Guest Blogger Maya Laurent of Such Great Heights Photography is sharing with us how you can create excitement among your senior models with video.  Check it out below!

You have models part of your team! Congrats…now it’s time to find ways to build relationships with them and help them easily spread the word about your company. Again, there are lots of different formats in which you can do this but I’ll share with you one that was super successful for my business this year.

Each model was given a 15-20 time period for their “Model Introduction Session.” The sessions were scheduled back to back so the models could meet each other and a community could begin to form. Makeup artists applied simple, natural makeup to each girl to enhance their unique beauty. Each girl was asked to bring the outfit that she felt showed her personality the most as this would be the first time the world would “meet” her as an official model.

These model sessions could be done outside or in a studio. If you choose to do outdoor sessions, have a rain date planned and everyone committed to that date as well. Such Great Heights is located in Indiana with the shoots in February so indoor sessions were the only option for the winter season. To keep the studio setup simple, natural light was used along with a variety of backgrounds. Think outside of the box for backgrounds and look at curtains, sheets, comforters, shower curtains and anything else that can be used as a backdrop. We came up with a system to use printed sheets with a baseboard look which was super simple to switch in and out between models.

The new element this year to the Model Introduction Sessions was to film an Instagram video for each model. During their short session the videographer, Chris from The Reason I Love (http://thereasonilove.com/), shot snippets of video as makeup was applied and while the model was being photographed. He then took them to different areas of the studio to get some candid video portions as well.

The model was first introduced on Instagram with a short 15-second video with information on how to access their blog post and how to help them raise money for their charity of choice, and the model of course was tagged in the video. This idea took off! Word spread about who was the featured model each day and website views on the blog and site went up ten times the amount from the previous month. This builds momentum and positive talk about your business and word of mouth begins to take shape, quickly!

The Instagram video directed viewers to the model blog post which was created for each model with six images. There’s no need to share a ton of images from these sessions as they are short and being used as an introduction, not a full session. The models all answered a questionnaire and a selection of the answers were used for the blog post with the rest being saved for their senior session post. Here’s an example of one of the blog posts (http://www.suchgreatblog.com/such-great-model-morgann/). Each model also choose a charity they wanted to raise money for and they raise one dollar for that charity for each blog comment on their post, donated by my business. This not only helps the models and your company give back, but encourages website visits and a community begins to form around the positive spirit of giving.

Model Introduction Sessions, an Instagram video and blog post is a simple way to begin excitement as you reveal your models. It may be simple, but keeping it this way makes it easy to get images and videos out quickly, making word spread about your business quicker too. The models will love the special treatment and the positive feeling they get when they are the featured model. As an extra, write all of your models a short note to tell them how much you’re looking forward to getting to know them better in the coming year.

Starting to build uniqueness for your brand through your models and treating each model special will begin to help word spread. Continue to build relationships with your models and find fun ways, like using video, to introduce them as part of your team. You’ll see how their excitement is contagious.