Speaker 1: 5:02

You have to think about your Instagram having curb appeal. Basically, if they come across your social feeds from their friends who are posting it, or just from your visibility by posting reels specifically, you need to make sure that your Instagram, first of all, is public and that it has curb appeal so they want to follow you. Do you have highlights for them to consume? Do you have information like who you are and what you do and who you serve? So those things definitely need to be in place. Make sure you have that going for you so that when you are reaching out to these teenagers and finding them from referrals, et cetera, and following them, that they will follow you back Nine times out of 10, they will, and I know a lot of you guys are like oh my gosh, I don't want to feel like a creepy adult following teenagers, okay. What I have to say about that is always if you're not creepy, you won't come across as creepy, okay. Are you a creepy person? Do you have creepy content? Probably not. So you most likely are not going't come across as creepy. Okay, are you a creepy person? Do you have creepy content? Probably not, so you most likely are not going to come across as a creepy person. So, again, make sure that your social feeds and your presence on social media is professional and clear for those people to understand who you are and what you do.

Speaker 1: 6:23

Once you do that and they follow you back, ideally you want to start a dialogue with them. Yes, you want to engage with them. You want to like their content. If they have any up, you can comment on it. If they have any content up, especially, see if you can find a point of reference. For instance, if you follow someone who is friends with one of your clients or someone that you know, you can go ahead and start that dialogue in a DM with them. Hey, I'm a senior photographer in your area. I shot so-and-so's senior pictures just recently and we were just chatting about you. You came up in conversation. We were talking about people that they thought might like to shoot with me. Find a way to weave in what you do and that person, that point of contact, so that creates a little bit more know, like and trust.

Speaker 1: 7:15

And the other thing is that you need to be posting content, because if you follow this person and they follow you back, then they're going to start seeing your content at the top of their feed. So you want to make sure that you're strategic about that. That's why you want to set aside the time to do it right. So if you are setting aside the time to go through all of this source, these teenagers that you think would be a great fit for either your team or as clients you want to make sure that you have some content that's going to start popping up for them right after that. That is right, in line with what you want them to do, what actions you want them to take meaning book with you. So create some aspirational content. Now, I'm not going to go into all of that right now because it's a whole different podcast and I have other shows all about that, but you really should be thinking about three things basically when you're creating your content.

Speaker 1: 8:09

That's the reach, the visibility, okay, being found. Reels and TikToks are perfect for this. I talk about that a lot because those are the pieces of content that are going to get you in front of new people. That's what you want. So if you have a reel or TikTok. That goes viral and it starts bringing you some new clients. You need to follow those people back if they are in line with your target client. So that's that first piece of the puzzle. Okay, you got to be visible. But then there's also nurture content. You want content that is going to take those clients that have followed you and are in your universe and you want to nurture them. You want to provide them with more information about what you do, who it's for, how you do what you do, why you do what you do. Right, people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. So that's a different type of content. And then the third kind of content is going to be conversions. So you need to know what's going to activate those people to actually reach out and buy from you or respond to your DM. So that's your content on the other side of all of this. So you got to keep those things in mind.

Speaker 1: 9:16

I talk about this at length inside of Elevate, my membership. It's only 49 bucks a month. If you're not in there, you need to get in it. You get actual coaching from me once a month. You get to hop on a Zoom and ask me anything from pricing to marketing to mindset. We do all of it. It's a little bit of everything. The link for that is also in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 9:36

But let's get back to communicating with these teenagers. Okay, so you wanna make sure you're strategic about reaching out and getting them in your universe and getting them to follow you. That's the main thing that I want you guys to hear, because I just think a lot of you are just really hung up on the fact that, oh well, these changes just kind of like mean the death of my senior business. It doesn't Okay, it's all about your perspective. You're going to create your own reality. So if you feel as though this is going to hinder things, that it's going to really suck and that it's going to make things really hard, then that's what you are going to get feedback on. But if you choose to look at this through a different lens, a different perspective, and you get to see like, okay, well, yeah, this makes it a little bit more challenging. But I wonder, I wonder if, if I could come up with some new and creative ideas to meet these new teenagers, these new dream clients that I don't know yet.

Speaker 1: 10:34

I personally like to look at these things as opportunities, because I love finding solutions. I'm a marketing geek you guys know that, but I'm also a mindset geek. We are capable of anything we put our minds to, but you have to believe it. So if you needed some validation, if you needed somebody to tell you, take this as your validation, you can absolutely do this. You totally can. You just need to be focused on your goal. You need to know what that outcome is Like. What do I want to accomplish from all of this? Okay, and then set out with that in mind and don't give up. Don't give up.

Speaker 1: 11:09

The other thing I want to mention about all of this and I know we're talking about how to reach teenagers on social media specifically you really cannot hold back ever. But especially when you're building a new business or a new senior rep program or whatever it is, you really cannot back off on your in-person connections in your community. Okay, what we do, especially as higher end photographers, boutique photographers, meaning we're charging more than the average Joe, okay, like and more than like $300 a session when you're actually selling products, that's what I teach, that's what I do. So, especially if you were in that sector of senior photographers, you really have to be making some killer connections in your community. That is how you're going to build a foothold that nobody else can have. You're really awesome connections, customer service, collaborations, how well you extend yourself to other businesses, how well you offer support to other businesses that will carry your business for years.

Speaker 1: 12:20

Okay, the connections I made in the very beginning of my business are still strong to this day, but it's because I didn't let up on it. It's because I kept up with those connections. I kept serving those people and it doesn't mean you have to do it with, like a lot of people. Choose them wisely. This goes into knowing your why, knowing your purpose, knowing your target clients. You have to know those foundations so that you can find the right people and know that the businesses that you're working with are also in line with those target clients. You don't want to be partnering with businesses who are going to put you in front of a completely different demographic. Let's say that's really going to be a waste of your time. So be intentional with that and it will pay off in spades for years.

Speaker 1: 13:08

So a lot of this is you know you got to get a little scrappy. You got to get a little scrappy, especially with that in-person marketing. All of this works together. I always talk about how there's three like the trifecta of marketing. Okay, it is your in-person connections with other local businesses and people, your physical target clients in your community and people your physical target clients in your community. Then there's your social presence, your online presence.

Speaker 1: 13:41

That's your website, first of all. If you guys do not have a good website and it's not converting for you meaning it's not bringing you leads that's a problem. That's a really big problem, and I see this all the time. I see the underside of a lot of photography businesses and some of your websites are absolutely terrible. And I am not judging you. I get it, I've been there. Trust me, everybody starts somewhere. We all start at the beginning. Okay, so don't judge yourself about it, but please, please, make that a priority.

Speaker 1: 14:07

If you have not already, like if you're investing like thousands of dollars in coaching or mentoring, but your website is like sucks, that's not doing you any good. Your website needs to work for you and a lot of you guys, like have a very basic understanding of this. I get it Like it seems very techie and like outside of your realm of you know capacity for getting it done, but you don't need to spend a lot of money doing this. You really, really don't. Okay, somebody came to me I think it was a couple of years ago and she had just dropped $10,000, 10,000 on a custom designed website and it was fine. But it was. It was, but there was no reason she needed to spend that amount of money Zero, not when we have things like ShowIt. A lot of us use ShowIt, myself included, and Tonic Shop.

Speaker 1: 15:04

My website is built from a template. It's drag and drop like Canva, and I get compliments on my website daily. I get way more leads than I used to. Now, I always had a WordPress blog, I will say that. So it wasn't very hard for me to convert it over to show it, because show it uses WordPress as the blog. So if you're not blogging, that's the other.

Speaker 1: 15:29

That's the third piece. Okay, I went over. First, we had your in person connections just to refresh your memory in person referrals, then your online presence and your socials, and then SEO. That's the third one. Okay, so if your SEO is terrible, you're not going to get those leads. Those three things need to be working together with a very cohesive plan that is based on your purpose, your why, your target client and your brand message and voice.

Speaker 1: 16:00

That's the foundation when you work with me coaching. If you've done that already, if you've been through any of my programs one-on-one or my group you know that I harp on that stuff because it is so important and once you get those things like solidified, you don't feel chaotic in your marketing. It's really seamless, trust me. So I know it feels like a lot, but those things need to be in place and your website is a really big piece of it because you don't own social media. So yeah, I know this podcast is talking about how to reach teenagers on social media, but at the end of the day, you don't own social media and it could go away in a heartbeat.

Speaker 1: 16:35

In fact, there's been a huge uptick just recently. I've seen in my groups and my coaching a lot of people are having their platforms, their Instagrams, specifically revoked, hacked, taken down, sometimes for days. I have one of my coaching clients who is just. This has been happening, ongoing for like the last two months and it's really difficult to appeal that unless you are verified. If you're meta verified, it's a lot easier to get in touch with someone and that's, honestly the sole reason I pay for meta verification, because if something happens to my social feeds, my Instagram or my Facebook, even I want to be able to get somebody on the on the line, right. I want to be able to get it back and speak to a person, and they make it real hard, if you're not verified, to do that. So it is 15 bucks a month and for me it's really worth it. You definitely want to look into it. It might've gone up to 19. Don't quote me on that price, but it's not that expensive For me. I want to make sure that I am doing everything that I can to maintain the integrity of my accounts, so maybe put that on your list of things to invest in at some point.

Speaker 1: 17:45

All that to say you don't own social media. You need to have a really awesome website, and if you are even entertaining that thought for just a second, of purchasing anything from Tonic Shop just by the way, they are doing their fall sale, but only until October 8th, so you don't have a lot of time. But if you are thinking about getting a template from them any template, website, social templates they have all kinds of amazing templates there. If you're thinking about it, now's the time during their fall sale because you can get 20% off. I bought my template during this sale two years ago and it was the best decision I've made for my business in years. Honestly, I bought it during their fall sale knowing that I would not have time to do anything with it until after busy season, and that's what I did. I just bought it, I got my 20% off and I didn't do anything with it until January. And when I did open that up, create my show it account, because I didn't even have show it I did all of it literally within like two weeks, and that's only because I was coaching and doing things in between.

Speaker 1: 18:53

You can get this done pretty quickly. Okay, you don't need to know code, you don't need to know anything other than, okay, I want these images. And yes, you do need to know what kind of copy you want. But there's a lot of different ways you can do that, like use ChatGPT to help you. Okay, brainstorm with ChatGPT. I talk about that a lot inside of repurpose as well. So, if you were thinking about doing it, grab a template ASAP from Tonic Shop. The link is below. Use the code Rene15 and you're going to get that 20% off. It's really worth it. You guys and I'm also going to link below in the show notes a blog post that I did about are they really worth it? So it goes into all of that in more detail for you.

Speaker 1: 19:32

Okay, back to making sure that we can still reach our teen clients on social. I know we've been talking about Instagram, but here's the thing there's not a lot we can do about these rules. We can be creative, we can do our due diligence as far as, like, staying present, staying consistent, pushing out content that is going to get in front of those target clients, ideally like making sure that you are doing enough reels, because that is the content that gets pushed out to your non-followers. Okay, making sure you're on TikTok. I have been talking about TikTok since May of 2019. I've been trying to get senior photographers over there since then and, yeah, that platform has changed a lot, especially since 2020. But that's where your teen clients are spending most of their time and, yeah, there's still some limitations as far as who you can DM. It's not quite as hardcore yet, at least, as Instagram is, but it's a great, great way to get in front of your teen clients and then you can just get them over to Instagram from there.

Speaker 1: 20:37

I can't tell you how many clients, especially out of state clients, find me from TikTok, but they hit me up on Instagram. Those teenagers know how to do it. Let me tell you. They know that DMing you on TikTok is a little clunky. Like you may not see it, it's not the same platform. They know, first of all, if they like your stuff, they're going to first of all go to Instagram to see your images. Okay, so they're going to click the link, they're going to go to your website and they're going to go to your Instagram to vet you, to make sure that you are up to date, that you actually post content and that you are still in business, because a lot of you guys I go to your profiles, by the way, on Instagram and your last post was like last year no, you need to be posting. This is why your teen clients are savvy. They're not going to hire you if they don't think that you are active on social. So you need to make sure you're doing that. They're going to find you on TikTok it's great for discovery and then they're going to find you on Instagram. Make sure that you pay attention to who is following and liking your content on Instagram so that you can follow them back. Social media is social. Okay, that's really what it's about.

Speaker 1: 21:41

And Instagram has been very, very vocal. You know we're not going to get into like marketing tips, necessarily, but just as a little side note, they've been really, really vocal about what they are pushing out and that's why you see so many memes. You see a lot, a lot of like memes and like funny things. Because they want shareable content. That's what they're prioritizing. They want something that's going to be relatable, like I have one right now that just keeps going and going and going. It's been shared almost just as much as it's been liked because it's so relatable for photographers. So we know that that's what Instagram is prioritizing. So, when you are creating content those three types of content that I went over think about how you can make that relatable to people.

Speaker 1: 22:27

Okay, and be careful, because, as a photographer, it's really easy for us to make relatable content for other photographers, but unless you're selling to them, like I am, that's not going to do you any good. Like that's fine, that's nice that other photographers would be in your universe, but you're not marketing to them. Be really careful about how you curate your algorithm, because you want Instagram to know that you are marketing to and speaking to high school seniors and their parents, or branding clients, et cetera. Like, you need to be really specific with that, because they're just going to keep sending you more photographers. That's not going to do you a lot of good because they are not going to hire you. So think about ways that you can make content relatable to high school senior parents or high school seniors and, yes, you do still need to be talking to their parents, and their parents are on Instagram and their parents are on Facebook, so you do need to be creating that kind of content Honestly. Their parents are also on TikTok. We've seen a huge, huge uptick, especially in Gen X on TikTok, which has been awesome. So that all goes into your messaging and your voice and your golden thread. Make sure you know that.

Speaker 1: 23:30

If you need help with any of this, you know where to find me. All those links are below. You can, like I said, hop in Elevate for 49 bucks a month, try us out, see if you like it, get some great marketing, education and stay accountable as well. Or, if you need deeper help, you want to work one-on-one with me? I don't have a lot of spots open, but you can go ahead and book a call below and let's just chat and see if it'd be right for you.

Speaker 1: 23:51

But at the end of the day, do not freak out about these new changes. I am actually going to be updating the creative team method here pretty soon with some new content specifically about this and specifically about Gen Alpha, because they're changing, like our clients are changing, very quickly and unless you're willing to evolve, you're going to get left behind. I don't want that to happen to you guys. So if you own the creative team method, those changes are coming. Keep an eye out for that.

Speaker 1: 24:19

I will let you guys know. I'll email you guys who already have it or I'll post in our Facebook group. We have a private Facebook group for that and if you missed my fall sale for that, dm me. I have a special code for you. You want to be sourcing class of 2026 now? Okay, that's it for this little episode. Hopefully it was helpful for you. All the links for everything that I talked about are down below in the show notes. Have a great Monday. I know I don't normally talk to you or see you guys on Mondays, but come back on Wednesday for our regular podcast. We have an amazing guest this week and hit me up on Instagram If you have any questions whatsoever at Renee Bowen. Find me at the links below and I'll see you next time. Love you, bye.