There are no dull days in the world of social media, with major updates coming our way every month. For starters, September saw TikTok enter the e-commerce space. They introduced TikTok Shop in the US. This new feature allows brands and platform users to sell products to followers directly via the app. Then, over the fence at Meta, Instagram has been toying with the idea of longer Reels. This will allow users to post videos of up to 10 minutes in length.
A photographer’s bread and butter on social media, Instagram remains a priority for Wonderful Machine, where we posted four to five times a week in September. We reached 6,798 accounts, a 6.9% drop from August. However, we reached 34% more in terms of non-followers, ensuring the photographers we featured on IG reached a larger portion of new audiences. Total impressions held steady at 27,573, and content interactions (likes, comments, etc.) were up by 7.2%.
September’s top-performing goes to Miami-based Mary Beth Koeth, featuring US Open Women’s Champion Coco Gauff for New Balance in a production handled by Wonderful Machine’s Craig Oppenheimer. The post reached 2,954 people.
The top-performing reel for the month belongs to Chicago-based Sandy Noto, which provided a behind-the-scenes look at her work for the Graduate Homestead Room. The video received 1,943 plays.
Pinterest is a visual discovery platform where users can collect ideas on various trending topics. We use it as a virtual mood board where we organize our members’ photos by specialty and also collect examples of all the main types of marketing materials photographers use to promote themselves (including logos, bios, email promotions, print promotions, and PDF portfolios).
We periodically select new content from our photographers’ websites (and also consider the work they send directly to us) to keep the platform fresh for our audience. Though Pinterest is not always top of mind for photographers, we’ve found that our Pinterest page gets a significant amount of views.
Metrics on Pinterest were up across the board compared to August. We witnessed a 5.3% and 6.2% increase in impressions and engagements, respectively, to 211k and 5.56k. The total audience reached was 132k, a 5.1% increase.
The top pin of the month featured London-based Francis Augusto’s photographer bio, generating 53 impressions.
The month’s top parent board was Photographer Specialties, which acquired 56.11k impressions, 1.53 engagements, and 1.26k pin clicks.
Though Facebook is mostly used to connect users with their friends and family (and their algorithm favors that content), we’ve found that it’s also effective at connecting photographers with clients. Our Facebook account mirrors our Instagram feed and we also share a selection of Photographer Spotlight articles from our Published Blog.
Our reach in September increased by 18.4% compared to August, settling at 2.7k. Page and profile views held at last month’s figure: 239.
The top-performing post was Nelson, New Zealand-based Tatsiana Chypsanava’s work for The New York Times. The post took a deep dive into Tahiti’s preparations for its 2024 Olympic surfing competition and reached 175 people.
LinkedIn is the only major social media platform dedicated specifically to professional networking. This makes it a good place to share the stories of our photographers and their creative problem-solving skills. We post once or twice a week, sharing our Photographer Spotlight articles and photos from our Creative in Place email campaigns. These campaigns are where we pick a very specific creative brief and show clients how our extensive network of photographers can deliver on that particular theme.
It was a good month for LinkedIn, where page views surged by 15.7% to 383 and we attracted 21.1% more in terms of unique visitors to 218. We also added 42 new followers.
The most popular post of the month focused on Torben Beeg’s work for Baden-Baden, helping his hometown secure its status as one of UNESCO’s Great Spa Towns of Europe. The post generated 996 impressions and 189 clicks.
Twitter, or X, is a microblogging platform that enables users to post short messages – or posts – formerly known as tweets. It is commonly used for sharing information, expressing opinions, and staying updated on current events.
We try to post on this platform about once a week, sharing photographer news, compact galleries, and articles featuring our member photographers.
It’s the second consecutive month that Twitter’s analytics dashboard has been wonky, with most metrics remaining unavailable. However, our Tweet impressions rose by 5.5% to 913. The top-performing tweet also looked at Torben Beeg’s work for Baden-Baden, generating 143 impressions.
Baden-Baden secured its spot as a @UNESCO Great Spa Town of Europe in 2021. Part of the application process included photography by Torben Beeg, who continues his collaboration today for the town’s tourism efforts. #architecturalphotography #UNESCO pic.twitter.com/JTthiKEkcw
— Wonderful Machine (@wonderflmachine) September 27, 2023
We use our YouTube channel to host a wide range of content. This includes behind-the-scenes, photography compilations, motion reels, print portfolios, Member Open House presentations, and much more. Users can subscribe to our channels, comment on videos, and share with others.
We post once or twice per week and use two types of formats – vertical shorts and horizontal motion reels.
For the most part, we’ve been experimenting more often with YouTube shorts, and the decision has proven fruitful so far. We’ve been sharing some of our IG reels via this medium and all key metrics have seen improvements.
We had 2.7k views (16% gain), 19.5 hours in watch time (32% gain), and we added 13 new subscribers.
Our reshare of Sandy Noto’s work for the Graduate Homestead Room was the main attraction, with 1,882 views.
Stay tuned for more content on our Social Media platforms. Keep tagging us and, of course, let us know if you have any tips and ideas for us!
Have questions about how we promote our photographers? Check out our Membership page. Want to know how you can get the most out of your Wonderful Machine membership? Check out our Jumpstart page, or just reach out!