Digital photography is excellent content for social media, and not just for hobbyists and enthusiasts. Professional photographers also recognize the marketing value of social media, with the use of Web sites and Facebook pages. Twitter has not attracted the same attention of pros, however, because, as Part 1 of this PhotographyTalk.com articlestates, many of them think Twitter is so similar to Facebook that they don’t need to use both to market their photography. This is a mistaken perception. A list of Twitter followers are virtually guaranteed to be like-minded people, which is proven by their willingness to follow you, and even re-tweet your messages and content.

With the tips below, you should be able to reduce the time it takes to develop a sufficient number of followers (100 is typically the first significant threshold), and then put your content in front of many multiples of your original list of followers.

Be Specific

If you’re a professional photographer, then it might be better to start separate personal and business Twitter accounts. This is particularly important if you decide that your Twitter address will be the name of your business, which isn’t your name (Old Town Photography). If the name of your photography business is the same as your name (Bill Smith Photography), then you could have just one Twitter account. You might also find it easier to gain more followers quicker if what you share is more specific than just “photography.” If you enjoy landscape or portrait or travel photography, then try to make connections with others who also tend to shoot that type of photography.

Identify Yourself

Your Twitter account has little value and won’t attract many followers unless you include a bio and profile picture. Otherwise, your account may be considered inactive, or even spam, and definitely uninteresting. If you want the maximum marketing value of a Twitter account, then you must be willing to present yourself professionally.

Focus on Content

The bottom line of using Twitter successfully to market your photography is the quality of your content. No one will follow you (or re-tweet your content) unless they like and/or agree with what you say or the photos you share. Keep it professional and don’t waste your time or others’, relating everyday activities.

Practice Selflessness

Twitter is an excellent promotional tool, but you can’t selfishly use it only to promote you. You must also be willing to be a promoter of others. Just as you hope that followers on your list will re-tweet and share your content with others; you must do the same when you read content or see images that you think would be of interest to your followers. This brings more people to those photographers, which will motivate them to reciprocate by re-tweeting your links and/or become one of your followers. An excellent approach is to divide your tweets: 33% personal, 33% tweets to promote your photography, 33% tweets of others’ work and 1% optional.

Tweak Your Tweets

There are two techniques that can help put your tweets in front of more people. The first is to use a company’s Twitter address instead of just its name. For example, you may be sharing an image that you edited in specific software, and you want your followers to know which software. By referring to the software company by its Twitter address means the company will also receive your tweet. If you have positive comments to make about its products, then it’s very likely it will use it as a testimonial and re-tweet your statement and photo to its followers’ list, which is sure to be much bigger than yours.

The other technique is adding hash tags, or certain keywords, to your tweets. People on Twitter use hash tags to help them find tweets. Common photography hash tags are #togs and #photog. You simple add them to the end of your tweet, which further categorizes your tweets, making sure they are seen by more of those like-minded digital photographers.

As a professional photographer, you can’t dismiss Twitter as either nonsensical or a duplication of Facebook. Twitter gives you access to a different audience that does require some investment of your time, but if you make the effort, then the results will be rewarding.