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Photography Culture

Photographers, Stop Chasing Instagram and Focus on Sales

Chris Gampat
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03/12/2021
3 Mins read
INStagram-is-bad-for-you

Instagram doesn’t care about you as a photographer; it’s done, and other platforms are better.

I’m writing this post after a year away from Instagram. It was more than just a detox. I still logged onto The Phoblographer’s Instagram to check and focus us as needed. But for the most part, Arts and Culture Editor Dan Ginn runs it. A year away from it, and so much has changed. We’ve got cool things like ClubHouse. Photographers are trying to promote themselves on Tik Tok. Then there’s Foundation, where photographers are selling images for blockchain. And a few tried and true options like Tumblr and Behance still keep me inspired. But if you put all your eggs into the Instagram bucket, they’re going to rot. 

For The Phoblographer, we’ve traditionally used Instagram to get pageviews. But we stopped. Why? It sucks for that. So we switched it up to getting sales. And I’m not sure that’s working. As it is, social media is awful for us for traffic, but Social News platforms like Flipboard are great. And lots of folks still discover us through a good old Google search. 

Personally, I’ve used Instagram a few ways. I used to use it to find and work with new models. But after a while, I just ended up using my own network. It’s much better to build up trust with a few models and work with them on a referral basis. People attract like-minded folks. And it explains why our industry is so incestuous at times.

So instead, I opted to use my Instagram personally. It turned into a spot for looking at photographers, cameras, watches, tea, and other interests. But, I do yearlong challenges for myself all the time, and Instagram had to go for a year. 

I honestly didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything. If I wanted to talk to someone, I texted them, called them, sent them an email/message, etc. Life went on. On top of that, The Phoblographer not only broke its traffic records, we also grew!

For photographers, I think there are lots of other options. Behance is a spot where big names go all the time. Foundation is a spot where you can sell images for blockchain. Clubhouse is a spot to network. And, of course, you can just become a content creator for platforms as needed. But the industry has needed a change.

When I left Instagram, I was still Vice Chairman for the NY Chapter of American Photographic Artists. Many times, I felt like I was trying to teach a whiny grandparent a new trick. That was just the tip of the iceberg. With a year now passed, there’s so much more. And if you’ve struggling with Instagram, I think now is a great time to jump ship. It’s also a time to network again. Get on zoom calls. Talk to people. Embrace your inner extrovert. 

Life doesn’t end with Instagram. I know too many photographers that are sitting there feeding it hoping to get more work. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. We’ve reported on lots of folks who took time off Instagram. Charlie Naebeck and Jens Krauer are just two of those photographers. And they kept going. Give it a shot! You’ll surprise yourself with what’s possible!

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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