When it comes to promoting your business, a picture really is worth a thousand words. Whether your goal is to recruit new members, entice donors or sell more pizzas, authenticity is a powerful and effective form of persuasion. Engaging social media photography provides a boost to your brand’s authenticity.
According to Marketing Sherpa, the average online adult user is between the ages of 18 and 34, and these users are most likely to follow a brand via social networking (95%). In basic terms: If your brand isn’t social, you’re already failing. Getting your brand, product or services in front of this key demographic is easiest through engaging social media content.
Unfortunately, not all of us are naturals when it comes to figuring out which visuals are best for showcasing on social media or how to do it. If you’re someone who is struggling with capturing eye-catching images for your feeds, take these tips to heart and start snapping.
1. Pick an Interesting Subject
Images are the first thing people notice about your social media post, so it is important to engage them instantly. Crafting visually exciting images that focus on what makes your business or product special and different is the best way to captivate audiences from the get-go. Think: happy, engaged employees; a delicious, juicy cheeseburger; a gorgeously adorned conference room full of board members as they make critical decisions. What makes your business unique and worthy of public interest? That’s what you should be including in your social media feeds.
2. Keep It Simple
You don’t always need several people, multiple props, and elaborated staging to get an engaging photo. In fact, the most effective images are often the simplest ones that capture genuine energy and action. Put yourself in the average scroller’s shoes – because let’s face it, you’re a frequent scroller in your downtime as well. Are you more likely to engage with content that has been carefully curated from a collection of stock photos or has been created using a series of images showing actual volunteer activity and community giving? Better yet, are you more likely to apply for a job at a company that advertises using photos with big branded logos over happy-looking models in work spaces or the one that shows diverse employees engaged in a creative brainstorming session? Would you rather stay at a hotel that boasts an Olympic-sized pool without showing any pictures of guests enjoying it or one with a playful Instagram showing real faces and real relaxation taking place? To put it in simpler terms: You know what intrigues you about company-produced content, so recreate the same vibe with your own uniquely branded twist.
3. Try a New Perspective
Any good photographer knows that you’ve got to think big to get a perfect shot, meaning contorting your body or climbing on tables to get just the right angle. So, when you feel like showcasing your award-winning strategies or reaching a new demographic, try doing it in a new, exciting way. Stand on a chair in the back of a classroom to get the perfect overhead shot of a keynote speaker addressing seminar attendees; get a closeup of the technology that makes your organization stand out and thrive; or broadcast live from an important event to show the real-time energy and enthusiasm of participants.
4. Get Outside Help and Perspective
No matter how many photos you take, sometimes it takes an expert marketing eye to know just the right shot to choose. Even more importantly, sometimes it takes a creative wordsmith to sell the photo. If you’re a small or large business owner who wants to create an engaging social media presence, without having to take on all the work and creative-thinking yourself, outsourcing your social media marketing strategy is the way to go. You know how to run your organization, but professional social media consultants know how to market it.
At Enterprise Iowa, we know that time is limited for most business leaders. Whether you’re operating a restaurant in your local community or managing various clients at your brand new accounting firm, fitting in time to successfully plan and execute a social media strategy often just isn’t feasible. That’s why we work with clients to identify opportunities on social media and implement with content that invites lots of likes, comments and clicks from your customers. Send us a message if you’d like to set up a meeting to talk about how we can help elevate your social media strategy to better meet your business objectives.
