Facebook Self-Evaluation

Facebook Final Evaluation

Through the many courses I have attended at Dixie State, self-evaluations have become an expected assignment in the class curriculum. It is one of the harder tasks for me to complete because I have trouble being objective to my own work; work that I believe is some of my best. However, over the years I have become better at doing so and accepting positive criticism in hopes of becoming better and improving on all of my skills.

As I sat down to type this self-evaluation, which pertains to my Facebook page that I created earlier in the semester, MLA-Photography I became worried. I realized had not followed up with my Facebook plan, which I posted earlier on this blog. I have been paying close attention to my Facebook page, but I lost sight of what my particular target market was, or perhaps it changed?

As I continued reading, my Facebook plan I came across the personas I created for my page. Immediately I began to rethink the direction in photography I had taken. Most of the personas I had written were dead on with the type of customers I have had and the type of photographs I have been taking.  However, I was disappointed, in myself, to find I had not met one of the specific personas I had created, the outdoor enthusiasts.

As I developed my mission statement, I began to think of what set me apart from other photographers; better yet, photographers in Southern Utah. Instantly I recognized the lifestyle that I live, and how I could pull my photography skills into that setting in order to develop original pictures. As an outdoor enthusiast: avid rock climber, mountain biker, Jeep driver, motocross rider, and hiker. I realized I go many places other people don’t go, and those that do, aren’t willing to pack along a 3k+ camera and equipment. This gave me the upper hand in these departments and broadened my horizons in customer selection.

Overall, I failed my attempt at hitting the market where my photography could have taken off most. A disappointment, yes, but it’s not too late to continue my ventures and start conversing with people who enjoy outdoor recreation like myself; capturing them in an environment they love so they can continue to hold on to the memories for years to come.

In conclusion, MLA-Photography has become a great side business and something I have enjoyed doing over the past few months. I’ve upgraded some of my equipment and purchased business cards in the process which continues to help get the word out. Also, a huge shout out to Facebook, the king of social media in my book. Without you, I would have not been able to get my work out and share it with the people who enjoy seeing it most.  With all failures aside MLA-Photography will become a great success if I continue to develop my marketing technique and engage users with the content I am posting.

To all the other Facebook page owning, photo taking, photo editing, camera users out there: I look forward to your competition. 

Facebook Metrics

Facebook Metrics

Facebook insights might be one of the most useful tools I have ever used; it has helped me mold my marketing campaign and business to fit the needs and wants of my customers. However, I found the information gathered by Facebook much easier to use within their interface, the charts and graphs helped me understand the content a lot better. Once I exported the information to Microsoft Excel, it became more difficult for me to read.

As I reviewed the insights I was impressed at what I saw…MLA-Photography has really began to take off with the help of Facebook, and all of my content is being viewed in some form.  As I pulled up the demographics of my page, I wasn’t surprised with what I found. Nearly 60% of my page ‘fans’ are female, and only 40% are male. 75% of my fans fall between the age of 18-24; this is no surprise since I have been inviting friends from my personal page over to ‘like’ MLA-Photography, as well as posting it to my personal status. Majority of the ‘likes’ on my page are based out of SLC, where I grew up and know people, with a few scattered around St. George, Washington, West Jordan, and even a few in Italy and Canada.

According to the insights of MLA-Photography, my page has been viewed nearly 1,400 times within the last 3 months. Most of my interaction happens between my fans and the Facebook Wall. From the wall my users generally click on my Photo’s tab, which means I am directing users in the correct direction for my page. Majority of my page views also come from Facebook users that are logged-in, as opposed to page visitors that may not hold a Facebook account or be logged-in alike. I’d like to attribute some of those clicks to KCSG.com; I did some freelance photography for high school football and sent in my photos which they put on their website. They then hyperlinked my name to my Facebook page, MLA-Photography, and it accounted for 16 hits. Also, RME4x4.com, a forum for offroad enthusiasts, rounded up 9 people, and Google rounded up another 8 because of my Google ads account.

Posts made by MLA-Photography have been viewed, through the News Feed, have totaled over 18,000 in the last 3 months.  As stated above, most of the traffic that visits my page have gone directly to my photos, exactly what I want. I have received the most views and impressions on my two wedding albums, I attribute this to my 60% female audience, many of which are getting engaged, just married, or looking for wedding photographers. However, I have received the most feedback from a Wall post thanking my customers for their support and all the comments they have posted on my photos.

Media consumption graph and insights show nothing. I’m unaware exactly how they work, but mine is a flat. I haven’t posted an video or audio so I know that part is right. I have posted multiple photos in multiple albums. I believe this only works if you post a picture/video/audio from a link to your personal webpage or another site. I also posted a poll and had one hit on that. I quickly learned that those didn’t work.

I did not reach my goal of 160 likes by mid October; I only had ~110 likes. However, it is December 3^rd and I just surpassed 180 likes…slow and steady wins the race.