I think Stephanie Padovani nail it in her article: “Is Social Media a Waste of Time?”

One of the biggest questions we get from wedding photographers is, “Is social media a waste of time for my business?” And the way many photographers do it, the answer would be yes.

In the over-hyped social media world, it’s often suggested that all you have to do is set up a Facebook page, Twitter or Pinterest account, post a few things and your business will “go viral.” It isn’t that simple or that easy. Social media was created to facilitate social activity, not business. That means the rules of engagement are different.

Frankly, I am not a huge fan of social media. Sometimes I let weeks go by without updating my Facebook status. (Oh, the horror!)  My husband is the “social media butterfly” in the family. He dragged me onto Facebook and Twitter, kicking and screaming. But do I use social media marketing for my photography business? Absolutely. But I refuse to waste time on activities that don’t get results. When I’m doing something on social media for our business, I’m a woman on a mission.

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​If you want to use social media to connect with your real-life and online friends, spend as much time as you like talking about what you ate for lunch, posting kitten videos and playing Farmville. But if you want to use it to market your business successfully, you need to focus on the following actions.

1. Spend Time on Specific Results-Driven Activities

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2. Participate Consistently

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3. Measure Your Results

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4. Conquer One Social Site at a Time…More at Is Social Media a Waste of Time?

I think there are a couple of things I would personally add to this list that would help you as a photographer to really take advantage of the power of social media. Here's my current top 3 for now.

1. Your Profile / About Text, be sure to construct this carefully to really target the customers you want, I've seen so many photographers use something like: I'm a photographer, Photographer,mum, wife & shoe lover, I'm a wedding photographer, a million other photographers have something like that, if you really want someone to follow-you really need to say what you can do for your customers, write it as if you are talking to them. 

2. Provide your website, where you feature your work. Yes, some photographers forget this.

3. Stephanie's no. 2 – participate consistently doesn't really tell you how, here's one way to do it. Follow the big magazines in your industry, if you are a wedding photographer, follow several wedding magazines, retweet, comment on what they are talking about, give good advice in those conversations, this will give you a good exposure to their list of followers.