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It’s portrait season.  Families are getting together, high school seniors are memorializing their year, and it just feels like a good time to have a portrait created.

Aside from hiring a competent photographer, the next most important thing to do is to put some serious thought into your clothing choices.  It is always best to choose clothing with no patterns.

For group portraits, make sure your clothing matches.  The easiest combinations are all white OR all black.  Often when people are told either white or black they hear white and black- which is not a helpful combination.  If you choose a dark color and then some people wear a light color all people will see when they look at the image is the light clothing, not the faces of the people you love.  Same goes if most to the group are in a light color and then some people wear dark colors.

Spend some time planning your clothing choices for your next portrait.  You will be very happy you did.

The end of June my husband and I will be married 29 years.

We were struggling college kids and, because of that, we were ecstatic when a family friend offered to photograph the wedding as our wedding gift.  With several cameras, including medium format, and a portfolio that was “good enough” we accepted the offer to photograph our wedding as a way to save some of the money of our meager budget.   Our wedding celebration was in two states so that we could celebrate with both of our families.  We also had another friend that also was reasonably proficient with a camera photograph the second location.

It is almost thirty years later.  We didn’t get any images from the second location.  That photographer had some malfunction with her camera/film/whatever, and we lost the friendship because she was embarrassed and we were so disappointed.   The images we do have are still sitting in a box with the negatives- never an album we could proudly share with family and friends.  There were a few images that were acceptable, none of the two of us together.   What we have is what we have- and why I will be investing a major portion of the wedding budgets for my children’s wedding in a professional, tried and true, experienced, and educated wedding photographer.

This YouTube video is a great explanation of WHY businesses need social media.

To find out how, the book The Thank You Economy is a MUST READ.

I got a real lesson today in perfection.  My lilacs began blooming today.  This is big for me because I’ve tried for at least a decade to grow a lilac bush.  I’ve killed too many to name trying for this moment- and I almost let it go without photographing it because the light wasn’t right.

When I posted the event on Facebook and then the fact I couldn’t photograph them because the light wasn’t right, I read the ridiculousness of the post, so I grabbed my camera and headed outside.  While I was photographing the lilacs I noticed bumblebees- now the thing I love more than lilacs is bumblebees. So I tried to photograph the bumblebees as they flitted and flew around me.  While I was chasing the bumblebees, I saw ladybugs.  Well, the only thing that would have made my life better would have been a hummingbird, I was so excited that I got to photograph ladybugs, then finally, the bumblebees slowed down a bit and I caught them in my camera.

So, there I was- a perfect day because the lilacs were blooming and a more perfect day with bumblebees, ladybugs and a bonus cool spider that I’d have missed if I waited for the perfect light.

To see the whole album, Click Here.

I’ve noticed a trend lately for business to start using Facebook instead of websites and blogs. I totally understand how people could think that Facebook would replace the online site, Facebook already has an audience, it is popular and it is easy.

However, like all technology, Facebook is not permanent. Counting on Facebook as your online presence is a lot like counting on the carnival to be your home. The carnival is fun, all your friends are there and you could get a lot of attention quickly if that is what you wanted to accomplish.  However, if you get the wrong kind of attention, you could get thrown out by the bouncer. Furthermore, carnival is going to leave town and when the next carnival comes it may not be the one you expected.

A website is like buying real estate. It is not going to move unless you don’t pay your mortgage, abandon it or sell it. You own it, you control it and when you put your “stuff” in it, it isn’t going to leave when the technology changes.

So what is the solution?

1) Don’t count on Facebook to be forever.  Remember MySpace? Technology will change.

2) Use you website/blog as your home base.  A classy and simple site can be easily and inexpensively built for even the tightest budgets.  From your website/blog, post links to you Facebook page of your blog posts, offers and information. The advantage of doing this is that your friends can easily share your links with their friends with just a click of the “share” button.  Further, your content is always on your site.  If Facebook changes, you will always have your content.

3) Don’t forget to use your Facebook page to have casual conversations, answer questions and to network, after all, Facebook is a community and you want to be a good citizen.

Facebook is overwhelming and confusing, especially if you are just wading into this pool of 500 million users. Facebook has three different ways to put information on their site; profiles, pages and groups. How do you choose which to use and when to use them?

The Facebook profile is you- in cyber world. All of your interactions on Facebook start with your profile. Facebook rules state that only real people that use their real names can have a profile, otherwise, your profile could just disappear (along with all your hard work). When you start your profile, decide how open or private you are going to be. Do you want to share all your information and let just anyone cruising the internet read about you and follow what you are doing? Do you just want to share with friends? Do you want to be as private as possible? Using the privacy setting and checking them often provides you the opportunity to control who sees what, including search engines.

From your profile, you can create a page, your business location. Let’s say you own a glass blowing business. From your profile, go to pages, then to create new pages and from there you can start a page for your business. When the page is created, go tell your friends and they can tell their friends and they can all “like” your page to learn more about your business. Pages can be used for charities, hobbies, etc. Pages work a lot like a profiles and it is within the Facebook rules to use them for businesses.

Groups are for networking and socializing. They are your Chamber of Commerce meetings, your charity board meetings, even you AA groups (because you can customize how private the group is, from wide open to secret). You can use a group for a virtual family gathering all year long or for a private conversation on an ongoing basis with your best friend. I do several of those kinds of groups.

With all business decisions, it is wise to consider your goals in using Facebook. As in the “real world” it is important to create relationships, you would quit paying attention to a person that just tried to sell you their product every time you ran into them at the park, people will quit paying attention to you if you are on Facebook to just sell. Be on Facebook to give more than you receive. Engage with people, help out, share information and be a good friend.

Facebook is a tool in your tool box. Used correctly, your business will benefit. Used incorrectly and you’ll be the annoying kid at school that can only talk about how their life is better than yours and why you should give them money.

The newest fad in mass marketing seems to be offering clients “deals they can’t refuse” in hopes that they will try your services and then become lifelong customers and clients.  There are even whole businesses that have sprung up to take advantage of these offers.  In larger communities these sites are, among others, GroupOn and Living Social.   Even small communities have taken to creating their own sites, trying to model themselves on the unbelievable deals band wagon.

As a consumer, I am very aware of the businesses that always have their products on sale and, barring an emergency, I will not purchase anything at these businesses that is not “on sale” because I feel like I’m getting ripped off.

With the creation of these sites, I believe that, far from creating client loyalty, we are teaching that clients can use this site to always get the best deal on any product they want to purchase at any time.   In my opinion, it is detrimental for our businesses to use these sites and Emergence Marketing agrees.

Instead of selling your product on price, consider other ways of differentiating yourself in the marketplace, and create truly loyal clients and customers.  Here are some good resources:

1) Differentiating Your Brand in a Commoditizing Market Place

2) Marketing Strategy Ideas | eHow.com

3) Product Differentiation and The Strategic Marketing Process

4) How To Differentiate Your Business And Gain A Competitive Advantage

The only constant is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.
— Isaac Asimov

The computer and internet have changed the traditional forms of communication are as fully as those communications changed when the telephone was created, as they did when the written word was formed.

It has been a fun couple of weeks being a tiny participant as a couple of my online friends have been pushing the next level of creating their real lives using the virtual world of the internet.

My first friend, Meetu  decided that she wants to work for Zappos. She chose Zappos because she loves their corporate culture and knows that is the kind of place for which she wants to work. Because the job she was vying for is in social media, Meetu began her campaign on Facebook, in our private networking group. As a group, we supported her as she started her Facebook page (Zappos Hire Me), blog (ZapposHireMe.com) and Twitter (@zapposhireme). In the first few days she got the attention of Zappo’s staff. I will now refer you to her Facebook page and blog so you can see for yourself how she continues toward her goal of working for Zappo’s. Also check out the exciting news story today on Las Vegas Fox 5.

My other friend, Lauren, has decided that she wants to find love on network television, specifically, The Bachelorette.  Lauren also created a private group where the detail of her quest were share, brainstormed and the launched.  Lauren created her blog, The Next Bachelorette, her Facebook page , and her Twitter (@nextbach).  After only a couple of days, Lauren has a bit of attention and it is building.

A quote from the movie, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” seems to fit here:
Sloane: What are we going to do?
Ferris : The question isn’t “what are we going to do,” the question is “what aren’t we going to do?”

And so it is when we move into the next communication venue, it’s not what we are going to do to change the way things are done, it’s all the ways we are going to change the way it is done.

To Meetu and Lauren- continue your adventure and know there are many right behind you.

Here’s the scenario:

You get a letter in the mail, from an attorney, telling you that you violated the copyright of  John Jones, Photographer.  The letter goes on to say that the photographer is demanding the $xx,xxx.oo per use of the image and  the photographer is entitled by law to the payment for the unlawful use of the image.

And you are so mystified.  You gave the photographer photo credit on your blog post.   You can’t figure why that photographer has a problem with free publicity.  In fact, they should be thanking you.

The problem is that you stole their image and used it without a license to do so.  It would be the same as going to a jewelry store, taking a watch and then wearing a sign telling people which store you took it from while assuming the jewelry store would appreciate the free advertising.

Let me state at this point that I am not an attorney and no part of this post should be construed as legal advice.  If you need legal advice, please seek the advice of an attorney in your state that specializes in the area in which you need advice.

So a quick overview of copyright law as I understand it:

A creative work is protected by copyright law upon creation.  That means when a photographer clicks the shutter, the image is protected by copyright law.  However, if the work is registered with the copyright office, there is an additional level of protection and penalty if the copyright is infringed upon.   This enhanced level takes the penalty from tens of hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars.

In case you think photographers that protect their copyright for “minor” uses are just being greedy or petty, you should be aware that there is a “burn” in this law for photographers that don’t protect their copyright;  The photographer loses the right to defend it.  So your “minor” use, undefended, could keep them from collecting their rightful pay on a “major” use.  Hopefully, there is some understanding there for the “mean” photographers.

So how do you avoid copyright infringement and the associated penalty?

First, if you find an image on the internet that you want to use, contact the photographer and tell them how you want to use the image and make your offer for compensation (even if it is only “credit” on your blog post) and ask them for a use license.  They can accept, counter offer or say no, but often you will find photographers to be receptive when asked for their help.  (The use license states what you can and cannot do with the image and what the compensation for the image will be.)

Second, consider subscribing to sites that have agreements with photographers which, in turn, license the images for use by you.  A word of caution: read the fine print.  Make sure that the use you are using the image for is included in the license.  If you have  blog for which you make an income (commercial) you must make sure the license covers that use.

Third, if you cannot identify the photographer, don’t use the image.  There are a lot of programs out there that can crawl the web and find how images are used.   There are a fauxtographers that get caught all the time with the programs for stealing work and using it as their own.  You can be caught the same way.

Fourth, consider reading the same information photographers do to learn about copyright and licensing of photography.  One of the best out right now is The Photographers Survival Guide.  It is available from the authors website or Amazon.

This is a Karma thing; respect others and they’ll respect you.

Have you seen the beautiful new banners people are using now.   These banners are  the perfect way to give your clients more information about your business or to share more of your favorite images with your friends, right there on your profile page.

DiCreates is offering a very VERY limited number of  Facebook banner designs for $20.00 until 5 pm,  February 28th.  Interested?  Email Di at DiCreates.com or Facebook me – but hurry, don’t miss out on this!