So as we come into the last month of the year I’d like to write a quick blog post covering the changes that are going to happen moving forward.
Also, just a reminder that I take the month of December off from posting to social media to remember my fiancé Katie and my Father who both passed away in 2021.
F U Instagram/Facebook/Meta
So in 2023 I put a lot of work and time into Instagram by adding reels into the mix and posting mutiple times a week to increase engagment and hopefully print sales. And I was rewarded with…
Negative growth.
Thats right! my Instagram account shrunk in followers and just getting people to see the posts became a battle. So with that abysmal failure knotched up, I will be reducing the time and effort into Instagram as a platform. Its hard not to take this personally as it feels like a direct rejection of my work and an outright judgement of its quality but I dunno. Its not outside the realms of extreme possibility that i’m just shit at this :D
I’ll likely be clearing my @JarredSpec account out of its current posts and only occasionally posting to it. @thejarredlab will continue as the place I dump the not so normal stuff.
The push to the website
You’ll notice I’ll be (at least attempting) to send you here to my website in most instances. This is a platform I control with no algorithms to rely on. This will be the one stop shop for 99% of my content moving forward and will be the place to see my stuff. Links to social platforms will no longer be direct, but via this website on the blog. I’d hugely appreciate it if you bookmarked this site and put a shortcut to it on your phone :)
So about that Youtube channel…
I know…
I’ve been banging on about youtube a lot recently. The effort I put into Instagram (and a lot more) will now be directed into youtube videos for a few reasons.
I hope to reach a wider audience there
Developing a relationship with Fujifilm NZ
Learning a new skill (Videography and Video editing).
A path to monetising content
That last one isn’t the be-all/end-all of why i’m moving to youtube, but it is an incentive. Youtube is going to put ads on my videos regardless, so to me it makes sense to at least try and get a small cut of that ad revenue by joining Youtubes partner program once I meet the requirements: 1000+ Subscribers and 4000 watch hours over 365 days. At this stage there is not a chance of me being able to monetise content on facebook or instagram other than “please buy a print, my eBook or click the buymeacoffee link”.
THIS IS WHERE I NEED YOUR HELP
In order to meet Googles requirements to join Youtubes partner program, I need people to subscribe to the channel and watch the videos. This is free peeps, it costs you nothing. In the cost of living crisis that we’re currently in I get it, buying art is out of the question for a lot of people. But, just hitting those like and share buttons, subscribing, commenting all help. Also did I mention its FREE?
But Wait theres more…
The end goal of all this is to be able to make Landscape photography my primary source of income. And I see this happening as a three pronged approach: here comes more bullet points…
Print sales
Monetisation of content (Youtube, the eBook/s, a members area here on the website with tutorials and exclusive content)
Workshops
Long term I think that workshops are going to be the key money earner, supplimented by the rest. But as I’ve mentioned, they’re really targeted for people with disposable income - the rest us that do not, have the free option of just subscribing and watching youtube videos :)
Click all the links
With all that said, here are some handy links for you to click, follow, subscribe etc etc etc. You’re already here on the website so please bookmark it :)
JarredSpec on Tumblr (yup I do tumblr too)
Thanks for reading and see you all in 2024!!!