Being Visible on Social Media

Why it matters more than people think

A private account cannot work if you're serious about this. That's not an opinion, it's how the industry operates day to day, and it's worth understanding properly rather than finding out the hard way. Casting directors, bookers, and brands check before they contact you, and what they find, or don't find, affects the decision there and then. This isn't a future possibility, it's already standard practice across the industry.

The single most important rule: a private account cannot work for this. Photographers might have the patience to send a follow request and wait for a reply. Agencies and casting directors do not. They're looking at a large number of people under time pressure, and a locked profile is simply skipped rather than followed up on. There's no malice in it, they just move to the next person they can see straight away.

This is one of the more overlooked reasons a promising model doesn't get contacted, not a lack of talent or the wrong look, just being invisible at the exact moment someone went looking.

The two-account approach, on Instagram

Instagram is the platform agencies, bookers, and casting directors check first, so it's the one worth getting right. The practical solution most people land on is two accounts, one personal and private, for people who know you, one public and professional, for work. That way you're findable without surrendering your private life to strangers, and the people hiring you see a focused body of work rather than holiday photos and nights out.

Some people prefer to keep one account and simply run it publicly. That's fine too. What isn't workable is being serious about this while being impossible to look at. TikTok is worth having alongside Instagram if you can manage it, since it shows movement and personality in a way static images can't, but Instagram remains the one to prioritise if you can only manage one.

Worth doing on the professional Instagram account:

• Keep it public, always, this is the one non-negotiable
• Use a name people can find and remember, your actual name works best
• Prioritise quality over volume, a small strong feed beats a large mediocre one
• Show range, the same variety principle that applies to a portfolio
• Credit the photographers and creatives you work with, the industry notices and it's simply good practice
• Keep contact or agency details in the bio so someone interested knows exactly where to go

What to actually post

A professional account doesn't need to be a highlight reel of a curated life, it needs to be evidence of range and consistency. Genuine portfolio images, behind-the-scenes moments from real sessions, and the occasional natural, unfiltered shot all do more work than a feed that only shows heavily edited final images.

• Post the work you're proud of, not everything you've shot
• Mix polished portfolio images with natural, current shots, both matter
• Tag photographers, stylists, and brands correctly on every upload
• Avoid heavy filters on anything meant to represent your actual look
• Keep it updated, an inactive account reads almost as badly as a private one

Having somewhere to actually send people

Instagram shows range in small pieces, but it's worth having one link where your full portfolio lives in one place, something you can drop into a bio, an email, or a DM without someone having to scroll through months of posts to see your range. It doesn't need to be expensive or complicated.

• A shared Google Drive folder with your best images, enough to start with
• A free Canva page built as a simple portfolio layout
• A proper personal website, worth building once you've got enough images to justify it

Whichever you use, put the link in your Instagram bio. It's the single easiest upgrade to how findable and professional your online presence looks. See Portfolio, Polaroids & Comp Cards for what should be in that link once you've got it.