Pictures speak to people. About 60,000 times faster than words do, as the cliche goes. If you want your business to speak to people, then it’s time to stop sharing half-hearted pics to social media.
Here are tips you can start using to improve your social media photos right now, for free. All you need is your cell phone and your creative brain.
Take Social Media Photos Like A Pro
#1: Be Authentic
Be authentic in your photos. People don’t like to be sold to all the time. Their main goal on social isn’t to shop, it’s to connect with people. Don’t be afraid to share pics of your team goofing around, of your favorite customers, of whatever’s exciting in the office that day. Authenticity is worth a lot.
#2: Use The Rule of Thirds
Composing your photo well can help make it more visually appealing to your audience. When deciding the layout of the elements in your picture, the rule of thirds is a good starting point.
Divide your photo up into thirds horizontally and vertically and make sure that the most important elements of your photo fall along those lines.
Bonus? Your phone can pretty much do this for you. Just turn on grid lines in your phone’s camera app. In an iPhone, go to settings, then photos and camera, and turn the grid on. If you’re an Android user, open the camera app, go to settings, and scroll down to find the grid lines option and turn it on.
#3: Keep it Simple
Clutter is stressful. Choosing clean backgrounds and a clear subject can help make your photos much more enjoyable to look at.
#4: When In Doubt, Go Landscape
Your modern desktop is wider than it is tall. When a person on a mobile phone wants to view a pic full-screen, they’ll turn their phones horizontally for a closer look. Unless you’ve got a super good reason to take a photo in portrait mode, use landscape mode.
We’ll let you take photos and video for an Instagram or Facebook story in portrait mode, but that’s it.
#5: Mind Your Lighting
As great as modern cell phone photos are, they still leave a lot to be desired in the lighting department. Whenever you can, try to use natural lighting.
For extra credit, shoot for the hours before and after sunrise and sunset. That’s what photographers are talking about when they refer to “the golden hour.”
#6: Take Multiple Photos
As every good selfie-taker knows, sometimes you have to take a bajillion photos for one to turn out just right. Don’t just snap one, snap a bunch. Grab some from different angles. That way you can go back later and pick your favorites.
#7: Don’t Be Afraid to Edit
You don’t want to over-edit your photos, but making a few creative tweaks can really improve a picture. Adjusting shadows and highlights, for example, can really help the color of your photo. You could also go back and add your logo subtly to an image to keep your business on people’s minds.
We’re big fans of Canva for editing quickly!
(If you’re worrying about losing your #nofilter cred, don’t worry… we won’t tell anyone.)
#8: Make Sure You’re Posting the Right Size
The prettiest photo in the world won’t make much of an impact if your subject’s head is cut off. Don’t forget to format your photos correctly for the social platform you’re posting to.
#9: Don’t Forget the Text
An impactful photo should make people want to take action. Take the time to write compelling text to go with your image and invite your reads to act by clicking through to your site, leaving a comment, etc.
Taking the time to make sure you’re taking beautiful photos will make improving your company’s social media presence a snap. (Geddit? Snap?)
If you want to go beyond social media photos and craft a detailed marketing strategy for your business, learn more about our social media marketing services!