Should a multi-genre photographer separate social media and branding for different audiences?
Asked 12/7/2018
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2 answers
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I’m building a portfolio website and social presence as an amateur photographer who wants to get more serious. My work may cover very different genres, from nature and local events to NSFW/boudoir-style photography.
What’s the best way to present this without losing potential clients? If I use one social media account, all followers will see everything, which could turn off people who only want to see certain kinds of work. On the other hand, some followers in one area could still become clients in another.
For photographers who work across very different niches, is it better to keep a single online presence or separate accounts/sites/branding for different types of work?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
7y ago
2 Answers
5
Separate your audiences. For example if you shoot product and boudoir, don't advertise them together, you could end up alienating both client base, as someone who's interested in someone to shoot their latest selection of doors.. they're not going to be interested in seeing racy boudoir shots. There can also be an impact on SFW filters. Social media algorithms will also reflect suggestions etc accordingly so you may shoot yourself in the foot.
As noted in a comment, this is also important: 'separate your branding as well. Using separate pages doesn't mean much if I labeled both Hueco's Photography and someone looking for family photos Googles me only to end of ogling some racy boudoir shots'. Also worth googling the name see if it's being used before you decide to use it.
That said. Nothing wrong with just having a blog/social media page, unrelated to commercial work and clients, and treat it as such, treat it as a project not an advertising tool.
I'd also highly recommend avoid the 'multi-niche' approach. It comes across very 'jack of all trades, master of none'. If you want to build up a portfolio and in turn a client base look at doing it one at a time and focus on a single specific genre.
Originally by user55814. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user55814
7y ago
0
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If your genres target very different audiences, especially SFW versus NSFW, separate them.
That means separate social accounts and ideally separate branding as well, not just separate galleries under one name. Someone looking for family, event, or commercial work may be put off if they immediately encounter boudoir/NSFW images, and the reverse is also true. Social platforms also show all posts to followers and may classify or filter your account based on what you publish, which can hurt discoverability for mainstream work.
A single mixed feed usually makes marketing harder because you’re asking one audience to tolerate content meant for another. Keeping each niche distinct lets you speak clearly to the clients who actually want that work.
A practical approach is to maintain different portfolios/accounts for each major niche, with names and branding that match the audience. You can still cross-link discreetly where appropriate, but don’t force every follower to see everything.
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