We recently connected with Christian Proscia and have shared our conversation below.

Christian, appreciate you joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

I am a Photo-Journalist and writer for New Era Prep. New Era Prep is a local sports media company based out of South Florida that covers high school, college and professional sports. We cover high school sports throughout Palm Beach County, the Treasure Coast, Broward and Miami Dade County. This upcoming 2023-2024 school year, we are expanding our coverage into the Orlando area.

When New Era Prep first started in 2017, we primarily covered high school sports. As time went on and our brand grew, we expanded to NCAA sports. Recently, we have been able to cover large sporting events including the 2023 NFL Combine, multiple College Football Bowl Games, the 2023 NCAA Final 4, and the MLB Regular Season.

What sets New Era Prep apart from other media outlets is we highlight and promote the successes of our student athletes, both on the field or court, as well as in the classroom and the community.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I personally started my career in the digital arts in the spring of 2020. At the time, I was a sophomore in high school at The King’s Academy in West Palm Beach. During the Spring semester, I enrolled in a Media Broadcasting class. In this class, I helped produce the morning announcements for my school that aired every Friday. Right before lockdown, I had a good understanding of how to use a camera, and how to edit.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, I found my dad’s camera as we were cleaning the house. Since there was nothing else to do, I began practicing photography and videography on anything I could find. This is where I truly fell in love with this field.

When school started again, the only people allowed to attend TKA athletics events were immediate family or school photographers. So, in order to support my friends, I started sports photography. Throughout the next two school years, I just kept learning and practicing doing what I loved, and providing content for the TKA athletic department, and my friends.

At the beginning of this school year, members of the New Era Prep team reached out to me via social media. They had evaluated my work for a few weeks, and then ran multiple interviews with me to see if I was a good match for the team. After a few days, they offered me a position on staff and its been an amazing experience since. I’m truly thankful for everyone’s belief in me. I know that everyone on the New Era Prep staff is 100% supportive of one another. The core value of our team is that we are a family, we all want each other to succeed no matter what.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I’ve found that the best way to build a brand on social media is through constant promotion. As a photographer, I use my Instagram account (@Christian_Proscia_Photography) as my digital portfolio. I am constantly posting on social media. I try to put up a post every day, or every other day.

Another key tool I’ve learned through working with social media is to use hashtags on your posts. It may not seem like a big thing, but when you put hashtags related to your post, theres a better chance it shows up on the explore page, which means new viewers. Tagging #Football or #Photography in the the post will be able to reach a target demographic of people who’s feed is similar to your post.

Never take down old work. I think that it is a great way to look back, and see your improvement from where you started. Sometimes it’s fun to look back at the first couple pictures and cringe a little. You notice little things that you wish you knew earlier in order to help improve the final product.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy to grow a clientele is to expand your outreach. In my field, that means covering different schools or sports. Don’t just stick to one team, expand out. At the beginning of the 2023, I had around 1,100 followers on my photography Instagram. At the time of writing this, (May 1, 2023), I am closing in on 1,700 followers.

Another way to grow your brand is through your clients reposting your work. Whenever I post pictures on Instagram, I always tag the subjects in the post. After I do that, I tell them to repost the pictures on their story so I can get more views and likes on the post. This is a simple, yet effective way to constantly grow your brand.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://neweraprep.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christian_proscia_photography/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EraPrep

Image Credits
All photos were taken by me