How to Utilize Photography in Your Social Media Strategy

Photographic content encompasses the power to influence viewers at a glance. Often paired with a witty tagline, pictures grace the covers of magazines, newspapers, and now online blogs and websites, enticing it’s onlookers to seek more. Social media networks have capitalized on this notion, constructing communities of users exchanging likes, retweets, shares, and comments like a currency. There exists a simple, unspoken equation that launches social media-savvy users to marginal success: the greater amount of followers and friends one attains, the better the likelihood of reaching a larger audience, thus more likes and shares. Depending on your social media strategy, whether it be to attract customers to your services and products or inform viewers of a new brand, the majority of social networking strategies end with the main goal of attaining a larger pool of friends and followers.

Because photographs “speak more than a thousand words” for your social media initiative, it is imperative the content within the frame is thought-provoking to viewers. The power of photography incorporated with your collection of social networks has untapped potential. Read on to learn how to utilize photography in your social media strategy and leave your viewers wanting more.

Look at the ‘Big Picture’

Before you click ‘post’ on a picture that will be shared to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, consider its content. Ask yourself these questions: what does this picture say of my company, brand, or service? Is this photo sending the right message? All images posted should contain a shared idea or aesthetic, specific to your company’s style and/or branding. Utilize filters that embody the overall ‘look and feel’ of your company or service and be consistent in your posting. Once you have a decent feed of photos on your collective networks, study the your holistic look and its vibe. This will encourage customers in remembering and associating those styles and colors with your brand! Try to go beyond the basic ideas of pictures and reach further. If your social media strategy is purely for advertising, incorporate how your service or product could be utilized in everyday life. If your main initiative is putting your brand out there, consider how your brand appears in pictures, and how your employees will be dressed. The who’s and what’s inside your picture are key in considering before you post, as they heavily impact the effects of your social media strategy.

Capturing the Photo

So you have your ‘look’ established. Now what? Because pictures on social media are easily shared, be aware of the photo’s quality. Elements such as lighting, framing, resolution, angles, and background are essential in capturing the perfect photo for your social media strategy. Lighting can either make or break a good picture, as it can associate your brand with your social networking accounts. Words to keep in mind, white balance and ISO settings, since they truly contribute to brilliant picture quality. To make for a well lit photo, try to match your white balance with that of your surrounding environment. When it comes to framing, the simple ‘rule of thirds’ helps put everything into perspective. Envision the environment and divide into thirds. Now decide where your object of capturing will reside: the far left or the far right, near the top or near the bottom. Other styles such as spreads, in which products are quite literally spread on a flat surface for advertising, work well too. Resolution is key especially when posting to several social media channels simultaneously. Shooting with a higher resolution camera will ensure an overall higher quality photo, and you won’t have to worry about grainy or blurry images. Lastly, the changing of angles is one of the easiest ways to spruce up recurring content and will add variety to your social media feed. Be creative in altering the style of the shot in order to bring life into the picture.

Timing is Everything

Certain social media networks are more popular at certain times than their competitors. Instagram, for example, is purely photos. If there is one social media account to obtain and infiltrate with your photographic content, it’s Instagram. Because of the company’s recent algorithm update is no longer providing its users with a chronological feed, deciding when to post your picture can be difficult. However, the application is found to be most populated at 7-9 AM and 4-6 in the evening any day during the week. The app’s owner on the other hand, Facebook, contains more activity beginning on Wednesday and ending on Saturday, mainly during 1-4 PM. Though Twitter may not be the initial network in mind for posting your photography, it is typically buzzing with action at the end of the work week from noon to 5 PM. These three social media channels all share a commonality in that their users are more active toward the end of the work day. Consider posting your photographic content around these times for the best exposure and output in your social media strategy.

What other tips do you have? Let us know in the comments below!