078: Rebecca Carpenter – How To Ace Instagram & Top Tips on Booking Destination Weddings

Don’t think about what you can get out of Instagram. Think about what you can put out there, whether it’s giving advice to other people, if it’s boosting somebody else up, if you’re kind of saying, “Oh, that’s amazing,” if it’s shouting somebody out, if it’s resharing somebody else’s work, if it’s tagging them in a caption. It’s all about the bigger picture, and looking at other accounts is what I say to people. And Stories. I always say Stories are the most… They’re not really underrated, but they are the most powerful tool on Instagram for kind of getting your personal brand across. It’s all about building a brand and not a business is what I say to people, because as a small business owner, it’s literally just you most of the time, isn’t it? It’s probably just you behind the phone, and a desk, and a camera.So I always say to people to share that. Share behind the scenes of everything, and I mean like rinse it. Go to town, because as humans, we’re naturally really, really nosy. Like, Stories, algorithm-wise, you’ll have way more views on a Story than you will likes on a post. It’s just how it works. In that case, use the audience you have. Doesn’t matter if you have a 100 followers, 1,000 followers, 10,000. Show up and serve the audience that you do have. And Stories are the best way to do that, to let people in your world.

I book clients, very often, because they’re like, “Oh, I’ve been following you. You seem like a laugh, and I always love your pictures.” That comes second, and they end up kind of falling in love more by personality. Like, we’re a personality fit, and then they fall in love with your work. I think that’s really important, so I say embrace that and share who you really, really are, and your work, even if it’s a case of you not even talking to camera. It can just be sharing what your world is, and letting people in. That’s the short answer to that question. Because there’s so much. There’s so much.

That’s a really good question, and I get asked this a lot. The best tips I have… My newest tip is having a phone case with like a strap, so I have it on my body. But I work really, really quickly in terms of Stories. Everyone thinks like, “How are you doing this?” The easiest tip is I say to my couple, “Okay, just be really, really cute for 15 seconds.” You need 15 seconds minimum, for a Story to kind of… for the duration. So I say, “Okay, keep being cute, keep kissing.” I literally hold my phone up, and I record them for 15 seconds. I put my phone down. That’s it. I don’t upload to live time. I always upload once I’ve left the couple, the wedding’s done, they’re out of sight.

I never upload to real time, for various reasons, for safety reasons so nobody knows where I am exactly if I’m traveling, or if I’m in a particular hotel or venue, so I don’t get mugged or robbed, and also so I give my couple my full attention, and then I can tag people properly. [inaudible 00:19:59] I can curate the Stories to have the right music. I just record little snippets throughout the day, and I just shout, “Be cute for 15 seconds,” and then the couple are like, “Okay, that’s pretty easy,” and they’re usually just chatting, or kissing, or hugging. And they’re very used to it.

And then also, what most couples love is that I also send them the clips afterwards, so then they have those clips, and then they get excited about it, because not every wedding has a videographer as well. It’s pretty uncommon not to have one nowadays, but sometimes they don’t, so that is the visual kind of movement captured for them, and they love that. So I go, “Oh, you know, keep being cute. This is for the memories,” and then they love it. So I also give that to them as part of the service, so it’s also thinking, “What can you give that to them?” And at the same time… So I just do that throughout the day, to make sure that their Story… But lots of the couples expect it now, and the couples, they’re like, “Oh, are we going on your Stories? Oh, we can’t wait to see what song you pick for this.”

They expect it now, which is quite sweet. So nowadays, it’s pretty normal for me to just be like, “Oh, this is super cute,” and then I just record it, and then also, like I might shoot and hold the camera at the same time. That, I also do. So yeah, but it’s very second nature. But I never upload to real time. I always do it once I’m in bed, or if I’m eating, or once the ceremony, wedding, it’s kind of done. I never do it at the same sort of time.

What I recommend to people is post Stories every single day, every single day. So the little logo, your picture should always have that little [inaudible 00:28:28] circle of activity, every single day. Ideally, if your business is named after your name, use a profile picture which is a picture of you. If you are a big brand or a business, logo is fine. But if it’s just you, break down that wall and show who you really are, so people can get to know you. Don’t hide behind a logo. That’s a mistake I see loads of photographers and videographers do. If it’s just them. Fair enough if you’re a whole team. Okay, but if it’s just you, use a photo of you so people can get to know you. Especially with photographers.

And always have Stories, because the idea is when people go to their home feed, you know how you have Stories at the top, where you can see your favorite people and their stories. You ideally want to be in the top five of people’s highlights, Stories. And the trick is, once somebody engages with them, you’re always going to be in there. So you always want to be on the forefront of their mind, and Stories will do that.

Posting to your grid… Now, the mistake people make, and I used to make this, is you’ve got to post every single day. No you don’t. No, no, no, no, no. Especially with content, you’ve got to be really intentional with your content as photographers and videographers. And we learned this in lockdown, when we didn’t have tons and tons of content. You had to make that content last.