Spirus writes:
Social media makes it very easy to share photos. Facebook, Twitter: straight from your smartphone to a global audience of millions. What’s that you say? You’ve only got a couple of hundred followers? Well that doesn’t matter, because everyone – yes, everyone – can still see your photos. A photo is more likely to be retweeted or shared than a wordy post, because it’s instant. It tells a story. And that story can be both good and bad. (Though if you’re worried about the latter, see our previous post on Reputation Management!).
Some sites exist solely for the sharing of images – Pinterest and Instagram, among others. Everyone loves a good picture, and for good reason. It’s high impact, low effort and if it’s done well, works a treat. Not all sites will be right for your business but if you’ve got products to show off, or customers with particular (p)interests you can tap into, then it might be time to think about it.
Photos are essential in marketing. No press release is complete without an arresting picture to grab attention. Entire campaigns have been hung off the back of a good picture, and your images can often be the difference between a full feature spread and a bottom corner afterthought. Or worse, no mention at all.
Think how dull the internet would be without pictures. How dull the world would be. People may moan about the proliferation of advertising, but it does help to fill the world with pretty pictures! A good photo is engaging, it can give a huge amount of information simply, it can help an audience to gauge quality (which we’ll come back to later) and from a purely practical level, it can break up reams of text to make your information easier to digest. If you had a brochure, flyer or newsletter made up of only text, how likely would you be to read it? And of course, if you’re selling a particular product, how it is pictured can be the biggest selling point of all (if you don’t believe us, think about how good fast food looks in the adverts, compared with the reality!).
But just because you can snap a winning picture at any time of day, doesn’t always mean you should. Our next post will look at when it’s OK to reach for your phone, and when you really need to call in the professionals. Because, as important as photography is for any business, making sure you use it wisely is the most important thing of all.
_______________________________________________