Quick question! Do you feel more likely to pay attention to something in the social world if there is a photo attached to it? I do! I do! Brands can let fans into their world, and give them a better taste of their personality when they share photos online. I'm going to use Twitter and Facebook in my post as an example.
Curiosity Didn't Kill the Cat...It Just Caught Its Attention
Photos are personal, and people will be able to connect with a brand when they are able to get a visual of what the brand's personality is. Twitter is one of my favourite places to go to gain a sense of what a business or brand is really like. When I see a business posting photos of their office environment I'm intrigued. I like knowing what's going on behind the scenes, and if it's something I feel I can relate to, or connect with, I'm more opted to follow them more closely.
Sharing photos with fans is also a great way to draw attention to your business. Why? Because people LOVE creeping photos. Just ask any avid Facebook user (so...basically the population of the world). If you're surfing around Facebook and happen to come across a new photo album, OMG - it's like, way more interesting than reading that status update from that guy you went to high school with. Photos draw attention. So share some!
Don't Blend In
Your streams will look way more interesting with a little visual art. You can put faces to your brand - hopefully happy ones, and a behind the scenes look at what your business really does. Sharing photos through social media is a great way to show people what you are all about - because sometimes, especially on Twitter, people are just following you for the sake of following you. And you don't want that. You want people to follow you because you have a great brand, and your followers love what you do. So get that point across with some photos.
Start Uploading, and Showcase Your Brand
The great thing is that social media is making it super easy for you to create brand awareness - so you should probably take advantage of it. Almost all social media dashboards, whether it's for your Smartphone, or your desktop, or whatever new device you're using, there's usually an option to upload a photo with a Tweet, or to share on Facebook. So - start getting visual!
Thank god I am not alone! I love checking out photos… and that cat is cute! 🙂
Images are always superb vehicles to convey a message so if you’re a brand, make a indelible point by using stunning visuals.
Great post, Caitlin, and good job adding wonderful photos to demonstrate your point! Do you have any pointers about finding pictures to use in a blog? Do you take the pictures yourself or do you grab them from sites like the Creative Comments section of Flickr? It seems to be easier to find videos on YouTube to embed in my blog than pictures to share.
Thank you to Jasmine and Sus for the comments! Much appreciated!
Carolyn:
I like finding my photos off stumble upon believe it or not. If I’m stumbling and I come across an interesting photo I’ll save it, and go through my photos later when I need one for a blog post. If I’m looking for something really specific I’ll just quickly sift through Google images and I ususally find what I need. But – videos are also a great thing to add to a blog as well, or any other social media outlet. I wouldn’t stop using those to get your point across. People like watching videos too! Thanks for your comment!
Thanks, Caitlin. I love StumbleUpon! I just blogged about StumbleUpon, it’s a wonderful site, especially for photography. Thanks for your suggestion.
Great post Caitlin! To be fair, you couldn’t have picked a better blog on which to talk about the importance of great pictures in social media…the search engine people blog continually has some of the freshest pictures to accompany its blog post.