Maternity Photographer Social Media Example, 8 Easy Wins

Most of these case studies come from emails my readers send me. With their permission, I share them with the names changed. I do this so that others can learn from what worked and what didn't. Have a story of your own? Share it with me.

15 to 230saves a month
2 to 14DMs about sessions a month
1 to 8Instagram bookings per quarter

Her most liked post ever had 1,240 hearts and 63 “goddess” comments. It brought zero bookings.

That post is where Saoirse’s maternity photographer social media puzzle begins, in Portland, Maine.

Saoirse photographs maternity sessions on the rocky beaches south of town and in a small studio in winter.

Her Instagram looked like a gallery wall.

It was beautiful, and almost nobody messaged her.

Over three months she changed what she posted, not how often, and her inbox finally filled up.

The problem

Saoirse posted four times a week, every week.

Nearly every post was a single gallery photo with a caption like “Golden light and so much love.”

The likes were lovely. Friends, other photographers and past clients cheered her on.

Likes from the wrong people

When she looked closely, most likes came from other photographers and from people outside Maine. Very few came from pregnant women nearby.

Nothing to do next

Her posts gave readers nothing to save, send or reply to. They could admire the photo and keep scrolling. So they did.

Her bio said “Capturing your beautiful journey,” and the link went to her home page, which opened on wedding photos.

A pregnant woman who tapped through had to scroll past six weddings to find a single bump. Most didn’t bother.

Measure	Before
Saves per month	About 15
DMs about sessions per month	About 2
Profile visits per month	About 180
Bookings from Instagram per quarter	1

The solution

Saoirse decided every post would aim for one reaction. Saves, sends, tags or DMs.

Pretty galleries would still appear, but only some of the time, and always with a short story.

She planned a simple month of 12 posts.

Four helpful guides, three real sessions with a short story, two partner posts, two questions and one seasonal post.

She wrote all 12 captions on one Sunday afternoon and scheduled them, so busy weeks didn’t knock her off track.

She also rewrote her bio in three short lines and pointed the link at a maternity page with dates.

Relaxed maternity photos on the Maine coast. 22 gowns to borrow, breaks anytime. See dates below.

The rule for every caption was three lines. A hook in her client’s words, one useful sentence and one clear action.

The process that worked

She made the changes in stages, one every couple of weeks.

First, she pinned three guides

She made a carousel of her gown closet, one of what to wear on a windy beach and one called “When to book, week by week.”

All three went to the top of her grid. The gown closet carousel was saved 140 times in its first month.

Then came the partner carousel

“What partners actually do at a maternity session” showed six real partners laughing, hugging and holding coats in the wind.

The caption ended with “Send this to the person who says they hate photos.” It was sent more than anything she’d ever posted.

Next, a keyword Story

Every Wednesday she posted a Story with a gown photo and one line. “Reply GOWNS and I’ll send you the full list.”

Each reply opened a private chat. She answered personally, sent the list and asked one easy question about the woman’s due month.

Most of those chats ended with a date. Some took two weeks, but they started with one word.

After that, one collab

She teamed up with a local prenatal yoga studio on a carousel of three bump-friendly beach poses.

Instagram’s collaborative posts showed it on both profiles.

The studio had 4,000 local followers, almost all of them women, many of them pregnant.

Last, she counted differently

On the first Monday of each month, she stopped looking at likes.

She wrote down saves, sends, profile visits and DMs for every post. She also asked each new client which post made her get in touch.

The answers surprised her. Not one client named a gallery photo.

After three months, the numbers looked like this.

Measure	Before	After 3 months
Saves per month	About 15	About 230
DMs about sessions per month	About 2	About 14
Profile visits per month	About 180	About 640
Bookings from Instagram per quarter	1	8

Her likes actually dropped a little. Her bookings went up eight times.

What we learned from here

Saoirse’s numbers show that likes and bookings come from different posts.

The galleries pleased her peers.

The guides, partner posts and Stories reached pregnant women who were planning, and gave them an easy next step.

Saves were the early sign of success. Women saved the gown carousel weeks before they messaged.

The keyword Story was the bridge. Replying “GOWNS” felt tiny and safe, and it turned quiet followers into conversations.

The collab mattered too. A third of her new DMs came from women who had found her through the yoga studio.

And the three-line captions saved her time. She stopped staring at a blank box, because every caption had the same simple shape.

She now plans every month of maternity photographer social media posts around the reaction she wants first, then picks the photo.

Here’s how her posts split.

Got saved or sent	Got liked and forgotten
The gown closet carousel	A single sunset silhouette
What partners actually do	“So much love” captions
When to book, week by week	A gallery of ten photos
A windy-beach outfit guide	Gear and editing posts
The yoga studio collab	Reposted wedding photos

One idea flopped. She tried a trending audio reel with text jokes about pregnancy cravings.

It got views from all over the world and not a single local DM.

She also learned to reply fast. DMs answered within an hour booked far more often than those answered the next day.

So she turned on notifications for messages only, and switched everything else off. Her phone got quieter, and her replies got quicker.

Next she plans a monthly “ask me anything” Story for partners only, after three of them asked to send their own questions.