If you’re a social media savvy small business owner, you probably heard about the big change to Instagram coming soon. Yep, they’re finally changing our feeds from chronological order over to ones organized by that whole mysterious algorithm thing that frustrates Facebook Page admins to no end. You know the one, right? The one that makes it so only 107 of the nearly 4k of your followers see your posts? Yeah, it basically sucks for business owners who don’t want to pay to play on social media.

(I’m personally not too worried about the changes to Instagram. It seems like all the posts will still be there, they’ll just be organized differently. Or so they say right now.)

In my opinion, the IG changes are just further proof that social media isn’t something you can really master and call it a day. It’s constantly changing. New features come out, new platforms become popular and we’ve got to learn to adapt if we want to be successful!

That’s where Snapchat comes in. Snapchat isn’t that new, but as more and more people start to use it, it becomes that much more valuable as a tool! I’ve had my Snapchat account a couple of years now and I’ll be honest with you guys….I really resisted using it for business purposes. I kept saying I just wanted ONE thing that didn’t have to be curated or well thought out. I wanted ONE thing where I could post pictures of what I was eating and the funny things that Lucy does without having to worry about creating engaging content.

I ended up changing my mind because I realized that my business has ALWAYS been based on sharing a lot. From the beginning, I put a lot of work into sharing myself here on the blog and it’s been really amazing how that’s helped my business grow! I built a little “tribe” through it. Lately I’ve noticed that blogging, while still really important and valuable (at the very least for SEO reasons!), is taking a backseat when it comes to business promotion and social media is becoming more important. People are following more people and have less time to devote to blog content unless the blog posts are really spectacular. I think this is partly because SO many people blog now…who DOESN’T have a blog? It’s also because Snapchat and Instagram are growing bigger and bigger popularity wise. They offer quick, easily digestible content that you can look at while you’re waiting in line at the grocery store, stopped at a stoplight (shhh, don’t tell anyone!), or whenever.

THIS is why I think Snapchat is important for photographers. Especially if you’re trying to connect to people on a personal level and create a tribe based on what makes you unique. No, Snapchat isn’t great for sharing your actual work if you are a wedding photographer. It’s not going to be a second portfolio the way Instagram is. It does, however, give your followers a window into your life in a really candid way. I love that it’s really personal and authentic! It’s less styled and since it’s not a static feed, you don’t have to become a slave to the whole aesthetic thing like on IG.

Are you new to Snapchat? Or trying to figure out how to use it as a business tool?

I suggest starting by using the Story feature to share what you’re up to behind the scenes! I show snippets of what I’m working on in my office, Lucy’s kitty adventures, some of my favorite meals, travel shenanigans, and behind the scenes footage of me shooting on wedding days. Just as you do with all social media, I think it’s important to keep people engaged by sharing quality content. Look at your favorite snapchatters’ stories and dissect what it is you like best about them! I realized that I find the snapchat stories with lots of fun videos are my favorite, so I’m working on adding more videos to my stories!

Who do you love to follow on Snapchat? Here are a few of my favorite Snapchat stories to follow:

@agoodwinphoto, @christyatyler, @buzzfeed, @djkhaled (trust me, he’s hilarious!)

If you’d like to follow along with my Snapchat, tomorrow I’m going to be sharing “A Day in the Life” on my story! If you want to see what my everyday life is like, find me: @photo_katie.

Like this post? Check out the For Photographers and Business Owners series for more tips, tricks, and tutorials!