(please move this to real-life issues if more fitting)

I am a Full-time Photographer and I have been debating with myself if I should spend more money on expanding my social media precence.

I started my photography in 2010 and believe it or not back then the biggest way to promote your photography business was definitely word-of-mouth. So you would do one or two good shoot and people would tell others. If you were starting out maybe you would spend some money and publish in a magazine.. What actually brought most of my clients was going to wedding venues and introducing myself. I would then leave business cards and the venue owner or manager would suggest me to the couples that would come see the venue. Firstly the number of photographers were far less nad it was the main way of finding a photographer. Instagram, I don't think even existed and Facebook was still in the beginning stage. If you had a website you were already a step ahead of the rest.

Currently, I have a little more than 5k Facebook followers and only 1k Instagram. I always thought that word-of -mouth would always be the best method of getting costumers but now I feel like even if you are recommended by the venue and other vendorsm the younger generation, would first look you up on Facebook and Instagram and see if you have a lot of followers. Am I right to think that?

Now I am thinking is it really worth spending money to get a huge following. Is it one of the main concerns for people looking maybe specifically for a photographer? And then is Facebook and Instgram the right ones. How do you know if you should not concentrate on Pintrest? Ir that another big thing will turn up in a month or two. It is basically impossible to concentrate on more than two social platforms. Well even two is actualy proving a lot .
Then where should money be spent?

1. Should you be hiring a consultant?
2. Should you be buying followers? There are people that promise organic floowers. IS this legit? Although it seems to be a very slow process.
3. Should you be running paid ads on Facebook and Instagram? Or other social media?

(you need an account to see links)

I can tell you now I dont even make $200 a day so I cant spend that on social media marketing. I can probably do $100 a month.