It’s that time again – time for another Instagram case study! I honestly really enjoy writing these and sharing them with you. I love being able to see how other businesses from various industries use Instagram successfully.

Today I want to introduce you to Brit Jaye Photography – a wedding and engagement photographer from San Diego. She shares beautiful images on her account and uses Instagram effectively as a photographer.

I have previously showcased another photographer in one on my case studies (Maleah Torney) but these are two completely different photographers with different reasons and ways to use Instagram. I hope you’ll learn some valuable lessons from this case study (especially if you’re a portrait or event photographer).

And now, my obligatory disclaimer… I am in no way affiliated with Brit Jaye Photography. I haven’t discussed with her how she uses her Instagram account or what results she gets from Instagram. I am not being rewarded, compensated, or paid in any way to write this post. This post is based entirely upon my opinions of her Instagram content from what I’ve seen shared publicly.

Beautiful Content

I mean, obviously she’s a talented photographer, so I expect her photos to be beautiful. But still, they are beautiful. And that’s important because they make you stop scrolling to enjoy the photo. And any content that can make your audience stop and pay attention is beyond valuable on Instagram!

The photos are typically of people (she does weddings and engagements, so duh), but the backdrops and scenery are stunning. She shoots in locations all around San Diego and the diversity of her photos captures so many beautiful locations.

Let’s face it, I don’t know any of the people in her photos, but I “like” almost every photo she posts. Because they’re gorgeous and tell such a story in one image that you can’t help but to be drawn in.

Great Captions

Here’s where too many businesses lose the value of relationship building, story telling, and connecting with their audience – in the post caption.

But I love what Brit does with her account. Rather than constantly promoting herself and her photography services, she mixes it up to provide something her audience will value.

Many post captions she posts are actually love quotes or other symbolic messages that reflect the interests and lifestyle of her target audience.

But, she still finds time to mix in teasers about the photo shoot in the photo and that the photos will be available on her blog. So she’s still promoting her content but it’s not all the time, in your face, overly self-promotional.

Highly Engaged Audience

Her audience obviously loves her content and they show it with their engagement. With over 1300 followers and averaging about 100 or more likes per photo, Brit is generating an 8-10% engagement rate – much higher than the Instagram average of 5.7%.

But she also gets a good number of comments. And most importantly, she responds to the comments. I can’t say this enough about social media and Instagram, you need to make time to actually talk to your followers. Take the time to respond to comments and really build your audience.

Hashtag Strategy

Of course, you know how much I advocate for a good hashtag strategy. Brit does a good job of incorporating relevant hashtags into all of her posts. The hashtags are related to the wedding photographer industry and related keywords.

She also includes hashtags related to San Diego that will attract more of her target audience. And, she includes hashtags from the event locations where the photos were taken. Again, capitalizing on those looking for content related to those venues, potentially landing her new clients and ideal followers.

In order to keep her post captions from looking cluttered, she puts all of her hashtags in a subsequent comment so that they’re still attached to the post, but don’t drag out the length of the caption or detract from the simplicity of her caption messages.

For my personal opinion, I would like to see Brit share some behind-the-scenes images of what goes into a photo shoot or photos of her actually working or photos of what she does on a more personal level. I completely respect the professionalism with which she uses this account and showcases her photos, but it would be nice to learn more about “her” as a person.

Here’s a challenge you have to think about as a wedding photographer (or other hyper targeted niche): chances are your ideal audience will only hire you once (well, assuming they don’t divorce….). But they are valuable to you because they could refer you to others and help generate new business for you.

So, how do you attract an ideal and diverse audience on Instagram (or other social media accounts) and keep them engaged before, during, and after their need for your services? This is why you need to provide a variety of high quality content that your audience will enjoy at any period of time in the “sales process”.

I honestly think that this example of Brit Jaye shows how you can create an enduring and long-lasting relationship with this short term audience but provide long term value and build your business.

So, if you’re in a similar business, or niche that has a small window for your target audience, I hope you’ll find these tips and examples helpful in using Instagram for your business.