V. Keeping up with Current Trends in the Photography Industry
Here we are… The last stop on our journey of being introduced to Twitter. I will be compiling all five Parts of this series into an ebook that you will be able to download for free from Darkroom Branding. The ebook will also feature Bonus Material that has not been covered in the Introduction to Twitter for Photographers series.

In the meantime, let me share with you 3 ways to have your finger on the pulse of the Photography industry.

1. Hashtags
Using hashtags (#) in Twitter allows you to organize and share information with other Twitter users. You can visit hashtags.org to find a list of popular hashtags, or search for ones you might be interested in following. Hashtags also come in handy when you are attending a Photography conference. For example, hashtags were used at the WPPI Convention to inform photographers about various meet-ups and outings: #WPPI

Other hashtags that you might be interested in are: #photography, #Canon, and #Nikon. You can subscribe to a hashtag’s RSS Feed to have all Tweets automatically sent to your RSS Feed Reader.

2. Google Reader
Speaking of RSS Feed Readers, you can integrate Google Reader into Twitter. There are a number of reasons on why you would want to do this. One reason is to be able to share blog entries that you find interesting to your Twitter followers. By sharing blog entries that contain Photography tips or news, you are helping your Twitter followers keep current on the latest trends in Photography. Hopefully they have also read this blog post, and are doing the same. Another reason is to ensure that you do not go on a “Twitter Drought”. We are all very busy people and sometimes it can be hard to post to Twitter on a regular basis. By importing specific blog entries from your Google Reader into Twitter, you should automatically have some interesting items to share with your Twitter followers.

Integrating your Google Reader with Twitter is pretty simple – Thanks to our good friend: Twitterfeed. (Can you tell I’m a fan of Twitterfeed yet?)

5-Step Process for integrating Google Reader with Twitterfeed:
Step 1: Log into your Google Reader Account.
Step 2: Under “Your stuff”, open your “Shared items” page that located in the left navigation section.
Step 3: You will see a paragraph that says: “Your shared items are available publicly at this web page. You can choose people to share with in Sharing settings.” Click on the “at this web page” link. This will take you to your Google Reader Shared Items page.
Step 4: Copy the RSS Feed link of your Google Reader Shared Items page.
Step 5: Log into Twitterfeed and add your Google Reader Shared Items RSS Feed to your account.

After you have that set-up, if you come across a blog entry that you would like to share on Twitter, simply click the “Share” link that is at the bottom of every entry in Google Reader.

3. Tweet Stats
Birds of a feather flock together… Have you ever heard that phrase before? It dates back to 1545 when William Turner published a version of the phrase in his satire: The Rescue of Romish Fox. Okay… okay… I’ll get on with it.

Let me introduce you to TweetStats. TweetStats provides data based upon how an individual uses Twitter. You can find out the peak hours of when a particular individual uses Twitter, what days of the week they tend to use Twitter the most, what tools they are using to publish to Twitter, and more.

We are interested in the information TweetStats provides in the lower left-hand column: Replies to: (@’s). This will show the Top Ten people an individual @’s. So if you type in a “leading photographer’s” username into TweetStat, you will find out the Top Ten people that the leading photographer is talking with the most. You can then start following these “Top Ten” people to gain access to a “leading photographer’s” network and learn more about the photography techniques, tips, and information that they share.

Whew… I’ve had a blast putting together this Introduction to Twitter for Photographers series, and I hope you have been enjoying it! If I have accomplished my goal, you now have a better understanding of Twitter and how it can be used to help you and your photography business. Thank you very much for your support and stay tuned to Darkroom Branding for more Marketing Strategies for Photographers!

Filed under: Marketing, branding, Marketing, photographers, Photography, twitter