Hello All,

I was reading an older topic posted under: "   Topic: Instagram good or not for your photography ?  (Read 2417 times) " from March of 2016.  It was interesting but that was two years ago which is centuries ago in the digital world.  I was wondering how useful Instagram, Facebook, etc... are today for stock shooters?  I think they're still very useful for most non-stock shooters, such as wedding photographers, who are using their photos (from previous assignments) on social media to promote future clients/work, but how helpful are they for selling photos that are with stock agencies?  I know some people still knock Instagram because they say that photos can be downloaded without your permission but that can happen from your website and maybe even stock agencies themselves, especially if they just want low res images for their smartphone, so I'm not really worried about that.  What I would like to know is how does it help sales on the stock agencies I'm with?  How do I benefit?  Thanks.

Instagram is good for viewing an endless stream of exceptional photos if you follow the right people. For that reason I find it useful, it's inspirational

Still useful?

Not that you cannot see good photos, but they are lost among trash and spam, so it is a waste of time for me.
From the "artistic" point of view I would prefer to see growing a platform like ello.co (not .com)

If you a looking for agency work it is the place to be. A very successful advertising photographer was just telling me that most of his new clients come from Instagram.

So Basically, it doesn't really help stock photographers sell their images.

on the other hand i ve read in the fine art america forums that some people had sales couse they advertised their work in instagram.so its not a total waste of time.

So Basically, it doesn't really help stock photographers sell their images.

Exactly. People don't generally go to Instagram to find pictures of smiling amateur models in suits gathered around a computer screen, pointing at a fake graph. 

They go there to enjoy beautiful images. But as was pointed out, offering big prints of epic landscapes if you have a lot of followers could bring in some sales.

If i may comment, i dont take seriously how some people believe that they will sell through instagram. No actual numbers rather that some high priced "OMG i have been contacted and asked to sell". So what?
Assuming that we are photographers, videographers, animators, editors etc we all the time get contacted to have a job or sell services. There is a big industry behind Instagram. Remember reading on automation, techqniques or just using bots following or even commenting in order to gain attention or followers etc.

Although IGTV is a nice feature to showcase videos in vertical mode in a relatively new medium i don't believe that Instagram it is nothing more that another large catalogue with free beautiful pictures. It was a trend to put there BTS pictures but i think it passed. And I never enter instagram contests, i suck in photography. Hehehe!