photography...... advertising on facebook?

[jake..]

what do you guys think of this?

ok so like many photographers i have a fan page, however i also have a profile for my photography too.

im in high school so i dont have a big business, i want to grow my clients and get known in the area

what do you think of this idea?

on my photography profile.... adding people from my school, and other schools. and friends of friends etc to get people on there, and every time someone accepts a request or freinds me i send a message saying who i am what i do and a link to my fanpage....

also what about adding people who are not teens? such as the teens parents and stuff?

good or bad?

looking for ways to get my name out there without putting ads in paper and tv or radio....

PS: this is just for now, when i have the money i know paid advertising and a professional site is better...
ive been doing photography for 6 years, have studied photography in high school, books, and online. i was the photo editor in my yearbook class as well as the editor in chief. i know a all the "basics"!!

[The Writer]

Unless you are ready to be viewed as a professional and have high enough quality work to add to a fan page, it's utterly pointless to even have one.

In several of the questions I have seen from you it appears you are getting way ahead of yourself and moving too fast on getting into the business. Slow down! There is no rush to have a fan page, clients, a professional site, etc until you've mastered the basics.

Update...

If you know all the basics and have been shooting for 6 years (I'm going to assume you're around 16-17) then how is it you didn't know what TFP/TFCD is? I knew that in the first 6 months I was shooting seriously.

Simply put: Huge difference between 6 years of shooting as a kid versus 6 years of shooting as an adult. You're trying too hard to do much when it's evident you don't know as much as you think you do.

[WellTraveledProg]

Do you have an actual "business?" By which I mean a business bank account, tax ID, reseller's license, studio, client list, etc.? Or do you just shoot some stuff now and then and get paid a little bit for it? Just wondering...

I have a "business" page on Facebook for my actual photography business. It gets some attention, but mostly from people who are already my clients. After more than a year, I have yet to get a single job from it...so I don't consider Facebook a very effective venue for advertising.

Peace.

[Steve P]

I don't care what you do with Facebook, it is still Facebook. I have as little regard for any "business" using it as an only venue as I do stuffing cheap business cards into gas pump handles or a handwritten note about a "business" on a bulletin board in a coin operated laundry. If some "photographer" could only supply me with a Facebook web link, then I would not even bother to look. You might as well wallow around in the mud with the clowns on Craigslist.

Also, no matter how well you THINK you know all the "basics" of photography, you will likely fail miserably trying to do it as a business if you have not taken any serious BUSINESS courses while in school. Plenty of very good photographers never make it because they lack the BUSINESS skill and knowledge necessary. You need to be taking care of that aspect of things while you can. Just taking good photos seldom gets you anywhere. A person that can take good photos AND is a very good business person is the one who will be consistently successful.

steve

[Hondo]

You are not a photographer.

[Camera Guy]

You are just 1 very small fish swinging in a ocean of millions of larger, meat eating other fish. FB might get you a "fan page" if you are good and people already know about you across the country, but common dude, out side your city, who knows you or even cares..?
.
It sounds exciting and everything but to get noticed you have to be good and already have your work out there, a lot. You have to be good..! You have to be delivering something them around you are not. You have to be better than your local competition..
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Parents and friends are going to say how good you are. It's their job.. But all you can really do, it try it...

[Francis]

better