Last week I talked about the business tools I can’t live without. A lot of photographers replied asking for Part II, the creative tools I can’t live without. So as promised, below is the breakdown of the creative tech that keeps my business moving.
But first let me just tell you this little tidbit about social media. I post regularly and sometimes my posts gain me a bunch of followers but I also get a steady stream of followers daily as a side effect of my ads.
One of the tools I share with you below allows me to automatically start conversations with those followers.📲
Once they reply, I jump in as the human and continue our chat.
🙋♀️ And holy crap has this been a game changer! I am CLOSING clients in my Instagram DMs. Like booking them.
So when I say use automation, I mean USE automation. The investment will help you make more money! Period.
Tech is here to help us spend less time on tedious work and more time on high-value tasks. The things that are important to us, the things that move our business forward.
❌ Don’t waste time doing repeatable tasks that can be done by automation or an assistant (more on that below).
Also, if you’re afraid of tech, 🙋♀️ don’t worry, I got you. Everything I recommend is simple, easy to use, and a lot of these apps have free features you can get started with right away.
If I need anything designed to look good whether for a lead magnet, a promotional graphic or for Instagram, this is my go-to app. It’s like having my very own graphic designer. Really!
Owned by TikTok, this is the best video editing app, hands down. Video is both shot and edited on my phone with no back and forth to a desktop app. This is the app most of my social media videos are edited with. It can do literally anything you can imagine.
Although not even close to having the capabilities of Capcut, Instagram introduced their own version of a video editing app when TikTok was shut down for a day. The only reason to use it (though I hate it) is because IG IS PUSHING VIEWS for videos made with Edits. And I’ve personally seen the difference. So there you have it.🤷🏼♀️
This app is the lifesaver on Instagram. It sends out automated messages to people who request something from me (like a link). And it can now automatically start conversions with new followers. A true game changer.
This is the best automation tool ever! Among other ways, I use it when someone fills out my contact form, to send their data to my email and text marketing platform. It can even send to different lists based on conditions I set. No more manually entering emails into a list. 😀
Now you might be wondering when I need actual human help.
I use human help for administrative work and email support (though there are now AI agents you can have provide email support – I looked into it, wasn’t worth it for me). If you want to grow your business, I recommend you hire an assistant for those repetitive tasks automation doesn’t cover as soooon as possible!
I had an assistant when photography was my part-time job while I was waitressing part-time. I knew that I could focus on things that move the needle forward and make me more money if I had an assistant doing the grunt work.
That’s where websites like Upwork come in.
This is where you’ll find many freelancers willing to work for you remotely and at affordable prices.
My assistant of 5+ years and my two retouchers came to me from Upwork. The beauty of these sites is you can choose U.S. – or internationally- based help.
My assistant Jess works remotely from Philadelphia and my retouchers are in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
Let me know below if this info is useful to you or if you have a question!
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