By Russ Freeman, 1485805585
I was talking to @freya about some of the events she attends and her studio days etc, and about how best to promote them and I thought about the groups feature of PP. She said she had no idea about how it could be useful to her so I thought I'd share what I told her...
There are many groups on PurplePort, official ones and member created ones. The member created groups are often under used so I thought I’d write an article some of the major benefits to creating your own.
Running your own group does take some dedication and does require you to put the effort into promoting it by inviting people to the group. However, for models, photographers, studios and anyone that runs events the benefits to promoting yourself can be huge.
Sadly many groups fail because no-one puts in the initial effort to get it working. If you create a group then regularly posting in it or adding images to it is essential!
Groups that are open can be found by clicking “groups” at the top of every page and then clicking the “find & join” button near top right.
You get a one to many relationship with people that are interested in you, your events, or your studio
For anyone that runs any kind of event this is a fabulous way of keeping your potential customers updated.
Invite people (followers, anyone in your area, and then you can post about the events.
If you make it so people can submit images then anyone attending your events uploading images can submit their images to your groups. This then means that anyone attending your events in the future can easily see some of the amazing images you have helped to create. It’s a similar story for studios.
For models, especially travelling models, you can of course post your casting calls, either links or paste the entire content of the casting call in, into your own group. People can ask questions about your casting calls and communicate directly with you.
Your group, your rules
As mentioned above; It’s your group so your rules...and this applies to the rule of “no casting calls in the groups”. If you wish you can post your casting calls or events directly into your group.
You can have an image collection in the group which can then be displayed on the homepage by a gadget
Allowing people to submit images to your group, whatever the topic, is a great way to spruce up your group and promote whatever subject the group is about. For models this could be photos taken of you, for studios it could be photos taken at your studio.
Having an image group is fabulous but you can also have those images displayed on your customised home page, as can any other member of the group.
Scenarios where having a group would help you
- You are a studio and you wish to promote your events/studio days to a wider audience than otherwise might see it in the castings/events systems.
- You are a model that travels and you wish to promote your availability to a wider audience as above.
- You have an idea for an image collection that you think people might enjoy participating in.
- You are a photographer who regularly shoots with a group and wish to have an easier way to arrange your group.
- Essentially you are anyone that wishes to have a one to many relationship, or wishes to easily collaborate on projects with a group of people.
So...
If you own a studio and host model days or events, or if you are a model who travels and that wishes to reach a wider audience, or perhaps you are a photographer wishing to work with a group of like minded people...a group can really help you :-)
So, create a group and start inviting people!
Edited by Russ Freeman
