The world of online marketing and promotions has seen many changes and shifts in its long existence. Still, the most significant changes occurred with Social Media showing up and overtaking the number 1 position as the most effective advertising tool.
Although for an average Joe or a plain Jane Social Media represents a place for entertainment, memes, cute kitty and puppy videos, posting pictures and counting the likes… we observe it from a very different perspective because of the potential it possesses. The formula is simple. If you are not active on Social Media, you are pretty much dead, and you definitely won’t achieve the results you crave if you don’t have good content that will spread the word and raise awareness about your business.
It is clear that Social Media users are active in billions, with millions of new users joining the party every day.
With so many eyes observing our every move, it’s up to us to use this advantage and create good content to serve its purpose. Of course, having playful and creative captions is an extremely important segment of every posting, here are a few stats pulled straight from nerd’s pockets to help you understand how much more important a picture is:
- Posts that include images generate 4.4 times more engagement opposing to posts with text only
- Images raise the appetite of users for content reading by 80%
- 91% of users prefer visual content over written content
- An average person gets distracted in 3 to 8 seconds, and photos are much less time consuming than text.
When you observe these statistics, they don’t look that nerdy, do they? I could whoop out at least a dozen more, but the general idea has been passed on with image importance proven both logically and mathematically. But don’t be deceived; only including a photo in your posts doesn’t guarantee to skyrocket your engagement, likes, shares, and traffic because there are some rules, tricks, and patterns that you need to follow in order to achieve greatness.
Without further ado, let’s get into five things to take care of when preparing images for Social Media:
1. Size matters!
When you were scrolling your feed, did you ever stumbled upon a hideous visual with dimensions being completely out of order? That can attract your attention only with its negative features, which is surely something you don’t want to achieve. Before posting, you always need to make sure that you cropped the image properly, and be careful because posting on different SM requires different dimensions:
- Facebook:
Profile photo: 180×180
Cover Photo: 850×315
Ad: 1200×630
- Instagram:
Profile photo: 400×400
Post: 1080 wide x 566-1350 high
Story: 1080×1920
- Twitter:
Profile photo: 400×400
Post: 1200×600
Header: 1500×500
Those are the ideal measurements that you want to aim for, but since perfection isn’t always a possibility, make sure that you stay close to that region.
2. Edit your photos
Alongside resizing, editing your photos is a very important step before posting on SM. The lighting may be a bit off; you might want to sharpen the photo, add it a little bit of contrast or saturation… In the end, it could turn out to be a very fun process that can, without a doubt, make a difference. If you aren’t sure which editing tool to use, I suggest resizemyimg.com.
It’s fairly simple, it offers various filters and effects, resizing options and all kinds of gimmicks that you can play around with, and it’s free to use, of course. You don’t need to be an expert editor to fulfill this step; you just need a little bit of creativity and patience (and if you are a male, a simple method that I often use is ask a female of her opinion because let’s face it – when it comes to decorations and an eye for finesse, they are waaay ahead).
3. Know your audience/let the insights guide you.
Regardless of your respective field, you should always use your audience’s point of view and adjust your posting to their interests. You might’ve found an amazing stock photo or took one yourself, but if something similar didn’t work in the past, it probably wouldn’t work in the future either. That’s why you always need to poke around the insights and compare the results to get a good general image of your standing point. Don’t be afraid to post polls or other similar interactive concepts until you find your tune and make both you and your audience happy.
4. Everyone is on their mobile phone!
Smartphones are slowly but surely beating desktops with the website’s incoming traffic, and it raises as we speak. When it comes to SM, portable devices are clear winners, which is why it’s so important to optimize your content for mobile phones. Keep the images simple and eye-catching with bright colors. The text, whether it’s in captions or on the image, should be straightforward and short. In addition, if you use advertising, your landing pages should also be mobile friendly to hit that sweet spot of digital marketing.
5. Keep up with the trends
Social Media is evolving daily, and as hard as it can keep up, it’s mandatory if you want to stay on top of your game and make engaging posts that will attract everyone’s attention. Every platform (especially Instagram) invents new tools and tricks (for example, see how to use the LinkedIn homepage to boost your brand), and the sooner you notice them and get the hang of them, the more success your post will have. It’s always a great idea to find influencers and pages that produce appealing content to inspire yourself and learn new skills that will excel through your work. Keeping up with the trends → one step ahead of your competition.
Overall
People are visual beings, and if something appears to be visually appealing and it „tells a story“ they will remember it much easier, especially comparing it to hearing or reading. Images keep interested, build identity, and, if done properly, bring you a lot of engagement, traffic, likes, clicks, shares, and ultimately make your product memorable and unique. Follow and apply these simple steps and make your pages across all Social Media platforms awesome!