We’ve all heard this phrase. We might have used it. “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Do we remember this when posting an image on our social media pages?

Having worked with photographers for a while, I picked up some of their picky habits when looking at photographs. Colour, brightness, background, cropping, positioning… I’d like to think I know a good photo when I see it. Of course, there’s so much more than the quality of a photo, like the subject, the action, the emotion it brings when we first glance at it.

I was looking at a Facebook page today, feeling frustrated at the admin for posting such dull, grainy and uneventful photos. The product was left of one of the photos and set back, tiny compared to the background, which could have been cropped.  The photo was dark, which could have been brightened.  At least they were posting photos and their page was populated, but I wondered if they were wasting their time with poor quality images. If you’re not going to do something properly, why do it at all? In this case, a great image would be so powerful.

How important do you rate posting a great image on your business page? When you’re next scrolling through Facebook or Instagram, take note. What are you stopping to look at? What catches your eye? Then scroll back to the top and count how many photos, images or videos you scrolled straight past not even noticing. Now. Again, how important is a great image? How many wasted time have page managers spent time on, missing opportunities?

Keep in mind when you post your photo, particularly on Instagram that you only have one chance to catch a person’s eye. People are not going to read your painstakingly written description and emotion evoking text about your product or service if they don’t stop at your amazing photograph, illustration or video first. Who has time today to read everything that comes through our feeds? Who wants to? Luckily for us, Facebook and Instagram filter everything that comes into our news feed, taking into account our searches, what we spend time on and preferences of what you do and don’t stop to look at. So a post hits our feed because it’s relevant to us, but if the photo, video or illustration is uninteresting, we’ll keep scrolling through until something does catch our eye. It’s the same for paid posts. We will waste our money if people don’t stop to look at our paid post or advert if the visual isn’t all that appealing. Facebook just guarantees they’ll deposit our ad in news feeds of people who may be interested, not that people will look at it. That’s up to us

Once upon a time, we only had one chance to get it right.  We’d advertise in of the major newspapers, or print flyers for letterbox drops, whatever our preference and budget, and our photo needed to be spectacular.  We wouldn’t use our own low res, dull and out of focus picture, we’d get a professional in. They’d produce a few wonderful photographs; we’d choose one that best that portrayed our product or service and hope our investment brought in huge sales because these forms of advertising are really expensive, right? So why, now when we have endless opportunities to reach our target market at very low costs, do we think it’s ok to post a photo no one will look at?  Do we really think we’ll get another chance at first impressions?

Make the most of every opportunity you have to reach your clients. It’s a huge effort to gain the right page followers.  Don’t give them a reason to leave you before they’ve had a chance to find out how amazing you truly are because your photos are substandard.

Here are eight powerful tips for a great image:

1. Frame your photo properly, if you can’t at the time of taking the photo, crop it. Don’t take a photo of a shoe on a stand or the floor and it’s so tiny we don’t really know if that’s what you intended to show. Make it stand out…. don’t let me wonder what’s on the shelf behind it and lose focus on the shoe? – Try the Rule of Thirds – the subject isn’t centred in the image. Instead, the main focal point is a bit off to one side. Using the rule of thirds draws the viewer’s eye into the composition, instead of just glancing at the centre.
2. Make sure your background is appropriate for your product or service and not too distracting. If you’re a boutique, don’t take your photo in front of an iron or pile of unhung clothing.  A gardener, make sure there aren’t any puddles, tools strewn around the ground in the landscape you’re showing off. A restaurant, make sure the surroundings are pristine because we can enlarge a photo and see what’s in the background (yes, we can do that on Instagram now). Show yourself in the very best light (excuse the pun).
3. If you’re using a smartphone, you can adjust the light prior to taking the photo, or you can edit the brightness, contrast etc.. before you post it on the phone.  You can edit photos from Facebook and Instagram if you don’t have time to edit the photos before posting. Plenty of opportunities to crop, brighten… make them as appealing as possible.
4. If you are going to take a lot of small product shots, invest in a great camera, background cube and some lighting. A small course in photography would also help the final look of your images. 
5. Make sure your photos are the right size for each type of media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter… they all require sizes so that they show the whole image without the user having to click on it or cut off automatically. Try using Canva. This is a web-based program that’s very easy to use. You can add text, other images and edit your photos from this program.
6. Live videos. Centre yourself unless you’re deliberately showing something behind you.  If you’re sitting at your desk, we don’t need to see 20% you and 80% your office, kitchen, factory or garden if we need to concentrate on what you’re trying to convey verbally, because I guarantee I will be distracted by your surroundings.
7. Your photo may not be all about your business, eg., I’ll occasionally post a photo of my faithful work companion …. my dog, Harvey… the photo needs to be the best quality possible, interesting and eye-catching and have a description of why you’re posting about your dog.  It doesn’t hurt to show your followers the human (and in this case .. my dog) side of the person they will be dealing directly with. (Maybe read my blog “Putting Your Best Foot Forward“ so that you don’t show too much of the human behind the business).
8. Be bold, interesting and think outside of the box when taking photographs.  Who wants’ to see a lonely photo of a shoe sitting on a box. If it’s a bike shoe, hang them from a cool bike… or off a gorgeous bike rider!! 

If your Social Media Manager is asking you for photos, use these tips.  We may be able to edit some of the photos you provide, but it can be time-consuming and if the photo isn’t great to start with, we may not be able to do much with it… that’s wasted time for both you and your manager.

Consider getting a professional photographer in to take a range of different photos.  Ask for a variety so that you can not only use them for advertising, you have a great selection for further use. Hey, while you’re at it, get a professional profile photograph taken at the same time. This is a vital investment so that you’re making the most of your opportunities to reach your current and potential clients.

So, do it right. Do it well and call me to help you do it better.