Did you know according to Facebook, yes the giant itself, you can generate up to 100% more engagement through image based posts? Another study found branded image sharing can grow your social reach up to 10x (Social Media Marketing Industry report from Social Media Examiner).
We see more entrepreneurs taking advantage of images today. Many are not as effective as they could be because they don’t follow a few basic guidelines. Get the most form your social media by following these tips:
- Your image should be related to the text of your post. Sounds like a no brainer right? But some people miss this completely or use images that are only loosely related. A recent example I observed was a post about parenting teens with a picture of toddlers. If the post had a picture of teens, at a glance I would have had an idea what the post was about and, because I have teens, it would have received my attention.
- Text within the image should be legible. Doesn’t it drive you nuts when you have to decipher the message on an image? Fancy fonts might look great but if you can’t read them it doesn’t matter how interesting they are.
- Your image should be visually appealing and attention grabbing. This doesn’t mean the subject of your image has to be appealing. An image that makes your audience say, “Oh Gross!” can be very effective in getting attention.
- Know what size image works best on each platform. If your image does not display correctly, you will lose some of its effectiveness. In addition, very large images may take too long to load or not load at all.
- Your image should be branded. The branding can be your logo or simply your url (such as HITVirtual.com). The primary purpose is if your image is separated from your post, your brand will still direct people back to you. This can happen easily on the net if someone shares your image. Since your branding is within the image, it keeps working for you.
Following these five tips will improve the effectiveness of your images on the web. You should include images on all your blogs and most social media posts to grow your engagement and increase your social reach.
Need branded images for your social media posts? Contact us about our image packages. Basic package includes 20 branded images for $100.
