C.C. Holdings  wrote:
buy a similar account, rebrand it, start messaging hot chicks. easy.

Very interesting!  I can see where that would work for someone who wants to sell a product or service.  Does it work for a photographer who wants to attract models for paid or trade shoots?

Can you provide an example or two of photographer IG accounts that changed hands?

Thanks in advance!

Dr. Mike

C.C. Holdings  wrote:
buy a similar account, rebrand it, start messaging hot chicks. easy.

people attracted to shiny things will respond to DMs from a popular account.

**important** this is very different from buying followers. don't do that. this is buying a business. there is a whole economy about this regarding social media accounts. when you buy an account in a similar sector and similar demographics of what you want, you also get all the DMs and communication, which is useful because it will contain prior promotions. You can use those trade lines to break even on your purchase by doing paid promos for people interested in that. People bite because you will have a lot of real followers with high engagement.

people in poor countries build accounts

people in rich countries buy and rebrand the accounts

wealth lust rebrands to travel guru or financial business

women lust rebrands to your model centric photographer profile

you're welcome. don't abuse this or you'll break its usefulness.

Everything about this concept is offensive and inauthentic.  And FWIW I can't believe I just used the term "inauthentic" -- I'm an old white moderate Conservative (non-religious, not Trumpy -- I think that makes me a Democrat now that they are somewhere to the Right of Ronald Reagan?).  But am I the only one who went "ewww" at every damned sentence there?

DeanLautermilch wrote:
I'm in Sebring, Florida and models are hard to get as many woman leave the area when they can.

I'm still using MM but want to master IG. Is there a really good learning source for how to use IG for models?

Huh.  Why do you think women, in particular, don't find the area hospitable?  And that's not snarky, it's an actual question.  I looked up Sebring on a map and although it's been awhile since I put boots on the ground in FL, the city DOES seem to be either on the way everywhere else or in the middle of nowhere, depending on how you see it.

I'm sure there are Google-able sources for "how to" social media but consider it a flexible and public portfolio.  Build your portfolio, build relationships, expand your circles and viola!  Three years later they'll kick you off for no apparent reason!  In all seriousness, remember that numbers are not success.  I consider my IG to be a total success because I have only ever had to block one bro who wandered in and started making stupid comments.  My account seems evenly balanced between other photographers, models and then a smattering of a few hundred real-life friends and a couple hundred random people.  I'm not looking for clients or trying to use IG commercially but it appears to be working to put me in contact with the right people for what I'm doing.

C.C. Holdings  wrote:
buy a similar account, rebrand it, start messaging hot chicks. easy.

...

people in rich countries buy and rebrand the accounts

Photography talent/experience/portfolio is non-transferable. What makes you think it would be? How many photographer websites/profiles that contain purchased stock photos have to be exposed/belittled/ridiculed for you to stop making that inane suggestion.

I had a photographer get butthurt offended when I wouldn't use my portfolio, connections and experience to book test models from agencies for him to shoot. He thought it was being elitist for me to suggest that it by far was not sensible or in my better interest to decline from fraudulently book a model for another photographer to shoot based on my reputation. He wasn't looking for a reference, he was wanting to trade on my experience. It doesn't work and your suggestions don't either in the long term. That's kind of what stalkers and frauds do.

Dan Howell wrote:
Photography talent/experience/portfolio is non-transferable. What makes you think it would be? How many photographer websites/profiles that contain purchased stock photos have to be exposed/belittled/ridiculed for you to stop making that inane suggestion.

I had a photographer get butthurt offended when I wouldn't use my portfolio, connections and experience to book test models from agencies for him to shoot. He thought it was being elitist for me to suggest that it by far was not sensible or in my better interest to decline from fraudulently book a model for another photographer to shoot based on my reputation. He wasn't looking for a reference, he was wanting to trade on my experience. It doesn't work and your suggestions don't either in the long term. That's kind of what stalkers and frauds do.

rebranding doesn't involve stock photos.

it involves archiving/deleting all the old posts on that account, untagging yourself from all the tagged photos, and then posting new photos you actually took.

the new photos inherit all the engagement and likes that the profile has, because it already is a profile with high engagement and high followers and reach. (or for whatever your brand is, this isn't limited to model photography)

whatever you think doesn't work isn't what this is about. the prior responses were about wasting time growing an account in the face of an algorithm. professionals shouldn't waste their time with that unless they have zero capital. hobbyists can play the likes and followers game for high schoolers.

if you value your time, buy an audience.

ExhibitPhoto wrote:
Everything about this concept is offensive and inauthentic.  And FWIW I can't believe I just used the term "inauthentic" -- I'm an old white moderate Conservative (non-religious, not Trumpy -- I think that makes me a Democrat now that they are somewhere to the Right of Ronald Reagan?).  But am I the only one who went "ewww" at every damned sentence there?

models should still check references, nothing inherently different about the standard operating procedure

C.C. Holdings  wrote:
if you value your time, buy an audience.

I'd rather have 200 authentic followers whom I'm more likely to work with than 1,000,000 random wankers. But that's just me.

Arizona Shoots wrote:
I'd rather have 200 authentic followers whom I'm more likely to work with than 1,000,000 random wankers. But that's just me.

the 1,000,000 random wankers would be authentic in that they made an objective decision to continue following the account based on the content now on their feed if they engage with it. A rebrand can expect high attrition at first.

The followers and engagement also functions as a currency, a form of which you never have to spend. Brands, models, and more view the exposure potential as a valuable asset, and in this format it would be authentic exposure. The pool of people you are able to work with would be greatly expanded, mostly because they reply at all.

again, most of the responses are trying to make a separate standard for model photography and I've seen similar in other photography communities, but buying any established business functions the same way. you get the trade lines and audience, just how the world works. if someone asks how to "master IG" and you don't like the answer, you can opt out of utilizing it.

C.C. Holdings  wrote:
again, most of the responses are trying to make a separate standard for model photography and I've seen similar in other photography communities, but buying any established business functions the same way. you get the trade lines and audience, just how the world works. if someone asks how to "master IG" and you don't like the answer, you can opt out of utilizing it.

Point to one model (fashion or glamour) photographer who has bought a superior IG account that has allowed them to secure substantial paid photography assignments they wouldn't have been able to secure without the account. The kind where a photographer who isn't capable of producing images at a high professional level that was able to pull down jobs they weren't qualified for. A photographer is not competing for IG followers, they are competing for shoot opportunities.

Dan Howell wrote:
Point to one model (fashion or glamour) photographer who has bought a superior IG account that has allowed them to secure substantial paid photography assignments they wouldn't have been able to secure without the account. The kind where a photographer who isn't capable of producing images at a high professional level that was able to pull down jobs they weren't qualified for. A photographer is not competing for IG followers, they are competing for shoot opportunities.

I was expecting this response from you or someone, you've been here for nearly 2 decades and won't acknowledge most of aren't in the same industry where there is a client, or a client and a model provided?

OP was pretty clear about their frustrations in finding and booking models, which is a recurring theme on the forums over the past several years here if you go back. The vasssst majority of the photographers here are booking models and finding a commercial use later. There is almost no ambiguity about the sector involved. You have to know that.

This is more about how to establish domain on that network, to book models more easily. Maybe it would help if you understood why, the private messages on IG that the models receive are not often about work, they are unfiltered and mostly about flirting to the point that IG and the user filters them to the point that the inbox is mostly useless. For almost any hot chick the inbox is useless, having a "superior IG" breaks through that filter mostly because the models do skim their inbox, and you'd want to be a shiny thing to be noticed, convey value such as the level of engagement the model could receive from working with you, be able to negotiate quickly without too much handholding, and have a congruent level of engagement on your profile that matches everything you're saying.

Roaring 20s wrote:
I was expecting this response from you or someone, you've been here for nearly 2 decades and won't acknowledge most of aren't in the same industry where there is a client, or a client and a model provided?

OP was pretty clear about their frustrations in finding and booking models, which is a recurring theme on the forums over the past several years here if you go back. The vasssst majority of the photographers here are booking models and finding a commercial use later. There is almost no ambiguity about the sector involved. You have to know that.

This is more about how to establish domain on that network, to book models more easily. Maybe it would help if you understood why, the private messages on IG that the models receive are not often about work, they are unfiltered and mostly about flirting to the point that IG and the user filters them to the point that the inbox is mostly useless. For almost any hot chick the inbox is useless, having a "superior IG" breaks through that filter mostly because the models do skim their inbox, and you'd want to be a shiny thing to be noticed, convey value such as the level of engagement the model could receive from working with you, be able to negotiate quickly without too much handholding, and have a congruent level of engagement on your profile that matches everything you're saying.

I love how you think you know my business. Were you thinking that I am not aware of how to contact individual models or the change in the communications-sphere?

I'll make it more simple and agnostic to experience in the business. Please point out how a photographer can honestly capitalize on images that another photographer created in the long run. I don't believe the suggestion of buying an account (from photographer to photographer) answers the question the OP asked. That suggests that 'hot chicks' can't discern the difference between an authentic account or a patched together account. I'm not ready to insult the intelligence of successful models like that.

Dan Howell wrote:
Please point out how a photographer can honestly capitalize on images that another photographer created in the long run.

it involves archiving/deleting all the old posts on that account, untagging yourself from all the tagged photos, and then posting new photos you actually took.

so there are no other people's photos. I already mentioned that earlier.

I would agree that the assumptions being made do suggest a degree of unfamiliarity, yes.