Is LinkedIn Overlooked by Photographers? Six Tips to Get More Out of It

Is LinkedIn one of the most overlooked social media networks for photographers? With over 460 million users and growing, it’s not something you can just ignore. Yet, that's exactly what a lot of photographers do, myself included. We joined Facebook because everyone was already there, and Instagram just makes sense for visual professionals. LinkedIn started out as a tool for building a resume and finding a new job. As self-employed freelance individuals, do we really have a need for that?

However you look at it, LinkedIn has a lot of tools, tons of potential clients, and industry peers that can benefit photographers. For every one user that doesn't see the worth, there is another claiming to get a lot of work from it. It’s for that reason I’m guessing a lot of you only use LinkedIn for occasionally updating what you've been up to or accepting new requests. For the last several years, that's really all I did, and yet, I keep holding on to it.

The Importance and Real Reason for Attending Industry Events like PDN's Photo Plus Expo

Last weekend was PDN’s Photo Plus Expo, and like a lot of east coast photographers I was in attendance. It seems like every year photo conferences get bigger and better drawing in massive crowds and yet there are still photographers who don't see any value in them. It makes me wonder if people understand and are taking full advantage of these events.

For about the last decade I've been attending Photo Plus Expo among other conferences. I was lucky that in college as an editor for the school paper attending educational events like these were fully paid for. I’m extremely grateful for those first couple of years because without them I wouldn't have learned just how important they really are within in the Photo Industry and to becoming a Pro. Since I just returned from Photo Plus Expo I’ll be referring to it for examples but most of what I'm going to talk about applies to almost all conferences, workshops, national organizations (ASMP, APA, PPA etc), and even camera clubs.