6 Tips on Using Social Media Photos for Digital Marketing

Do you want to increase engagement on your social media channels and boost your number of likes and follows? Do you find that you’re just not getting the amount of attention that you expect? You may need to start looking at the quality of the photos you’re posting.

Read on to learn for our top six tips on how to use social media photos for your brand’s digital marketing strategy!

Know Your Audience

The first tip to utilizing social media photos the best way possible is to have a good grasp of your audience. This means you should know even small demographic details such as their:

• Age
• Gender
• Hometown
• Interests
• Occupations
• Home Life

By knowing your target audience, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions when it comes to choosing photos that they’ll respond to. For instance, if your target audience is mainly teenagers, you’ll want to feature teens in your photos with people instead of adults.

The same is true if your demographic was 45 years old and up. Communicate with customers in a language that they can understand.

Stay Consistent

You’ll also want to tailor your photos and videos so that both your posting schedule and the aesthetic of your feed is consistent. For instance, choose a posting schedule that works for you so that you’re not burning out and grasping for new content. You can even automate that schedule so that you’re constantly working ahead.

Next, you’ll want to choose photos and content that have a consistent style. It helps to have knowledge of your brand identity and your target audience. Consider elements that make up your brand identity, such as:

• Color palette
• Typography
• Personality
• Voice

For example, if your brand has a “flirty and fun” voice and has a color palette of oranges and pinks, you’ll want to choose or take photos with the same elements. By consistently posting photos in-line with your brand on your social media channels, you’ll develop an impactful looking feed while new customers become more familiar and trusting of your business.

Create Value

Besides showcasing your brand consistently, you also want to choose or take photos that give your viewers value. Value can change depending on the purpose of your post, but typically there are a few goals:

• To entertain
• To inform
• To educate
• To relate

For instance, entertaining your audience can come in the form of photos that feature quotes or jokes. Informing or educating your audience is all about sharing the benefits of your products or services through product photography. Lastly, relating to your audience is all about connecting with them on an emotional level through stories.

Behind-the-scenes photos can give your customers a view of your daily life and help them relate to you on a human level. They can also give a view of the kind of lifestyle you’re trying to give customers.

Study Composition

If you’re taking photos yourself or finding them on a stock photography site, you need to pay attention to the colors, content, as well as the composition of the photo. The composition is an invaluable element of photography because it helps draw a viewer’s eye across the frame and engages them.

Photography with poor composition won’t be able to communicate the subject well. Your viewers won’t understand it, or they won’t feel drawn to engage with it by leaving a like or a comment.

Here are a few elements that go into a photograph with good composition:

• Symmetry
• Patterns
• Rule of thirds
• Texture
• Depth of field
• Lines

Pay attention to each of these elements. Remember that a photo doesn’t need to utilize all compositional tools to become an engaging photo. Instead, look for photos that master one or two of them in order to draw interest.

Simplicity

The photos you choose also need to have simplicity–both in content and in purpose. For instance, if the photos you choose look chaotic or have more than one subject, this can confuse casual viewers who are scrolling on their phones and don’t have the time to pause and scrutinize your content.

Photos with clear subjects and clear messaging are especially suitable for mobile phone viewing and social media channels because of people’s short attention spans. For instance, if you want to showcase your product or service, make sure that either the product or action you’re showing is completely in the frame.

On the other hand, if you want a behind-the-scenes photo, make sure that there’s a clear action taking place or a portrait of one person.

Organization

Last but not least, you need to stay organized in order to create an effective social media marketing campaign. This will enable you to plan ahead and schedule your posts so that you’re staying consistent and never running behind. Consider organizing your photos into separate folders depending on their subject or style, such as:

• Behind the scenes
• Products
• Lifestyle
• Inspirational
• Educational

It’s also important to know how to organize photos on Mac versus on Windows since both operating systems bring different functions to the table.

Engaging Social Media Photos for Your Brand

Choosing and taking the right social media photos needs some thought and planning. Instead of just choosing photos that draw your eye, you need to have a good understanding of your target audience and what imagery speaks to them instead.

Photos need to be consistent with the rest of your branding, and they also need to provide value. This means clear photos of how your products or services work. You can also connect with your customers on a human level by providing behind the scenes photos of your business.

Ready to learn more ways to create an engaging social media marketing strategy? Keep reading our blog for more tips and tricks!