Hi there.
It's Sue.
And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.
These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and
things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.
If you'd like to submit a topic,
DME over on Instagram at gift biz unwrapped,
how do you save time and still create good solid photos
to use for social.
You've seen people who are showing up on social and they
seem to have it all together with their photos.
They continually have a wide variety of images.
They're in all different sorts of locations with their images.
They have things theme two different holidays,
and you're just like,
how are they getting this all done and still running their
business at the same time,
not to mention creating your product,
obviously, which is always an overlay,
a different nuance for us as handmade product creators.
This topic was inspired by Lona who asked specifically about this
in the breeze.
She says,
I just can't turn out things like a machine solely for
the purpose of posting them on Instagram.
I don't understand how people do all of that content and
still do the actual work.
And you're right,
Lona. I mean,
as a solo preneur,
the truth is you can't nor should you be just spending
time creating things only to put up on social.
So I want to put your mind at ease.
I have ideas for you of exactly how you can get
this done for clarification here.
We're talking about product photos,
things like inspirational posts or other types of things with wording
included, or of course a live broadcast.
That's something else entirely.
Let's go ahead and dive into four different strategies where you
can much more easily create content that you can then use
on social Lona.
When I first saw your question,
this is what immediately came to my mind.
As I've already referenced,
you should never be creating content only for social media,
unless you're doing a professional photo shoot.
And we're going to talk about that a little bit more,
but the first thing is,
and the various easiest way to create photos for social media
is to integrate this into what you're doing as part of
your business day already.
And as makers,
we have the good fortunate that there's a lot of content
that is perfectly in line with what you should be posting
on social.
For example,
when you're making your products.
So you're at your production table or wherever it is that
you create,
what you're making and selling stop and think,
could this be a good picture for social?
Let's say you're knitting something,
put your phone on a tripod,
set it for delay,
and then have your hand doing some of the knitting.
Now this is a piece you're actually producing to sell.
So it's integrating into the work you're doing in the day.
It's not stopping and making a piece specifically for social.
And when that piece is done,
take another photo of it.
It's a finished item that's ready and available to sell.
How about when you are fulfilling orders,
you're packing up orders to go out,
take a picture of a box.
That's open with your product in there.
Maybe anything that you're adding in,
you know,
pretty tissue paper,
maybe some stickers,
perhaps it's a thank you card.
Take a photo of that.
That is you working through your business day,
but capturing the moments that then can be used on social.
How about when you're out at craft shows,
pictures of your booth view,
interacting with customers.
If you have someone,
a friend,
family member,
who's also assisting you at the show specifically,
think about handing them the phone and saying,
take some pictures of me while I'm working with people at
the craft show,
doesn't need to be used right away.
It can be used later.
So show interaction,
packaging up,
handing somebody over the product.
Cause they just purchased it.
Having them take it out right away or in the case
of earrings or some type of jewelry.
Maybe they're going to put it on right there at the
show and walk around and get a picture of that.
So all different types of things like that.
So this is point number one.
And it's a mindset switch,
not just going through the work that you have of the
day and thinking of that separately than social media,
but thinking of social media throughout your day and consciously looking
for those times when taking a picture,
doing what you're already doing will make sense for social.
Okay. That's number one second thing I want you to think
about is you can take the pictures now and use them
later. As I was just suggesting going throughout your day,
let's say you have a finished piece,
make a flat light,
put it right on something that has a blank background,
take some pictures of it.
And then you can remove the background so easy to do
in Canva and then have that photo of a finished piece
that you can use later.
Whether it's going to go on your website,
whether you're going to add it to a flat lay background
that's already created in Canva,
whatever you want to do.
Okay. Take pictures to use for later.
You don't always have to be taking pictures in the moment
and uploading them with a post and content and all of
that in lifetime.
And let's face it.
We want to be living our life.
We don't want to be thinking about what we have to
post on social instead of experiencing the moments.
If you're with a friend and they're wearing a piece of
jewelry that you made them take a picture of it and
then just store it to be used later.
Gosh, you may not even put that up for a whole
month, but you've got the photo ready and waiting.
One of the best things that I've learned to do over
time is to have a filing system for my photos.
There are different ways you can do this one.
If you're in Dropbox,
make a master file that says photos,
and then underneath have different categories like flat lay photos,
lifestyle photos,
more professional photo shoot photos that you create,
you know,
whatever your categories will be.
And then just throw the pictures in there and then you'll
have them available when you need them.
You may all of a sudden think of a topic that
you want to post about.
Go look in your photos and see if you have something
that matches that you've already done.
And then even as you're going into the holidays,
you don't always have to make holiday themed specific photos.
If you've got those flat lays,
like I was talking about,
depending on how the product is positioned,
you could probably take that and overlay it into a photo
as if your mug is sitting right on the table of
a Thanksgiving photo,
or just continue with the flat lay theme and have,
you know,
like pumpkin's or something like that around,
you know,
how they'll do around the,
like a frame of a photo and the inside is all
orange. And then you just put your flat lay on top
of it again,
all done in Canva.
Super easy.
The other thing I'll say about this point too,
taking pictures for now that you use later after holidays are
over. Okay.
So the next one that's coming up is Halloween.
If you have holiday themed products,
take extra pictures,
you might not use them this year,
but you couldn't use them into next year.
Think about it.
The images for a lot of the major holidays remain the
same holiday after holiday after holiday.
And even if let's go with mugs,
cause I was just talking about them.
Even if you have a mug that has a skull on
it with a holiday scary scene or wording or whatever it
is that you did for a client this year,
you can use that as an example of things that you
can make for clients for next year.
But guess what,
it's already done.
You already have the photo it's sitting in your Dropbox.
Another way to do this is storing files on your computer.
Having like a master file folder that says photos and then
different categories of photos in separate files in that master file.
Right? So it's another place I like Dropbox because it's accessible
everywhere through your phone,
multiple computers,
anywhere you are,
but you could also put it just right on your desktop
of your computer.
So different ideas.
Michelle, when filing,
do you suggest renaming each photo immediately to identify it?
It depends on your system.
I don't,
I just throw them in there,
then I'll go back.
Like if I'm watching TV or something,
I might go back in and look because sometimes photos that
you bring in,
you decide later,
like, what was I thinking?
That's just not really that great.
Or you do three shots of the same photo.
Maybe I'll delete a couple of shots.
I'm not really worried about naming them necessarily as long as
I'm categorizing them,
because the whole point is to save time.
Google drive.
Great option too.
So we already talked about integrating and just keeping your mind
on the idea that you're always looking throughout your days for
ways that you can take photos that you could use later.
Remember you don't need to take the photo and post it
right away.
Just take that image and then save it in the ways
we were just talking about for later.
Okay. Now point number three,
quarterly photo-shoots yes,
there are going to be some times when you want more
staged professional looking photos by professional looking,
I don't mean that you always need to hire out a
professional photographer.
Some people do,
and that's just fine,
but I get it like,
is that where you want to spend your money?
You have to make the choice.
And now we're so lucky our cameras on our phones can
do the absolute best photos.
Very similar to what a professional photographer would do when you
know the tricks about lighting,
layout placement,
et cetera.
So my suggestion for you is four times a year,
four times only decide,
you know what,
I'm going to do a professional photo shoot with myself and
plan for it.
Few different outfit,
change outs,
because some of these you're going to want to be in
the photo as well,
maybe in a more professional presence that you might be at
a craft show when you're working,
things like that and single product shots.
Maybe you want to do some more structured layout,
your own flat lays,
for example,
or putting your product.
If you make,
let's say Afghans,
hanging it over a sofa in your family room and taking
a shot there,
you know,
things like that.
So a more structured plan and the best way to do
this is to book it into your calendar.
As you're leading up to it,
think of the types of shots you wish you had,
that are missing from your categories.
All right,
mark that down that that's something you'll do for your next
photo shoot and then dedicate a full day to doing some
nice photos half a day,
even if you had to.
So scheduling your photo shoots.
And then my fourth point is a more advanced idea,
but it's really only advanced in terms of thinking.
And that is using user generated content as photos for your
own posts.
Now what user generated content is,
are photos that your customers have taken of the products that
you have.
You know how some people will do an unboxing.
They've been waiting for this necklace that they ordered from you.
They're so excited to have it.
And so they do a photo of unboxing and receiving the
necklace, or they take a picture now that it's on and
they do a real fun picture where in the necklace,
if you're able to get those photos that is user generated
content, one way to do this is to do a promotion
and with every single order that goes out,
say, if you take a picture and tag me on Instagram,
for example,
you'll be entered into a drawing for whatever it is,
either a discount or a free piece or whatever it's going
to be and do.
Then what happens is people take these photos for you,
tag you,
and that's how,
you know,
you can enter them,
cause they've already tagged you.
And then listen to this,
you take that and reshare it in your own feed on
Instagram with your own wording.
And then you give credit back to them because they took
the photo.
It's your product,
it's their photo.
It's on your social media and there's as well.
Okay? So in summary,
here are the four ways to save time yet still collect
all of the pictures that you need for posting on social
media. And most importantly not stop all your regular work that
you need to get done to have these photos.
First thing is integrating it into your Workday and just remembering
that you want to take pictures from time to time.
Maybe it's not every day,
but regularly throughout your day.
So you have instant photos.
Second, take the pictures now and use them later,
but do some type of an organizational system.
Only one system only put things in one place cause you
don't want them saved on your phone in Dropbox,
on your desktop,
Google drive everywhere,
just pick one place and save them there and resource them
later for when you're looking for photos,
third, quarterly photo shoots for a little bit more professional and
strategic photos that fills in the gaps where you're missing photos
that you've been looking for and you can't find make a
list so that they're ready for your next photo shoot day
and fourth.
The advanced idea user generated content.
Listen, customers love doing things in return for you as well.
And if they're getting to put a picture up that then
gets entered into a contest,
they're already your customer.
They get more visibility for themselves,
whatever they do too,
right? So it's a,
win-win all the way around.
I'm going to say this over and over again.
The most important thing for us to do in our business
is make sure that we are focusing on revenue generating tasks.
If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about,
I did a whole tips and talk on this.
This was tips and talk number 28,
about our timing valuable and how to make sure that we're
using it on the tasks that we're doing in our business
that are actually going to create sales.
And there were a lot of these little hidden things that
we got caught up with that don't create sales and making
product only for the purpose of posting on social media would
definitely be one of them that is not a revenue generating
task, not in the way you're doing it that way.
While social media deserves dedicating the time.
It should not override your work day and all of the
tasks that you need to be doing to keep your business
alive and growing.
That's a wrap.
I'm a get to the point kind of girl.
And this is what you can expect from these quick mid-week
sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream
of yours.
Share your handmade products with us.
We want them and they bring us both so much happiness.