We talked with the London-based photographer Ira Giorgetti about his use of Instagram as a business tool. Get to know all the piece of advice!
Ira Giorgetti is a professional photographer based in London, United Kingdom. Focusing on fashion, full service advertising and commercial imagery solutions for creative producers, art directors, and digital producers, he acknowledged Instagram is an important business tool for him.
In this interview, we talked with Ira about his use of Instagram and his approach towards the app as a professional. From understanding your core audience, to planning content, to the importance of engaging on the platform, the photographer shared a series of interesting insights.
First of all, could you briefly introduce yourself? Who are you and what do you do?
Hi, my name is Ira! I’m a commercial and editorial photographer working out of London, and I love creating beautiful, timeless photos. My days are split between working on paid commissions, pursuing my passion projects, and finding ways to share what I’ve learned with people who love photography as much as I do. In my free time, I put together self-motivated projects with male models and find new ways to collaborate with other creatives.
How is your relationship with Instagram? How often do you use it?
I actually came onto the platform a bit late, about four years after its initial release. I have a very complicated relationship with it, as it’s gone from somewhere where I did share photos of myself and what I was doing into a more portfolio-centric profile that I update using schedulers and analyse with analytics software. I’m on it daily, I’ve set a reminder on the app to let me know when I’ve been on for almost an hour but that usually isn’t enough to stop me from exploring content on it!
Do you see Instagram as a business tool as well? In what way does it work for you?
It’s definitely more of a business tool now than a way to connect with friends, at least for me and my industry. It’s a very frictionless way to see what people are up to and what’s going on in the zeitgeist, and it also allows you to explore undiscovered creators and collaborators with an easy way to connect.
Do you plan your Instagram content? What is your process?
I’ve got a bunch of curated content on auto-schedule, so that I’m posting consistently and making the most use out of all the work I have in my book. This keeps my profile active, and allows for my followers to experience work they may not have seen before depending on when they started following my work. I normally curate my feed into sets of three, although I’m seriously considering just having them posted randomly! Not sure yet as to which would be the most beneficial.
Do you have a way of predicting how a picture is going to perform? What would you say works well with your followers?
Boys, haha! My followers are typically LGBT-males in the 18-35 bracket, so usually portraits and fashion editorials with male models perform the best. Lifestyle oriented content performs the least, followed by editorial still life. It’s why I started a second Instagram profile with only my commercial work — my followers would rather see six-packs and jawlines rather than product shots, no matter how creative!
What are your strategies to influence content performance and engagement? Do you use any resources?
Cherrydeck’s Engagement Group helps a bit with engagement, other than that I just try to stay active and interact with various people in my niche.
How much time do you spend engaging with your followers? Do you consider it is important to do it?
Sadly I don’t spend enough time doing this, and I know that has to change if I want to ensure people keep up to date with me and my work!
What is your opinion regarding automated tools to trick the algorithm?
Organic growth is always best. Automated tools may give the appearance of growth and success, but they’re usually quite easy to suss out. Also, easy come, easy go!
If you had to choose 3 elements to focus on when it comes to Instagram strategy, what would they be?
Consistency, quality, and defining your individual style. Especially that last one!
Who’s your favorite Instagrammer at the moment?
I don’t know if I have a favourite “Instagrammer”, but in terms of photography I think that Greg Swales, Elyska Kyselkova, and Federico Fernández are killing it right now!
To see more of Ira’s work, have a look at his Cherrydeck profile or at his website, here. For more insights on how to promote yourself on Instagram, read our Instagram guide available on your Cherrydeck profile. ?
