Okay, guys, I am going to be really honest and get a little vulnerable here and tell you that the conversation that I just finished with Cassidy Lin made me feel kind of old. And I guess that's not really a surprise. Cassidy if you're not familiar with her is an amazing wedding photographer. She is a an educator on the oh shoot podcast and on various social media platforms. And social media is what she came here to talk to me about today, because she is a rock star with
it. She's on multiple platforms, she has many, many hundreds of 1000s of followers, and she knows her stuff backwards and forwards. And it's one of those funny areas where longevity and experience in the industry doesn't necessarily make you better. In fact, in my own case, I feel like it's something of a liability. When I got my first social media account, I think my children were already alive.
Like, I was very much into adulthood, when first Facebook came on the scene, and then you know, followed by Instagram and everything else. And so it's one of those areas where I feel like as an educator, I can't give you the best information that's out there. From my own knowledge. It's something that I feel like I'm always coming from behind on. However, I do know that it is an important thing for all of us to be aware of be smart about and know how to use in the
modern era. So what do I do, I look for amazing guests like Cassidy who is willing to come on and share her knowledge and educate us. So whether you are someone who is on the younger end of things, or on the much more social media savvy end of things, and you know, all there is to know about social media and the different platforms and how to use it. Or if you are kind of like me, and you feel overwhelmed by the various
options out there. And the way that the algorithm is constantly changing, you're going to get something from this conversation. Cassidy is wide open, sharing her best, most current tips, and I know you're going to enjoy listening to me fumble my way through. So at that I will cue the music and invite you to enjoy. Welcome to this can't be that hard. My name is Annemie Tonken. And I help photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses that they
love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard. You can do it. And I can show you how can Cassidy Lynn, welcome to this can't be that hard. It's so great to have you on the show. How are you today?
I'm good. Thanks for having me. I'm excited.
Yeah, I am excited, too. I you know, it's like I get to talk to people from time to time about social media, which is not my superpower at all. It is definitely yours. But, but I love kind of the angle that we're taking here. Because I think one of the things that is hardest for me with social media is just that it's like a constantly moving target, right?
It's like just as soon as you feel like you've got your legs underneath you and you're like, Okay, this is the strategy that's working, all of a sudden the platform changes or, like literally the platform changes. And everybody's like, No, we're not on Instagram anymore. Now is everybody's on Tik Tok. So I'm really excited to kind of dive into how you have been able to not only kind of maintain, but really grow your social media presence, and by extension of
that your business. So effectively, I think it's going to be it's going to be great. And I know everybody is very keen, especially if you're listening to this at you know, the time that it drops, like the new year, you're starting out with all of your kind of plans for the year and this is going to be great. But why don't I kind of turn the mic over to you and let you introduce yourself.
Tell us a little bit about I think your career history might be helpful just to kind of give people a sense as to how social media has played a role in your business.
So hello, everyone. I'm Cassidy and I am a wedding photographer slash educator, slash I do content creation. I work with brands now. So I do a lot of things. But all of those things would not be possible without social media. So to back it up and bring it all the way back to the beginning. I started as a photographer, so I was basically a photographer for the college
that I went to teach. Teach. Oh my gosh, taught a bunch of students I'm at the college how to do photography throughout the course of like, I think it was there for about three years, and then transitioned into being a wedding photographer. But right when I started doing full time wedding photography, I realized that my background in teaching photography was actually something that I really liked to do. And this was around 2020, which we all know what happened
in 2020. So when I went full time with my wedding photography, business, I also started teaching people. And my way of teaching people was through tick tock tick tock was just growing. And actually, one of my sisters actually said to me, because I was going to just start a YouTube channel, and she was like, don't start a YouTube channel just started tick tock, it's easier, you know, the videos aren't as long, and you're probably gonna grow
faster. And I was like, Cool. So I started teaching people on tick tock, and from there, I kind of developed this half like wedding photography, business, half photography, education, business. And right now my business is kind of like shifting where it's like wedding photography is more just like, the thing that I do for fun. And now I'm like teaching people full time and becoming more of like a content creator for different brands and working with brands and influencing and
stuff. So it's really just evolved from there. So yeah, that's kind of my story and how it all started, how it
started, how it's going. Yeah, so you're the it's super interesting and funny, when you do have a situation where it's like, a lot of us photography is a side hustle when it when we first start, right, like, it sounds like you were you had this more, I'm going to put air quotes, even though this is audio like that was your your real job was for the college and teaching. And then you were doing photography was sort of I imagined sort of building up as
a side hustle. And now you have gotten to a place where photography has returned to your side hustle, because the education side has gone through the roof. And it sounds like like influencing and content creation and all that sort of stuff. So it's amazing. And this is the sort of thing, so I am older than you and I have I, my older son is almost 17. And so of course, like his perspective on this stuff is so different.
But whenever I'm talking to my kids, I'm always just like, they'll, you know, start thinking about what they want to be when they grow up. And I'm like it is changing the landscape is changing in terms of what the options are so fast, that you know, when, five years from now, or eight years from now, when he's starting out in the in the real world, it's like, who knows what will be available. And so, so I just find that sort of stuff super
fascinating. And I love the fact that you were able to cut your path, because I feel like that's the thing. It's true for photography as well. But in all kinds of creative pursuits these days, there is no real roadmap. So for anyone who is willing to kind of roll up their sleeves and see where the opportunities are, like there are so many available. But yeah, it's even in just the short period of time that you have been doing that, like it sounds like you were back and forth between YouTube
and Tiktok. And of course, there's Instagram and, and all of those platforms are ever changing. So how have you navigated that constant uncertainty in your own business?
So one of the biggest things for being present through your business on any platform, Pinterest, Tiktok, Instagram even be real? You know, that's the thing right? Now. The thing is, you have to be an active user, you cannot understand how users perceive videos and what performs well, like, what doesn't, unless you're actively like scrolling. So there are times during my workday, where I intentionally scroll for, like 15 minutes, and I'm just observing, like, you know, how long are the videos
that I'm watching? And what intros fascinate me what sounds do I notice, you know, how many clips are in a video and angles like, you really have to be observing like, as a consumer, what fascinates you, and that's how you can keep up with this like ever changing, just constant turnover of social media because you're able to see firsthand the trends and what's happening and then you can adjust your content accordingly.
A huge thing for me and this is like one of my biggest tips right now, for social media creation on all platforms. You cannot batch like 30 days in advance anymore. You have to catch like these trends. Basically within three days. I might even take two days. If you are trying to like actually grow
and like use trends. You have to basically like get stuff out there like you know, on the day of or the the next day when you see a trend And the with the exception of if you are creating content for social media with original content, so not pulling someone else's sound, it's literally just like you talking or something like that. That's stuff that you can record 30 days in advance. So if you're listening to this, and you're like, Cassie, I can't just stop
everything. And you know, post five tech talks today, you don't have to, you need to then do original audios and try like talking and stuff like that, if you, you know, want to keep up with this ever changing cycle that's happening on social media. So that I feel like that's a really big thing. As far as like content creation goes. For strategy. I feel like there really isn't a strategy at this point. For anybody, like the biggest strategy is niching.
That's a huge thing. I've discovered that a lot of just generic lifestyle. Social media accounts don't do as well as they used to, because it's literally like, Okay, well, what are you offering, you know, so I think having a niche is really important, because people will understand why they follow you and like, what you can give to them. So you know, wedding photography, I do like photography tips, there are accounts that do, you know, all sorts of different stuff like
cooking, whatever it is. So that niche is really important for the ever changing aspect of social media. Because if you stay within your niche, and you are constantly putting out videos about your niche, you can just tweak them towards trends and what you see performing well. And, you know, most likely the people that follow you, or the people that are going to be shown your video, it's going to be like, Oh, this is a photography account, I'm going to follow them for photography
purposes, you know. So that's another big thing as well. One of
the things that I feel like, can be tricky for people is the you know, when we look around at the people who show up in our feed, and the people that we follow who have larger followings, like you do, you are speaking to a pretty wide geographic, you know, group of people, and you are speaking to both potential wedding clients and also education clients, and you've got sort of a lifestyle brand that you are also, you know, constantly
curating. So when I think that it can be hard for somebody who is running a local business to see or to extrapolate from that what they need to be doing in order to grow their local in person, photography business. So when you were fine, primarily focusing your efforts on that, how is that different from the way that you operate? Now, or was it different,
it's all about keeping your target audience in
mind. So you know, if you're a local coffee shop, let's say in Tampa, Florida, your target audience is most likely going to be people in Tampa, Florida, people that like coffee in Tampa, Florida, versus for me, I'm more just like anyone who's interested in education in photography, education, anyone who might be looking for wedding photographer, which is a much broader audience, like you said, so if you are targeting a specific area, and your target audience is smaller, you just
have to keep that in mind when you're making videos. So maybe your videos don't get as many views. Like if you're literally posting, you know, videos and posts just in general, like feed posts, like best places to get coffee in Tampa, Florida. And obviously, it's like your coffee
shop. That's really the algorithm is only going to show that to people who are interested in Tampa, Florida, most likely, like it's not going to just show it to random people, because random people would be like, What the heck, like I don't, I don't want to see this, right. I've seen a lot of businesses take kind of like this relatability perspective in their business. And it's almost like right now on social media. You can't take it too seriously. It can't be too curated. It
can't be too perfect. It's almost like curated imperfection right now. You know, we see that with a lot of the photo dumps that are really popular right now like this style of like, Oops, I accidentally posted this screenshot even though like you definitely knew you're posting
that screenshot. So when it comes to a local business, you kind of have to think about that side of things like people like to see behind the scenes, they like to see your co workers lip synching and having fun on shifts, like, you know, they like to see you make lattes and I think it's almost like making a viral brand for yourself at that point. Like, you have to have something that is a little bit unique at that point as
well. Whether it's just your like content brand manager is just funny, and they you know, like for example, scrub daddy on tick tock, they're just funny, or like Duolingo it's just a funny account, like, obviously, they're selling a product at the end of the day, like their creators are just have a great
sense of humor. And I think like, that is something that can help you grow the business side of things is just like the relatability not focusing so much on it being perfect and like, targeting like, the perfect people, but just, you know, having fun with it. And I think when you are posting, you also have to keep an eye on what does well, and what doesn't do
well. Specifically with like a location based business, you really want to focus on like, Okay, why did this video do well versus this video, and then recreate aspects of the video that did well, so try to figure out like, what was it about this video that maybe it got more likes than this other video was educational, was it entertaining, and then create more content like that. So you can continue to get better performing content, continue to
grow that platform. Because ultimately, as you grow your platform, I feel like you get more of an opportunity to reach more people and sell more, ultimately, at the end of the day.
So I would love to get kind of a behind the scenes for you and your business. And you're at your set, your Instagram account is sitting at what like 120 ish, 1000 followers. And I don't I don't know the details of your other but so we're talking about a large presence. Which platforms would you say you're most active on at this point? Just tick tock in Instagram or?
Yeah, tick tock Instagram. I'm Loki working on Pinterest a little bit. Okay. But yeah, those
two? Okay, this is the majority of your time spent in business? I would, I would assume, has that always been the case, since you started or has that evolved over time, the amount of time I've spent on the platforms that you spend on social media per week, let's say, oh,
it definitely a my time that I've spent has definitely grown, as my accounts have grown. For sure. When I was first starting, it was like, you know, maybe it was like a day a week that I was like, you know, really focusing on creating content, but then the rest of it was, you know, working on my website, editing, you know, doing the actual things that I needed to do to be a good
wedding photographer. But I think like the the more that my brand has shifted, obviously, like my, I've seen that, like, the more you put into social media, the more you get out of it, you know, booking wise, and like growth, and reputation, all those things like so I've put more of a priority on, you know, spending at least like an hour a day on social media for all the platforms, and just making sure everything is like, good to go. I've got things to post, you know, do you at this
point have help with any of it? Who Yes,
so I have someone that does all my Pinterest for me. I'm a virtual assistant for that. Everything else though I do by myself, as far as social media goes, I do think like, people can tell if like, someone else is doing it to an extent. You know, and like, if you're showing your face like you really have to be the one chair doing it. I mean, maybe like the actual physically posting
someone else can do. But like, you know, you have to you have to have your hand on, I think social media, because I think like your personality really is what is going to like, help you grow.
Yeah, definitely. And I feel like there are a lot of people that I talk to who feel really stuck when it comes to social media, because especially if they're starting small, and for most of the people that I'm talking to are primarily still photographers, as in not, they are still photographers, but they take still images. And so and that's what they're selling. So the way that the algorithms have shifted, and now it's like constant video creation and real content and those kinds of
things. I think that a lot of people just sort of throw their hands up and they're like, I don't have the time to deal with this. It's, you know, it's ever evolving. It's ever changing, but they still feel like they need to be there. How do you address people who are kind of in that boat where they're not, you know, they're not necessarily internally motivated to go out and create a bunch of content that is specific to the platforms, but the, but they feel like they should be there
any way? Yeah. Is there some sort of, I don't know, hack is not what I the word I necessarily want to use. But what would be your advice there?
Yeah. Two things. One is keeping in mind that you can reuse your content on multiple platforms. So I will create one video and it will go on Tik Tok, Instagram and Pinterest. If you do have to do a few tweaks to make it like perform well on each, but you know, just using like text from each platform, but for the most
part, you can reuse content. So if someone is listening and feels extremely overwhelmed with the idea of posting videos, like, you don't have to make, like one video per platform like and make it unique, like that's not how it works. So that's the first thing. The second thing is you by posting videos, it is only going to help your brand. Like, right now videos are really like the only thing being pushed. So you essentially are, you're missing out on an opportunity by not posting
videos. video creation can be as simple as using your still photos and flashing them super quickly to a five second song. Like I've seen tons of photographers do that. And sometimes I look at these reels, and I have like 300,000 likes, and it's really like 20 videos that are each like half a second long to this just like beat that's really catchy, right? So I don't, I don't really think that it's like this huge unattainable thing. If anything, it's a little bit more fun,
because it's different. And it's like, you know, it's just a different way of posting. But ultimately, you're still posting your images. I honestly would start with like, maybe three videos a week, it's pretty easy to sit down on like a Monday or Tuesday, create all the content, you know, three videos, and then just like, post them throughout the week, and then do it again
the next week. I usually tell people if it takes you more than 10 minutes on a video, just stop because like you're probably overthinking it, it's probably not gonna be worth it. So don't spend more than 10 minutes on a video, three videos a week. That's there, literally 30 minutes of your week. I feel like that's pretty attainable. And it doesn't have to be anything fancy. Like just flash your photos, maybe show a behind the scenes video of you. And that's it. It's gonna help you ultimately,
yeah, for sure. All right, so I am super keen to hear a little bit more about the kind of action steps that you would take or the the recommendations that you feel like are the best, you know, best advice for right now with these three platforms that you are devoting most of your energy two in particular, I feel like Pinterest has evolved a lot like I am not on Pinterest very much
these days. And it feels like it has come like really far from back when it was just like, you know recipes and Halloween decorations or whatever.
Yeah, yeah, so what we can talk about Pinterest with Pinterest right now it's all about idea pins. And I'm it's gonna be like that for a couple months if not, like longer. So basically idea pins are, it's kind of their version of like, could be a video could be multiple photos like so they have like a few options for IDEA pins, but they want it to be more than just a single photo is what they're pushing. So you know, like every other app right now it's more than just a photo.
We need more like more photos or video. So that's huge right now. Pinterest is prioritizing idea pins. So my recommendation is like get tailwind, which is it's just an app where you can bulk schedule a ton of stuff at once for Pinterest, get tailwind and schedule, you know your next 30 days worth of pins, maybe spend half a day doing it. You can upload videos that you've made and posted on reels before you can just you know do carousels of your photos. But just be really specific with your
location on Pinterest. So making sure where you're shooting what you're shooting. That is huge. Don't worry about hashtags. Don't worry about linking to website like right now. It's just location and then describing what is actually in the photo so that whatever you're posting is searchable. Those are the huge things with Pinterest right now. And Pinterest also likes when you're consistent. So if you post once
a day, sure. Bucha is easy with Pinterest because you can schedule it so far in advance. It doesn't have to be trending or anything like that. Right? It's totally doable. So yeah, that would be some steps and like actionable things for Pinterest for Tik Tok. Um, I if anyone listening is like, I don't know how to feel about tick tock. I would recommend going on tick tock like literally, tick tock, in my opinion is where I think that
social media is heading. If it's not the app itself, it's the content being created on the app. So if you're a business just try tick tock and put a little bit of effort into it. Tick tock is not going to punish you for posts see multiple times a day. The best content on tick tock right now is kind of like these story types of videos. That's the one strategy that is completely timeless on tick tock is telling a story and being really engaging with your story.
So storytelling, whether it's you talking to the camera, telling the story of your clients, like a wedding that you shot, whatever a story is key right now. So if you're able to just try, like, I was saying three videos a week, storytelling videos, it just kind of see where it goes, recreate the things that are most popular. And yeah, that's it, if you if it goes nowhere, that's fine. But like, at least you get to try it. And I think a lot of people right now are using Tiktok as a search engine
tool. So they're literally instead of going to Google they're going into Tik Tok and searching brownie recipe. Or like how to use a camera, or like Michigan wedding photographer, these are things that people are actually typing into Tik Tok. So by you posting videos and using the text on Tik Tok, and like using keywords in your title, and in you know, actually the actual video, that's really going to help with
being discovered. I've booked about 40% of my weddings this year from tick tock, which is a lot. I think it's absolutely insane that people book people from tick tock, but it's becoming a much bigger thing right now. So sure, you know, don't sleep on it. Yeah. And then for Instagram, my biggest advice would be have a little bit of a personality on Instagram, and remember that like your brand, being you, uniquely, you is the best thing
that you can do. You want to utilize all of the tools on Instagram, that's what Instagram loves. So reels, feed posts, stories, you know, question boxes, polls, Instagram loves, loves to see it like that. Those are the accounts that they're like yes, slay. I'm, you know, you're getting the algorithm boosts today. And I think, with Instagram, at this point, it's quality over quantity. So about a year or two ago, it was really popular just like post every day. And like that was the way
to get seen. But right now it's more having quality things that you're posting, if you can post quality every day. But if not focus on posting, one to two feed posts a week really quality, and focus on two to three really quality videos a week. And that's going to be your key to success. And always remember, with all social media, always redirect people to your website, because the end goal with social media is to get bookings, and how you get booking bookings is getting
people on your website. So it's like a three step process of social media at the top of the funnel, then getting people on your website, becoming aware of your brand. And then at the very bottom, that's when they become super warm to you. And they're ready to book with
you love it. Yeah, that's so helpful. And such a good reminder, because we can get sort of stuck in the social media loop. Final question for you. If somebody's listening is like, there is no possible way that I can, you know, find the TA, it's, I think a lot of people, there are people out there who are super good at following all of the different platforms. But to your point from before, I really do think that in order to effectively use a platform, you kind of have to participate on
that platform. And so to me, that is the harder part timewise than even just like the content creation part. So if people are listening, and they're like, Yeah, I can't do three different posts here, there. And this place because I don't know those platforms. I don't want to get to know those platforms. Do you think that it is a better strategy to go all in on one platform? Or do you feel like it is a better strategy? Let's say that somebody says, I have an hour a week to dedicate to
social media? Would it be better to like divide that up into three times 20 or four times 15? Or is it better to just kind of like go deep on one?
Yeah, I would recommend if possible, going deep on two. And then using one as kind of just like sits on the backburner a little so for me it's Pinterest sits on the backburner. It's pretty low maintenance. If someone is like, really can only give an hour honestly, the first thing that popped into my head if you feel like you don't know a platform is to hire a social media manager who can send you ideas and help you with like, this is what you need to be posting.
Because I do think you will get your money back on that to be honest, like I think with how important social media is Right now it's important to invest in if you feel like you are have a little bit more potential and you're lacking. But yeah, I would say, don't put all of your eggs in one basket. I mean, we saw with the shift from Instagram to Tik Tok, how a lot of people kind of like went over
there around 2020. And like, you just never know when that's gonna happen that can happen to tick tock and it could be another platform that people flock to. So it's important to spread out your efforts, I would say, Yeah, I would say if you can do like quality on two platforms, that's probably going to be your best bet.
Yeah. Even if you're maybe like lurking on that third one, not posting, but learning it a little bit better. Yeah, that's so good. I am. Like I said, this has never been my strongest suit. Like, I enjoy social media, it's totally fine.
But when it comes time to sit down and create content, it's always like the last thing that I feel like I want to do and so I'm always super inspired by people who do it and do it so well, because I think that the people who do have really effective presences, it is it can be kind of a one and done marketing, you know, option. Yeah. Which is amazing. Because in you know, in the long run, it is a free way to get information out there about you your business build really great
relationships. And so yeah, kudos to you for, for killing it. And thank you so much for coming and sharing all of this knowledge with with me and my audience. Cassady tell everybody where they can find you if they don't already know.
So, the easiest way to find me I think it's just going to Instagram and search and Cassidy Lynne Cassidy Lynne with an E at the end. You know, just that little E. On Tik Tok. I'm Cassie Lynne Photo, and I have a podcast also it's called Oh, Shoot. And I mean, if you really want to go to my website, Cassidy Lynn education, but really, if you just go to like my Instagram, that's usually the best place to find me.
Yeah. Excellent. Well, good. Well, thanks so much again. And until next time, I hope you have a great day. Thanks, you too. Well, that's it for this week's episode of This can't be that hard. I'll be back Same time, same place next week. In the meantime, you can find more information about this episode, along with all the relevant links, notes and downloads at this can't be that hard.com/learn If you liked the podcast, be sure to hit the subscribe button. Even better, share the love by leaving a
review on iTunes. And as always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week.