Alora: 0:06

Hello and welcome back to another episode on Wedding Atelier. I am so excited for one of my guests, Angela Shea. We actually met briefly at WPPI when we were eating pasta, which was very, very delicious, and we connected after. And since then, I am just so blown away by how she's helping photographers with their social media strategy, with their social media prompts. And so I wanted to bring her on the podcast to talk to you about. What's working in the industry right now, how you can still book weddings with social media. But first I wanna go back to the beginning a little bit because you did briefly say you are a wedding photographer for a decade and a social media manager turn social media expert. So walk us through like the SparkNotes version of that journey.

Angela Shae: 0:49

Well, hello, I'm so excited for today's chat. Yeah, so I started out when I was 19. I started professionally shooting weddings, so forever ago at this point. And shot for 10 years. Got really burnt out real quickly because I had two little kids at the time as well. So I was like shooting all the way up until I was like seven, eight months pregnant and then like six weeks postpartum. Got burnt out pretty quick and, well, not pretty quick. I guess like 10 years will do that to you. Right.

Alora: 1:18

Yeah.

Angela Shae: 1:18

and then ended up, kind of just taking a sabbatical for a year, trying to figure out what I wanted to do next or like how I was gonna change my business to, just be in like a healthier rhythm. And that's when my photography friends started reaching out and being like, Hey, what are you doing? What happened? Where are you? Because I did like take down my website at that time and was like no longer taking bookings like it was. Pretty dramatic. And I moved to a different state. Like it was this whole thing, like I packed up my life, moved to a different state and was like, I just need a breather. And then started managing Instagram accounts for other photographers preset companies flatly styling mats. So I stayed in the creative space, but was kind of doing it more from like being at home and having a more balanced rhythm. But very quickly I ended up running 20 different accounts. And so then I was like managing accounts and working 14 hour days and it was like, okay, like I am like grinding so hard again and not sleeping and I have kids. And so all that led to like just trying to figure out like what is the best way to serve a lot of people. In a different capacity, and that's when everybody wanted reels. All of our clients were wanting custom reels at that point, and we were creating all of these custom reels for all these individuals that we couldn't reuse. And I didn't have like. app that I loved or anything that was like working for my workflow and that's how I built social templates, which is what we run today. And it's basically a plug and play reels, templates that are built right inside of Instagram using all the trending audios that are available in Instagram. And so basically from being a social media manager, I then was like, I need this tool to make all these reels. And then ended up just kind of like hitting gold there with like everyone in the industry needs this. We ended up starting the subscription model of like, you can just come and use all of our templates if you just join our membership. And yeah, that's what I do today. I pump out reels every week, dozens and dozens of them, and we make reels really easy for photographers.

Alora: 3:19

Yeah, I love, love, love. Every time you post and I see the templates and I'm just like the amount of care and strategy that goes into this, and the really cool thing about your membership is like you can just click and take the template versus being like, okay, go ahead and do this yourself. You can actually just load it on your Instagram account. I was blown away. So Angela, I have some questions about social media. What's going on in the world because it's a really weird time with inquiries, with weddings people are rescheduling, they're canceling. What's working right now in the wedding industry when it comes to, brides booking, wedding photographers How we should think about social media in terms of marketing?

Angela Shae: 3:56

Well, unless you have like really strong connections in the industry with wedding planners who are like feeding you leads and stuff, if you're doing this on your own, and this is what we're hearing from a lot of like the middle tier,

Alora: 4:08

mm-hmm.

Angela Shae: 4:08

like, not the high end

Alora: 4:09

Mm-hmm.

Angela Shae: 4:10

the average PE people serving couples that are not spending, you know, millions of dollars on their wedding. you have to start showing up as like yourself, because if there's three different profiles of equally same. Images that have like same quality, similar price point and the bride follows all three. Or she's like looking at these three photographers, she's considering them. The deciding factor is gonna be whether or not they vibe with the personality. Like this is the person that's gonna be there probably for their engagement session, their welcome dinner, their entire wedding day. And so it comes down to like, do we vibe? Do we click? Is this the person that I want, like in my space the entire day? Do you like their workflow? not only is it important to be delivering like really high quality images and like a beautiful experience it's now important to also just share who you are behind the scenes. What does the experience look like? If you know the couple is in front of your camera? What is your behind the scenes look like? Maybe photographers that are sharing. More of that raw behind the scenes. Like, here's me at night editing and this is how much love and care I pour into every session. Or this is how I approach like planning an engagement session and making it easy for my couples. Those like little things will make you stand out. And so if they are considering other people that personality piece and also people that respond fast. So I know there's a lot of photographers that like really prioritize their space and boundaries, and I am all for that. But there has to be a way for you to respond to inquiries.

Alora: 5:45

Mm.

Angela Shae: 5:45

Also like efficiently, because if they're reaching out, like if they just got engaged and they're really excited about talking to photographers and they're reaching out to three people, a lot of times the first person to respond

Alora: 5:57

Mm-hmm.

Angela Shae: 5:58

that's gonna get the booking because the excitement, and maybe all three photographers have great personalities. this person just gave them like the attention that they needed at that like high peak of excitement. And a lot of times that's also the deciding factor. But that's like separate from social media. Right. And so I'm not saying that like you shouldn't have boundaries for sure. But like even having like an automated response, like, Hey. I am so excited to talk to you. Let's schedule a time or like, here's some information leading up to like, the call or like, whatever the process is, just making like, not ghosting, like not having the increase. Just go into your inbox and sit there for, you know, three days. And then on Instagram, finding ways where you can funnel people into your account by providing value. So. Showing your personality is important, but also like serving your potential clients and your current clients with value. So if you have tips on like, here's my five favorite bridal boutiques in the area, like, you know, and the bride is looking to ghost dress shopping, and you're providing those, and you're linking her up with, like, here you're tagging them and you're connecting with the vendors in the industry and you're giving her some sort of value they'll come and, you know. Keep trying to get like more like resources from you, even if they're like maybe not considering you as a photographer yet, if you position yourself as an authority in the space it just kind of starts like creating that. And then maybe you'll be on top of mind for booking

Alora: 7:30

I feel like it's a conversation of being visible, being available, but then I know that at what cost, you know, some people are like, well, I don't wanna go back and forth in the dms, but I don't think there's anything wrong with like answering the first DM because I've had somebody book in the dms and be, and just be like, Hey, let's just fill out this form right here. Can't wait to chat with you. They hopped on a call, they booked. it's not that complicated. It's not that hard. I feel like sometimes we try to be too professional sometimes where you lose a little bit of the personality factor. So I kind of like that. Social media kind of bridges that gap a little bit, and I agree with you about the less friction, the better. Why are you sending people on a wild goose chase? Like can it just be like a one click situation? Which I think that's kind of like why a bride who's excited will DM you because they're like, oh, well I've been following her for years. Let me just DM and see if she's available. You know? So what do you feel like is working right now? Because I am seeing a lot of talk that stories is the new thing. Carousels are good, reels are dead. What do you think? What are your opinions on this?

Angela Shae: 8:32

So it depends on your specific audience for sure. It will

Alora: 8:36

Mm-hmm.

Angela Shae: 8:36

one person to the next, but it's a combination of actually of all those things, in my personal opinion. So carousels are working really well right now, and especially carousels that incorporate a little bit of like video in them. So when you're swiping through them and you can see some photos from the wedding day and then you have like a beautiful BTS moment maybe of the couple or even just like. The reception set up it stops the scroll, so anytime you can get someone to pause on your content, right, and real, the carousels are working right now. And then also adding music to your carousels. So you know how, like you'll see some carousels that have music added to it. It feels very cheesy and very MySpace. For those that have been around long

Alora: 9:19

Yeah.

Angela Shae: 9:19

what that is. But because there's music attached to it now, it gets pushed out to the reels page. That's why sometimes you'll be scrolling reels and then you'll see a carousel post pop up. It's because there's music attached to it. And so there's like. Little things that are like helping carousels perform better right now. And it is having even like landscape type of photos with landscape videos in between. So it's something that is breaking the mold. Like anything that's like new and people are not used to it, they'll stop for it. They'll be, oh, this is a different format. Like, oh, there's videos in this carousel. So I do encourage photographers to that and not just be stuck in like, oh, I'm sharing 10 of my favorite images, and these are previews. It's like you have to kinda watch what is on Instagram as it's evolving all the time with reels. Again, if you're just gonna post a photo slideshow in your reel, it's not gonna perform well. And I'm, I'm one that creates reels that like are very photo heavy. So like, I know this, and like even saying this out loud, like it feels like I'm like shooting myself in the foot, but I'm not, because I teach our photographers that use our reels is like. put some photos in there. Make sure you're using videos in the reel, so mixing up your photos and videos, starting with like a behind the scenes video, like, here's what the day looked like, or here's the moment that we're setting up, that pauses the scroll, and then having a very strong onscreen hook. And that's where a lot of photographers are missing out right now is they think that their content is enough. If you don't have a onscreen hook and you're reel that's like you're killing your engagement immediately because of how reels are consumed in the real space. When you're swiping and there's no text and no context on a at all, you just kind of immediately check out. You don't even know if this is for you. You don't know why you're watching this. The only time you might stay is maybe if it's like an epic. Travel video, right? Like those are like, they'll stop our scroll, but like if it's somebody else's wedding day or family session or something and there's no context in it, what is it? What's in it for the viewer? Like, why am I watching this? Even if it's not like a value packed reel. Even giving the viewer a POV, like we just found a floral field. And we're shooting at Sunset. Like it just gives you context. Okay. This is a photographer talking about a session they just did. There's just something that is happening right now in the real space that like if you are not creating within like that familiar I. What's, what word am I thinking? Like that structure people check out. And then also if your real is like too polished and it's like shot too professionally, people also check out because they think it's an ad. So like, that's why you'll notice like a lot of the big companies, they're using influencers to talk about their products because it feels more authentic to the real space. And so a lot of times photographers are like, I want my photography to be seen as. Professional in this way. But if it's like too professional and too polished and you have these high quality DSLR videos, even like behind the scenes stuff that's like too professional. People think it's an ad or they think oh, someone's trying to sell me a course or something. So they just disengage automatically. So the more you can make it feel like it's, raw and natural and. Organic to that reels algorithm. That's what's working. And then also like having text on screen and reels are your biggest chance to get pushed out to non followers. So that's why reels are still important. I'm not saying you should only be posting reels, but reels are your kind of top of funnel. Content. And by that what I mean is like this is what gets gonna go out into the Instagram algorithm, and you can bring new people in that have never come across your work before with a simple value add or come along with me, to see this epic sunrise shoot we did, or this wedding detail that really stood out. you don't even have to show your photography work in every reel that you put out. This is the other thing that I'm telling photographers. Not every reel has to be your photos reels should be used as a marketing piece. photographers try to think of reels that live as portfolio pieces and super high curated, like, I want engagement, I want love, I want people to acknowledge my work. But we have to change the mindset a little bit to think of reels as like these, this is a marketing tool and this is how I get like lead magnets into my page. And so if you were at a wedding and there was like a really fun escort card display and you've never seen something like this and you think a future bride might bookmark it. Save it or send it to a friend, right? You can just take a five second video and say like, you know, just shot the sweating and this escort card display like blew my mind or place card display, like whatever term we're using now. And the industry always changes. Like, you know, maybe like the seating chart, display, whatever it is. And then you can post that five second video. A future bride is going to bookmark it. Maybe she's not even engaged yet. Maybe it just shows up on her for you page. Maybe she's like just looking for inspo. And once she books, mark your bookmarks, your content, or even watches your reel to the end. Guess what this has actually been like. One of the funnest updates on Instagram recently is now your content is gonna start to follow her. And by that I mean like it's gonna start resurfacing. Like more of your content is gonna start resurfacing for her because she bookmarked something of yours, or she stayed and watched your post to the end. So it doesn't actually like follow her by pressing the follow button. It's just like when you pause your scroll on someone's. content on the for you page. Instagram now knows this person's interested and they start showing your content to that person until you actually follow them. And I've even noticed this with myself, with booking a trip to Paris. I've been looking at guides and suggestions and then as soon as I watch someone for a little bit too long, all of a sudden, I just keep getting served their content over and over until I'm like, actually I do need to follow this person. And so that's where photographers are not understanding the value of reels is that once you get someone. To bookmark your stuff or to stay on your post long enough. Now the algorithm is gonna work to your advantage where it's gonna keep showing your stuff to them.

Alora: 15:51

Hmm.

Angela Shae: 15:51

And so this is where you're winning with, just like the more content you're putting out there, obviously you want it to be valuable and you want it to like resonate. So like when you are creating these posts, like thinking about like, a future bride going to stop her scroll at this, are they going to bookmark it? And then. like resources like that maybe you share like a venue that you just discovered in your area and you're like, this venue would be perfect for a garden wedding. Guess what? Like now, any bride that's booking a garden wedding. It is gonna start like looking at your content, bookmarking it, and so understanding that reels can work for you in that way. I don't know if we should talk about little bit later, but like SEO on reels and carousels right now, like SEO on Instagram is also one of their newest updates. And basically, Instagram will analyze your entire post, including the content in the reel, the onscreen hook, and the caption and Instagram. On its own will add SEO keywords to your reel. So you can see this if you go tap on your comments. Like if you recently posted, and I've been telling people about this for a couple months now, and some accounts have it and some don't. So it's like slowly being rolled out. But this is like the newest, coolest thing because they're trying to copy TikTok. They're also trying to be like Google and being like the search engine for everything. So this is to our advantage because Instagram wants everyone to come search for things on Instagram. So they're trying to like. Organize and attach keywords to all this content. And so if you are, like, this is, we just tested this with one of my friends. She posted an engagement session that was like in a home. And so the keywords that Instagram added to it was like cozy. Engagement session inspiration. It wasn't just like engagement session, it literally added the word cozy to it because it was inside a home. And then for a garden wedding it said like Spring garden wedding inspiration and those keywords weren't even. like her caption, but based on like the overall feel, Instagram attaches those. So the way that you can see what keywords Instagram is attaching to you reel is if you go to your comments and you are viewing your own comments and a search bar will come up it's in blue, above your reel. So now all of your content is getting cataloged by Instagram. So as you are putting out more content and more reels, you're just giving Instagram more opportunities to show your work to other people and to bring people into your account. So again, that's why I'm like top of funnel. You get to put out all these feelers there and then whoever's searching for that type of work or looking to connect for that type of photographer they just get to funnel into your page and then eventually follow you and get to know you as a person.

Alora: 18:37

Yeah, I actually was gonna touch on that with my question of being like, do you think reels are becoming a long term strategy now? And then when you said SEO, I'm like, okay, but how long is the SEO gonna live on the internet? Because I thought reels only had a. Couple a day, you know, life expectancy. Do you know how that part works as well? I mean, you're not like the Instagram owner or anything, but,

Angela Shae: 19:00

Well, I don't know how long it'll live, but I think it's gonna be very much like Pinterest.

Alora: 19:05

Hmm.

Angela Shae: 19:05

know, like where

Alora: 19:06

Yeah.

Angela Shae: 19:08

attaching things and you're cataloging and I don't know at what point, the older stuff get buried? It probably will have to do something with your like bookmarks

Alora: 19:17

Mm-hmm.

Angela Shae: 19:17

and the engagement rate on the post, I'm assuming.

Alora: 19:20

Hmm.

Angela Shae: 19:21

the engagement rate is probably like, the more likely it's gonna be to keep getting shown to people. But it definitely feels like this is like a long-term strategy for Instagram because they want. Instagram to be searchable and be the new search platform. So that's just like to our advantage, like,

Alora: 19:38

Yeah.

Angela Shae: 19:39

Instagram doesn't hate you and the algorithm doesn't hate you. It's just needing to like adjust to like what the updates are. And the algorithm is based on user experience. And so when we get upset that like. Oh, no one's liking my carousel post, or like nobody's liking my photos. It's because we as humanity have changed and shifted how we're using Instagram.

Alora: 20:02

Hmm.

Angela Shae: 20:02

if like back in the day we were all really excited to see that one photo with a cheesy filter on

Alora: 20:07

Yeah.

Angela Shae: 20:07

from our friend that no longer would like keep our attention because our attention span has changed. We're probably watching Netflix. And scrolling Instagram. And so like the tension is split, right? And then also being like, well, what's gonna make someone pause and bookmark it?

Alora: 20:24

Mm-hmm.

Angela Shae: 20:25

gonna make it so valuable that someone's gonna be like, oh yeah, like, I need to come back to this content. Or I wish I could find it later.

Alora: 20:31

Mm-hmm.

Angela Shae: 20:32

know, sending it to a friend. And this is actually just a random tangent, but this is a fun fact. Instagram wanted to be like YouTube. At one point they were like, we're gonna do long form content. When they were like pushing, what is it, IGTV

Alora: 20:47

Yes.

Angela Shae: 20:47

they were saying like, we're gonna like push long form content. After like, I think it was like six months, they were like, abort, mission abort, because they realized I actually heard. The CEO of Instagram talk about this because they realize that long form content is isolating and like you watch something long form by yourself, you don't send it to a friend. Like if it's a 10 minute video,

Alora: 21:11

Yeah.

Angela Shae: 21:11

not likely to be like, oh, let me send this to a friend and start a conversation. Versus reels and like shorts. You send it to a friend, you laugh about it, you send each other more reels. And so they completely were like, no, this is taking away from. Like the community aspect of Instagram and wanting people to be social and to engage. And so that's why like long form kinda went away for a little bit.

Alora: 21:36

Was so.

Angela Shae: 21:37

like, yeah.

Alora: 21:38

I remember it and I was like, yep, I'm gonna start IGTV. I'm gonna do it. And I just don't remember why it disappeared. And I was like, well that's one less thing on my checklist. Okay, that makes sense. But I'm trying to like really understand the Instagram algorithm.'cause they, you know, when TikTok came out, it was like they tried to kind of replicate that too. I think Instagram is like, it's like that girl who copies off your clothes and you're just like. What are you doing? Right. But I do like that the social part is what they're focusing on. And I'm wondering, and I'd love your hot take on this too, but like, do you think the reason why your stuff is not working is maybe because the content just didn't recognize with your audience and maybe Instagram is also trying to figure out like what your audience likes. Is that what it is? Like? I don't really know the algorithm.

Angela Shae: 22:25

Yeah, so a lot of times your content is good. It's just not packaged in a way that's scroll stopping. So that's what it is. It's having your real pause, the scroll, and this is why we see like controversial hooks

Alora: 22:40

Mm-hmm.

Angela Shae: 22:41

Go viral. And a lot of times it feels very clickbait to have like a negative hook. Like, don't do this one thing at your wedding, you're gonna regret it. Right? And everyone's like, oh my gosh, what's this thing I'm gonna regret? Or, you know something similar like that. So it's almost like having to cater to like, just like tricking people to stop on your content. Right. And that like, feels weird to say, but That's just kinda like how it works. Like there's just like no other, like you might have really great content, you might be saying something, but if it's just not engaging enough where it's like, oh, I'm gonna stop and I actually, I'm gonna turn on the volume and see what this person is saying, or like read their entire caption. The other thing that's important is the watch time. So the percentage of the reel that gets watched. When somebody makes it to like over 50% to like a hundred and re it, that's what signals to the algorithm. Like this reel is interesting enough, people are staying to the end and rewatching it. And that's where if your reel is not performing really well, people are probably not watching it to the end. They're like just swiping past it This is where shorter reels perform better because you have like less that they have to watch. And this is why we tell photographers like, don't do a 60 photo slideshow for your reel because nobody's gonna watch it to the end. and so it's like using your best images or like really short videos from like your client experience get people to. Watch it to the end and rewatch it and save it. And this is where you can add a lot of value in your caption. Like if you have like timeline, this is how to plan your timeline. This is what works best. People will like stop on your reel and they'll read the caption while the reel keeps looping. So in a, I feel like we've all seen that hack and it works, but it's because the reason it works is because the watch time is signaling to the algorithm that people are stopping on this post. It's going to a hundred percent and people are rewatching it. And so when your is not performing well, it's probably not landing with your audience in a way where they're stopping. And so what happens is when you post your reel, it goes out to like a small percentage of your followers, and if they engage with it, it gets pushed out to more and more people and eventually ends up on the explore page. And so if your loyal followers are not resonating with it. Then like, probably like something about the way that it was doesn't work. And this is like another like interesting idea. But I've heard other talk about this is when they post on TikTok.

Alora: 25:17

Mm-hmm.

Angela Shae: 25:18

take the same reel and they'll add different onscreen hooks, and it's like testing out your different onscreen hooks to see which ones get bigger engagement, and then taking the hook that gets the most engagement and using that on Instagram. So. Obviously it's like a few extra steps. Most people that do this have like a team that is like testing these hooks, but that's literally what it comes down to is like you can have the same piece of information and it's just packaging it differently and trying out like different onscreen hooks to see like what lands and what resonates. And then trial reels. Is something that's, was also like a recent update on Instagram where you can post trial reels. And so people initially got really excited about it'cause they're like, okay, like I can just post and my followers are not gonna see this. And it's basically like. Ads for free. And then what we learned is that a lot of photographers were just like falling flat. Like photographers that had like a reel that like got 2 million views, taking that same reel and posting as a trial and then getting like 200 views and being like, wait, what happened? And it's because the algorithm doesn't know with the trials yet, like you haven't posted enough trials who to send it out to. And so it kind of goes into like the wild west of. Instagram and if it's not like resonating with the first few people that saw it, it just doesn't get shown more. Versus like when you do show something to your audience and you already know like what your audience wants for you and what, why they're there. And if it's like, you know, it's behind the scenes on like your photography or. Tips on how to plan your wedding day. know that this is the content they're getting from you and they're gonna engage with it. And so you do have like that advantage of like the algorithm knows you and knows your audience and knows what like relates and who to show it to more after that, if that makes sense.

Alora: 27:09

Yeah.

Angela Shae: 27:09

like when you post a trial reel, it's like there's not enough data there yet

Alora: 27:14

Hmm.

Angela Shae: 27:15

know who to show it to.

Alora: 27:17

I guess my question is with trial reels, like, do you think it's worth it right now, or is everybody just kind of playing around trying to figure out like how much data do the trial reels need to know before it really pushes out to more people? does anybody know the answer?

Angela Shae: 27:32

Well, and I feel like the only people I've seen go viral with the trial reels where they're like, I'm getting all these new thousands of followers, is they share really like click Beatty type stuff

Alora: 27:43

Yeah.

Angela Shae: 27:43

very generic for like everyone how I went viral on Instagram.

Alora: 27:48

Hmm.

Angela Shae: 27:48

wants to know, you know, like it's like that type of content. And so I think if you are showing up as a photographer, I'm not sure how much. You would benefit from trial reels, but it's also, I also don't know if you have to train the algorithm there.

Alora: 28:03

Yeah.

Angela Shae: 28:03

know, we don't know enough about the algorithm there. I'm like, if you give it more content, does it eventually learn like who to show it to? I don't know.

Alora: 28:12

So in terms of all these things with content, with trends shifting and strategy, being at the root of it, do you think that we should focus on one over the other? Or how do we do this without being cringey?'cause I know back in the day it was like, you dance, you point to the words, we're not doing that anymore. Right. And like, it's, it's completely. I just, I couldn't do it, Angela. I couldn't do it. But like right now it's very much like, come along with me. POV content seems to really be resonating. How can you create a strategy that kind of makes sense of being like, okay, this is me, the photographer, this is what I provide. What would you say is a really good posting cadence for something like this?

Angela Shae: 28:52

So for something like this, I think first of all, like one thing to know, It has to be authentic to who you are. I think anytime that we're trying to do something where you're like, oh, it's a trend, I have to do this, and it doesn't feel authentic, you're gonna feel like such a big resistance internally. You're gonna hate everything you're creating. There is like a level of like. Cringe or like discomfort. You have to push through if you are like really new to being on camera, but it's not like creating content that completely doesn't feel aligned with who you are. One other thing I wanted to mention is if you haven't posted for a really long time and then all of a sudden you feel inspired and you're gonna post every day for the next two weeks, like that. Is worse than if you were to space it out and post like twice a week for the next two months. So like having consistency on Instagram is really important. Anytime you stop posting for a really long time, it's almost like the algorithm has to relearn. Like, okay, who are we showing this content to? Who's resonating with it? Like your account kind of goes into like this hibernation mode and to get it out of there. takes time So if you are really inspired and you have all these posts you've batched, start slow and consistently keep creating. And so we talk about consistency a lot and that just means like having something that you can sustain if it's just twice a week. Like just do that. And then having, like knowing what to post my. recommendation is look at like what's performed well. So like look at like your content. Okay, what resonated. And so every week trying something just a little bit different where you're like, okay, well we're gonna test this. So like having a posting, you know, like you're doing your carousels, maybe you're adding in a video into your carousel now, and you're like, okay, like this is something new we're trying, maybe we're gonna add audio, like music to it. And then creating a That's just like sharing a trend that you're loving or manifesting, like a location you wanna shoot in, or like providing value and then seeing like, okay, does this land with my audience? Does it resonate? Do my couples want to hear more like venue suggestions or vendor highlights? That I'm like loving to work with or do they wanna see me and behind the scenes of like my experience. So then like when you share that week, like a reel, that's like highlighting a vendor in the area and then something of you behind the scenes like seeing okay, like what really lands and maybe the first few you're like not even talking'cause you're not like that comfortable and that committed to like becoming a content creator. And then slowly as you're building that up. I feel like it's important to, every week look back at like what resonated, and not only at views, but bookmarks. Like, did anybody bookmark this? Did anyone send this to their friend? And so. Having a system and not being like, so stuck in like, okay, like we have to create reels every day. We have to make a reel. Like, what's more sustainable? Can you do a carousel post today? Can you do like your favorite eight images? And then a couple videos in there. And that might just be like enough invite planners and stylists and other clients to the post as a collaborator that's also gonna like, help with your reach. And then just trying different things. So. Knowing your bandwidth and knowing that like, okay, we are all very busy, but also like knowing that this is like really important for marketing.

Alora: 32:10

Mm-hmm.

Angela Shae: 32:11

where a lot of photographers were so busy the first few years of like, you know, post Covid they didn't put a lot of emphasis into strategy with Instagram. one thing you have to know is like, you can't just like throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks There isn't a strategy, and just posting consistently isn't a strategy. Like just, oh, we just have to get something out there. It's almost like you're wasting your time. have to have like a little bit more thought behind, okay, like who am I speaking to? What is my messaging? What am I trying to say to this person? Am I only talking to those like. Elopement type of brides that want to plan that type of session and then adjusting all of your posts and language and tone to cater to that? Or are you looking for, you know, weddings that are in like beautiful estates or like whatever it is? Knowing exactly who you're speaking to with each post is so crucial and that's like. At the core of your strategy, right? And then just having a workflow that works. So if you came back from a shoot, like clear your camera roll, you don't need 57 behind the scenes videos from that day. Like leave seven videos that you know, like, okay, this can go in a carousel, this can go in a reel. I can use this little video with like a strong onscreen hook and I can provide some value here. And so. organized with like your social media content the same way that you do with your galleries. So when you're backing up your images from a shoot, like look at your camera roll, get rid of anything you don't want because that is what creates overwhelm. And that's where people like most of the time fail. They sit down to make a reel. There's no system. There's no strategy. It's like, oh, like all this stuff is on my phone. And now I'm like watching all these videos and it's overwhelming. And now I just like wanna quit because now I'm just like overwhelmed. So if there is rhythm and systems and strategy with your approach, like we have to start treating social media as like an important part of our business that needs structure. approach it that way, being like, okay, like our content is organized. We have a few videos we can use. And by organized they mean like also like select that content that you can use for reels and put it in a separate folder so it's not mixed in with your dog photos and your kid photos and all that in your camera roll. Because again, like you sit down to make a reel and then you're scrolling and you're like, where's that video from? That one shoot I did two weeks ago. it's in a separate folder, then anytime you're actually sitting down to be like, okay, now we're gonna strategize who are we speaking to? This is like, we're gonna create two reels and a carousel and like we're gonna post on stories. These are the topics that I wanna address. It's that mindset of like, this is part of the business is what's gonna generate leads and that's what's gonna like bring people into my page. I think just having that like mentality shift is so important.

Alora: 34:59

Basically keeping marketing like very top of mind. I think that's very last on the list. It's like, oh, client experience my, my presets, and then like, they haven't, you know, posted in a while and being like, oh my gosh. But with marketing comes inquiries. And without inquiries, there's no weddings. So it kind of makes sense to kind of like add that to the workflow and having a plan and having a system and just like creating a content bank, you know, of getting ready to post something. So I do have one last question, and this one I have been thinking about and I wrote it down just to be sure, like I didn't forget it, but like, based on, you know, your template shop, what you guys put out and all of the alumni that you have in your membership. What would you say was the content strategy behind the ones that are going viral versus the ones that are not, like what's working right now in the wedding industry that's either getting a lot of reach or getting a lot of wedding inquiries or followers. Have you noticed a pattern with that? A particular style or hook or anything like that? Mm-hmm.

Angela Shae: 36:18

Even having a reel.'cause we'll create this template that is like perfectly beat, matched to trending music. The entire template being like snippets of just videos. So like, come along with me. This is me like fixing the bride's dress. Then we're doing portraits, then we're doing this. This is what the day looked like. Maybe these are like the details that we liked from that day. Going heavier on video. This is like feels very contradicting from like being a photographer but using the meta glasses. This has been like one of the biggest, so for those of you who don't know what the Ray band meta glasses are basically, you put them on. you're able to film like by just tapping on the side of the glasses, they record everything you're looking at. And so photographers are getting a lot of BTS content of like them shooting, interacting with the couple. You can see the camera, you can see the couple, and you can hear what the photographer is saying. And so using that. Meta glasses footage to show like, this is what the experience looks like, here's what I saw. And now like these are the images that we got. And meta glasses are content is actually one of the top performing pieces of content that we are seeing.

Alora: 37:26

Wow.

Angela Shae: 37:27

because it gives the viewers such a different. Point of view of like, wow, okay, this is what it looks like to be in front of their camera. And it doesn't take away from the experience at all. You're not pulling out your phone to record, you're not like setting up a gimbal. Really great to have an assistant like film you in your moment too, so that you can actually see the photographer, not just like the photographer's point of view. really helpful. Like anytime the photographer is actually in the videos, those perform better as well. So even if it's like a smaller video of you. With your camera, even if it's like before the wedding day started and you're looking fresh and you're like about to shoot this wedding. You don't have to say anything. There's like a cute little video of like what you look like and then the content from the wedding day. Those are, those are the things that are working. So just to recap, meta glasses behind the scenes, if the photographer is actually in the videos and then going heavy on including a lot of video content in your reels. Just because like that's how the reels is working, like within the real space. If it's like too photo heavy, unless you have like an epic wedding with like epic details, you want to make sure that the reels. Do have videos in them and then onscreen hook, something that brings value or that gets someone to book market or send it to a friend. So that's kind of like the overall things that we're seeing perform. And then POV hooks, you said it like yourself, like those are like just doing really well right now.

Alora: 38:58

Yeah, I feel like what's really resonating with people they just want to know why you and what makes you special.'cause I feel like everybody can do the same thing. But what is your differentiation of like, why I need to work with you, why I need to book you, and I feel like. Your approach to doing that with photographers, with the templates, with behind the scenes footage is gonna change the game. I feel like that is gonna resonate with people and they can know faster. Like, oh, it's this person. I love this person's energy just from the video. And I feel like that's why videos resonating because you can feel someone from a video versus a photo pinned to the top of Instagram being like, hi, I love weddings.

Angela Shae: 39:35

Agree.

Alora: 39:36

Thank you so much, Angela, for coming on this podcast and sharing this masterclass of Instagram strategies and tips. I think people are gonna walk away being like, okay, I need to prioritize social media. I need to prioritize Instagram. I just need to put content out there, but not with spaghetti at the wall. Of course. Thank you so much. This is amazing. And everybody else link in the show notes. You get a free month if you use my code AOR to join social templates and I will see you guys the next episode.