Marketing photos are crucial to building a solid social media presence. They’re the window into your brand, and what you do, so it’s essential that those pictures reflect well on your company. This list of 12 tips will help you create marketing images that are more effectively for building awareness about your brand. To stay relevant in today’s digital environment, and every company must be engaged on social media. If your organization uses social media, you’re probably regularly posting photographs to your page. Your marketing plan will benefit from images and other visual features. Finding the proper photos to upload, though, maybe difficult. Assume you wish to post at least one new photo to a social media network every day. That works up to 365 photographs every year. Many firms do not have access to such an extensive collection of original photographs. They shoot random photos and publish them on their accounts at the last minute, with no thought or effort. If you’re following a similar plan, this will be a massive issue for your company. Everything you publish with your social media followers should have a purpose. To receive the most outstanding results from your advertising, you must create high-quality content. Thankfully, contemporary technology enables you to always have a professional-quality camera in your hand or pocket. To shoot outstanding marketing photographs, you don’t need expensive equipment. All you need are some basic photography abilities and some topic ideas. Every day, Facebook receives 300 million photo uploads. Every day, 95 million photographs are posted on Instagram.
If the photographs you post on social media don’t seem professional, it will reflect poorly on your company.
Recommendations for bettering your social media marketing photographs:
1. Use grid lines to create balance.
One of the most fundamental photographic techniques to master is the rule of thirds. This approach will help you enhance the composition of your photographs and make them more aesthetically attractive. When shooting a shot with your smartphone, you may activate gridlines:
This feature aids in the application of the rule of thirds. The grid is pretty simple: it consists of two vertical and two horizontal lines that are evenly spaced. Where those lines connect, you should place your subject and anything else crucial in your shot. Everything is centered on the screen for an amateur photographer. That, however, is not tempting. You’ll get a more excellent picture with more breathing space if you use the rule of thirds. Take a look at how much free space there is in the skyline above. This draws attention to your topic. Plus, whether they know it or not, consumers are used to seeing this technique utilized in professional photography. The picture will seem less appealing when viewing a photograph without the rule of thirds in place.
2. Look for symmetry.
Another visual feature that we are naturally attracted to is symmetry. If you have the chance to capture symmetry in a picture, take advantage of it. Here’s a beautiful example of symmetry in photography:
It’s simple, yet it works. Consider what this shot might have looked like if it hadn’t been taken from this perspective. The symmetry would be lost if the camera was slightly left or right. Sure, it may seem to be a lovely image of a promenade going into a clean ocean on a sunny day. Capturing the symmetry, on the other hand, raises the picture and lifts it to a professional level. To attract the attention of your fans, your photos must stand out. It will reflect negatively on your brand if the images seem to be taken by an amateur. We both know that’s not something you want to happen.
3. Instead of zooming, crop.
Another beginner error I often see is the use of the zoom tool. Unless you’re using a professional camera, manually zooming in on a subject is a no-no. However, as I already said, such equipment is unneeded. Your smartphone will take photos that are suitable for sharing. However, if you begin zooming, the photo’s quality will suffer. Instead of zooming in, get closer to your topic. Don’t be concerned if this isn’t achievable. Take a photo from where you are and adjust the composition using the rule of thirds. After you’ve taken the shot, you may crop it to your preference. In Adobe Photoshop, here’s an example of how to accomplish it:
It would be best if you didn’t have to perform this on your PC for the most part. On your smartphone, you may crop photographs straight. Within the crop, take note of the rule of thirds. The water’s reflection is also a great touch, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
4. Make use of natural frameworks.
Another fundamental photography technique is framing your picture. No, I’m not talking about developing a photograph and storing it in a wooden box. Subjects are sometimes ideally positioned to be photographed inside the natural frames surrounding them. When you have the opportunity to employ a natural frame, make use of it. Here’s an essential photograph of a natural-framed aircraft wing:
This graphic is ideal for a variety of purposes. To begin with, if you attempt to snap the image too near the window, you’ll get a glare. Second, the wing is uninteresting on its own. The photographer improved the image’s quality by incorporating the window. The light and shadows surrounding the natural frame are also visible. Here’s the thing: if you don’t like the natural frame, you can always crop the picture to remove it, as I previously said. Keep an eye out for natural frames like trees, fences, bridges, archways, or anything else that gives a similar framing effect while shooting a shot.
5. Search for refractions.
When I spoke about cropping, I discussed it briefly. Taking images of reflections may give your photos a distinct perspective. Take a look at the following sample from Todo Bien Tours:
In southern California, Todo Bien offers private seaside bus trips. They want to show off their bus to their social media following. They employ a reflection to capture the sea and shoreline during a sunset, rather than simply providing a dull photo of the bus. It’s a unique approach to demonstrate your photographic abilities. It would be pretty simple to take a photo of simply the bus or just the sunset. However, catching both in a window reflection takes this campaign to new levels.
6. Take pictures of repeated patterns.
Patterns, like symmetry, are an excellent method to draw your audience’s attention. Finding the appropriate pattern may sometimes be as simple as photographing from the proper angle and viewpoint. For example, take a look at this image of bicycle wheels:
This pattern is not visible from other angles. The pattern would be different if you took a step back and photographed these bikes from above or front. It would seem to be nothing more than a row of bicycles. Yes, the topic may still be appropriate for your marketing campaign, but this method may enhance it.
7. Invest in a tripod and amount for your smartphone.
To produce high-quality photographs for your social media campaigns, I previously said that you don’t need a professional camera or pricey equipment. However, investing in anything simple, such as a tripod and smartphone mount, can’t harm. The tripod will enable you to take pictures without holding the camera in your hands. It also aids in the leveling of the photograph. You may also use this equipment to increase the distance between you and the camera while maintaining a tight and comfortable grip on your phone. Joby offers several excellent options for this:
You can find what you’re looking for on this and hundreds of other comparable websites. The majority of these are reasonably priced. For less than $50, you can get a good stand and mount. So even if you don’t use it often, it’s worth having.
8. Take a fresh look at things.
You don’t want your social media marketing photographs to be identical to those of your competitors. It’s critical for your brand to develop unique viewpoints to stand out from the pack. This example from Tropicfeel, which I spotted on their Instagram feed, is fantastic:
The image is stunning in its own right. The homes, water, and shoreline immediately draw the audience’s attention. But there’s something about this shot that’s a touch off. It’s unusual for individuals to pose with their legs and feet in this way. Usually, this would be a selfie or a landscape photograph. Tropicfeel, on the other hand, leverages this unique viewpoint to highlight its product, which in this instance is the shoes in the shot. Take a look at the subtitle. To encourage others to snap similar photos, the team established the hashtag #tropicselfeet. This is a terrific technique to come up with engaging Instagram captions. Find a distinct point of view for your company. Let’s assume you run a business that sells skateboards. Instead of photographing a man on a skateboard, you might attach a camera to the board’s nose.
9. Photograph candids.
You may not always want to photograph your merchandise. Humans are excellent subjects for social media marketing. Indeed, images with faces get 38% more likes and 32% more comments than those without them. However, your subjects don’t have to be posing all of the time. Candid photos give your brand a personal touch. Instead of posing for the camera, they depict individuals in natural settings. Check out these photographs from Thule’s Facebook page:
There isn’t a single person who is posing. The images are all candid. This works because it depicts individuals acting organically while accomplishing something. This is your chance to illustrate how your goods and services may be put to use. I also think shooting candid images of your workers is a great idea. Using images of your team to interact with your audience can establish a more genuine relationship. Your followers will see that your brand is made out of actual individuals.
10. Obtain an abstract.
Consider thinking beyond the box. I’m sure you’re aware of how many photos fill your followers’ timelines daily. They’ll keep scrolling if your marketing photographs don’t pop off the page at them. Like this one from the Allbirds Instagram feed, abstract photographs are a terrific way to get people’s attention.
Tree Runners are a series of sneakers by Allbirds. Many of their articles include nature and various tree photographs. This is undoubtedly one of the most distinctive photographs on the brand’s page. It’s a piece of art painted on the trunk of a fallen tree. The artwork on this unusual canvas is a natural landscape with trees. A social media user may not recognize what they’re looking at first sight. But it’s more than enough to bring them to a halt and force them to investigate deeper.
11. Be amusing.
Don’t take yourself so seriously. Okay, specific industries need a higher level of seriousness than others. You definitely shouldn’t be making jokes on social media if your firm specializes in services like financial investments or funerals. However, there aren’t many brands like that. Don’t be scared to snap a hilarious picture for your social media campaigns if your organization provides items or services to a target audience that enjoys a good laugh.
In fact, after viewing a hilarious message from a company on social media, 36% of customers are motivated to make a purchase. A funny picture may do a lot more for you than increase interaction. This method has the potential to result in sales. Just make sure you steer clear of contentious issues. Making jokes about politics or religion is not something I advocate. Such images might be detrimental to your brand. Keep it lighthearted while being professional.
12. Don’t follow the crowd.
How can you make your social media marketing photographs pop off the page? You want people to exclaim, “Wow!” when they read your postings. Leave them speechless. Here’s an example from the Instagram account of Vuori:
This is a commercial for men’s swimwear. A common suggestion is to share a photo of the swim trunks. That’s tedious. Another option is to show a model wearing or swimming in a bathing suit. But, once again, that’s tedious. It’s standard, and consumers expect companies to publish in this manner. Do you know what’s out of the ordinary? A man is wearing such shorts plunging from a cliff into the sea. This photograph is fantastic. It’s the kind of post that will catch people’s attention on social media.
Conclusion
You should pay greater attention to the quality of your marketing photographs if you want to conduct effective social media campaigns. Don’t worry, and you won’t have to spend a lot of money or pay someone to do it for you. Without employing a professional, taking and editing pictures is simple. To get started on the correct path, all you need are some fundamental photography abilities. Decide what kinds of photographs will appeal to your target audience on various sites after that. Use this guide to get ideas for your following marketing photographs.
Related Tags
- social media photography best practices
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- how to take product photos with iPhone