An experienced product photographer will regularly work with clients on social media content, whether that is as a promotional tool or for creating brand awareness. This doesn’t always mean that photographers use social media in the right way to benefit their own product photography and this article is about how to use Twitter in the most effective way.

You may already feel comfortable with the basics of Twitter, but we’ve put together some key points to consider as a product photographer.

Set up your account

Whether you’re working with a client or managing your own social media content, theme colour and brand style should be consistent across platforms and websites. This includes making sure your Twitter account is an extension of your brand so that readers can instantly recognise who you are.

You should use a profile picture and cover images to tell the right story. For example, if you work primarily in jewellery photography or you’re an independent product photographer then choose images that can tell people this with a quick glance.

If you have a product photographer website, then we would suggest using a cut-down version of this for your biography so that it maps to Twitters requirements. Alternatively, you can get creative and make a more fun biography as long as it delivers the brand theme and image you wish to portray.

Tweeting

Twitter is in general a little more restrictive than other social media platforms, given its character limit but a good habit to get into for all social media content as a product photographer, is being concise and effective with your posts. Start posting the story you wish to tell but always remember to leave space for a URL if required and relevant hashtags.

The best piece of advice when it comes to hashtags is don’t just spam a load of hashtags. If it is meaningful then use it. For example, if you’re posting an image for jewellery photography then make sure the hashtags reflect the image. Also, remember the impact it can have on SEO so think about what you wish to target, what is trending and how this post will contribute to that.

Following others

This can be a tricky area for a product photographer, as the lines between personal and professional can get blurred. If you’re using your Twitter account in a professional capacity then the best bet is to follow or retweet content that relates to your business, whether that is product photography in general or a specific area such as jewellery photography.

Across all social media platforms, who you engage with can reflect who you are as a product photographer whether that is following, liking or retweeting.

Utilising images

Twitter has become more supportive when it comes to photographs and this makes it a more useful tool for product photographers. It is very likely that you will have resorted to linking to your website or Instagram so that people can see an image but the advice from various online surveys is that sharing directly to the platform, in this case, Twitter will deliver better results.

Adding your images shouldn’t take up characters and they are no longer cropped in the same way so you should have results that you’re happy with.