How Tik Tok and Reels Grew My Business

Every Monday in my Facebook community for photographers, we post a Motivation Monday!! This is where we share things that we hope will motivate others. Wins, sessions or weddings, Instagram Reels.. It is a space to celebrate and motivate each other!! So I thought it would be fun to bring that Monday tradition to the blog!! I will be sharing motivation in forms of tips, encouragement and education to help motivate your dreams!

As I gear up to share so many more weddings and engagement sessions on the blog, I also wanted to create a space to continue to pour into photographers and business owners. In the last year, I have jumped with both feet into education, and it has been one of the wildest rides you could ever imagine in business. And it all started because I took a chance and started a Tik Tok account. For today’s Motivation Monday, I wanted to share my yearly report card with you. I wanted to look back at what stepping into the unknown of marketing on Tik Tok has done within my business, to hopefully motivate you to try something new!!

I think in order to create that motivation, I have to share with you the transparency of it all! The wins, the fails and the in between. Let’s start with the fails. I love to end on happy notes

THE FAILS

Starting a Tik Tok for my photography business meant that I was doing something completely new to me for marketing. I thought that it would be a fun and welcoming place, much like Instagram has been, but I was wrong. There was a lot of criticism, mean comments, trolls that accompanied putting my videos and work out for all to see. I would be amiss to say there weren’t tears that came with some of those mean comments. I quickly learned how to deal with this new unwanted attention and kept pushing forward and growing. With this growth, came a rapid fast track of something that I didn’t realize I would ever want to do, education.

When I stepped into the role of educator, it brought back feelings of imposter syndrome, feelings that I had started to overcome as a photographer. The work started within my inner dialogue again to overcome the imposter syndrome. I had to realize that I have something to offer others that could help them break out of their marketing rut, and I can step into this role of educator.

 

THE WINS

Now to the happy part of this journey. I hope that by me sharing this part openly, it will motivate you to try something new! I am going to share candidly, everything that has happened from clients booking, to opportunities to how much I actually made from sharing on Tik Tok and Reels in 12 months time. Are you ready?

1. I have booked 9 weddings directly from Tik Tok or Reels marketing. Nine weddings over the course of  2020-2022 have come from couples finding me on short form video. Those bookings alone equate to $48,800 worth of bookings.
2. I was fully booked for weddings in 2021 by November of 2020.
3.  I cancelled the Knot in May of 202o which saved me $225 a month. That is $2250 that I did not have to spend on marketing because I was utilizing other marketing strategies like Reels, Tik Tok, vendor referrals, client experience etc.
4. I opened a shop with my Posing Playbook, Reels Starter Kit and more resources.
5. I was invited onto two podcast interviews.
6. I have been a selected educator at two conferences, The Creative Entrepreneur Conference and Creative at Heart.
7. I filmed and released my first course, The Social Strategy, where 62 students opted in to learn how to level up their marketing game! I am walking beside these amazing students as they increase their engagement, go full time in their photography business, book new clients and grow because they decided to up level their marketing. That course launching meant that my first quarter of 2021 was the best my business has ever seen. And brought in more than $25,000.

THE WHY?

Why do I share these things? It’s not to pat myself on the back. It’s to show you the correlation of me trying one new thing, leading to profit, growth and community. And guess what, I am NOT special!! This did not happen because I got lucky! The events of the last year all happened because I tried something new, to market in a new way, to show more of my personality and to reach more of my ideal audience. I want to encourage you to jump out there and do the hard things. I want you to try something new. I want you to reach YOUR ideal audience and start to see growth again.

I created The Social Strategy to help other photographers and business owners learn new ways to market. My students were tired of not growing, not booking, and wasting time and money. I believe so much in the power of a real marketing strategy that allows you to be you! And that marketing is the foundation for growth within your business. So what are you going to do today to shake things up? Whatever it is, I hope you remember that you can look back in a year and say “I am so glad I did that!”! And I am ALWAYS here cheering you on!

 

 

 

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