Guides allow you to collect posts together and make useful collections for your social media audience. Here are five ideas for using Instagram Guides for wedding photographers, to connect with clients, showcase your work and make friends with other vendors.
With all these ideas, don’t forget to use the custom post title and description to share with your audience what you love about each post, and why you’ve included it in the Guide. That’s what will make each one a unique and useful promotional tool.
Not sure how to create a Guide? Check out this article.
Create a mood board to appeal to your ideal client
Because Guides can be created using your own posts or ones you have saved from other accounts, a great idea for using Guides for wedding photographers is to make a mood board of décor ideas. This helps connect you to your ideal client, too, because if they like your style, you might be a good fit to work together.
Try including flowers, table décor, arbors and alters, cakes, and bonbonniere in your mood board. Keep each Guide consistent to a theme, e.g. summer wedding, boho style, spring pastels, etc.
Collect aspirational images to put together a styled photoshoot with other vendors
Haven’t got many weddings under your belt yet? A great way to develop your skills and portfolio is to do a styled photoshoot. It also helps build connections with other local vendors, and this helps get referrals as well as gives you options when your bride and groom ask you who you recommend for flowers or cake design.
If there’s a new style of lighting you want to try out, or a creative idea you need help to bring to life, then why not create an ideas Guide that you can use to seek out models and other vendors to help you with. Get imaginative!
Bonus idea: Once you’ve done a new styled shoot, put together a Guide to show off what you all created together, and get all vendors on board with sharing the link around to interested couples.
Create a list of preferred venues to share with your wedding clients
Curating a list of preferred venues to recommend to clients is more than just choosing the ones with the best photo locations. Pick venues that had great teams who knew the logistics of a wedding day in and out, and were flexible and adaptable. Create a Guide with some of your favorite images captured at each venue and use the description to explain what you love about their team and approach to weddings.
Use Instagram Guides for wedding photographers to show off your hero images
Use only your own images for this one. Make a look-book of your favorite portfolio photos, to show your client what you can offer them on their big day. With each hero image, give a bit of background to the couple, their love story, and some of the best moments of their wedding day. This is an opportunity to show your personality, style and caring to new clients, as well as give your portfolio a chance to wow.
Make a Guide to show clients what to expect on the day
This one should be partnered with the last one: After sharing your hero images with potential clients, go through a wedding day with them from start to finish. It’s easy for clients to get unrealistic expectations about what’s possible on a wedding day.
For example, sure it’s realistic to capture four or five magnificent hero images with complex lighting and multiple assistants throwing veils and fluffing dresses before running out of shot. But not every image is going to be like this. It’s a bit daunting if a couple comes to meet you with a Pinterest board full of hundreds of hero images in a dozen different locations and every single one of them in perfect golden hour lighting (“but we’ve only got 15 minutes for photos after the ceremony, OK?”) so having a chat about what to expect from your photography across the course of the day is a good idea.
Enter Instagram Guides for wedding photographers: Put together a Guide showing the beautiful photos you capture from start to finish. Bridal preparation, groom getting ready, first look, ceremony, guest groups, family formals, bridal party, romantic portraits, reception, speeches, first dance, and reception exit. Don’t forget to highlight any special styles in your repertoire, such as nighttime and light painting photos, that really sell your skills. (If you need a white-label wedding runsheet to help you plan this with your clients, I’ve got one for you here.)
Bonus idea: Make a Guide of funny/magic wedding moments you’d love a client to include in their wedding
Have you ever seen a wedding with a Flower Man? I don’t know who first invented this idea because I’ve seen a few of them now, but my goodness, I want to photograph a wedding where they have a Flower Man.
Why not put together a list of your laugh-out-loud, oh-please-let-me-photograph-that moments to share with your audience? You never know — you might just inspire someone to think outside the box for their wedding — and choose you to photograph it.
Ideas on where to share your Instagram Guide
When you share your Guide, it will display in the feed for your followers, but there are so many more ways that you can use this versatile post type. Look out for my next article in this series for ideas on where you can share your newly-created Instagram Guides.
