Are you sharing compelling images across social networks?
Do you want more engagement and traffic from your efforts?
If you’re not regularly sharing images that resonate with your audience, you’re missing out on a ton of engagement.
In this article you’ll
discover the essential elements of shareable images that increase engagement and drive traffic to your website.
Why Use Images to Drive Social Engagement?
People are drawn to visual content and
take action based on its subtle cues faster than any other medium–faster than text, audio or video.
The power of pictures isn’t restricted to image-centric platforms like
Pinterest and
Instagram. Visuals are attracting attention and driving engagement across all social networks. Even
LinkedIn and
Twitter are getting in on the action and showcasing images.
All
of the major social networks are highlighting visual content. Brands
that can leverage the power of original, optimized images are getting
noticed.
If you’re worried you need a graphic designer or special
skills, don’t be. In this article I’ll introduce you to the tools you
need and the five essential elements of shareable, traffic-driving
images that you can include in your marketing plan today.
#1: Give Your Audience What They Need
If you want to encourage engagement and shares, your images have to
appeal directly to your target audience.
Create images and infographics that either
solve a problem or inspire your community to take action. Images that
give short, instantly actionable advice are highly shareable. Quick tips, how-to’s, quotes and fun facts are all very popular.
Social media expert
Kim Garst
matches audience expectations with useful tips by regularly posting
images with social media advice and tagging them with #biztip.
Her
community shares these problem-solving tips like wildfire, which
results in an exceptionally high organic engagement rate on Facebook.
Creating an image with a useful tip makes for an instantly shareable piece of content.
How-to images have also proven to be a powerful way to
encourage sharing and engagement on blogs or social platforms, especially Pinterest. Australian stylist and blogger Nikki Parkinson from
Styling You uses this type of image well.
She
often posts a clever mix of photos and text overlays to demonstrate a
process. She created this highly pinnable image to show how to do makeup
in 2 minutes.
How-to images are highly shareable on Pinterest.
What
makes this image so attractive are the original photos, text overlays,
numbering and step-by-step instructions. Embedding this type of image in
her blog posts makes those articles immediately eye-catching and
pinnable.
If you decide to
create a how-to image, you can garner even more engagement (and blog traffic) if you
upload it to Instagram, and
share it across all social media platforms.
Don’t
forget quotes! On any social platform, quotes are one of the most
shareable types of image. If you decide to go this route,
focus on being inspiring or helpful to get the most engagement.
Your first instinct may be to share quotes on Facebook (and that’s not a bad idea), but have you considered Instagram?
Mastin Kipp, founder of The Daily Love, posts a mix of behind-the-scenes images and inspirational quotes on Instagram with great success.
Simple, branded quotes create an emotional connection with your audience and are highly shareable.
Finally, funny photos are always a winner on social media, but what about fun facts?
Combining a fun fact with a beautiful image is a great way to create shareable content and engage your audience.
Tourism Australia pairs highly engaging images with little-known facts about Australia and shares them on its
Google+ profile. Fans love it and respond by sharing the information with their friends!
Tourism Australia has tailored its image strategy to its Google+ audience with informative, beautiful images!
#2: Be Consistent and Quick
Facebook reach has gotten a lot of attention lately and sharing images continues to boost organic reach and engagement. Do you want to
skyrocket shares for your images? Then be timely!
There are two ways to leverage the power of timeliness to make your images more shareable: consistency and fast action.
A
consistent approach to sharing images should be a part of every brand’s
social media marketing tactics. To get started, simply
post an image at the same time every day.
For example, each day food blogger Bianca Slade of
Wholefood Simply
posts amazing images on her Facebook page. She shares her wheat-free,
dairy-free, sugar-free creations and asks a simple question: “Have you
tried it?”
The result has sent foodie fans around the world into a
frenzy, excitedly sharing Bianca’s creations. They’ll even bypass the
news feed and go straight to her Facebook page to check out the recipe
she posts at the end of the day (that includes me, guilty as charged!).
Tease your fans back to your Facebook page or website with captivating images on Facebook.
But
Bianca doesn’t stop there. She leverages her engagement and includes
her fans in the decision-making process for the recipe of the day.
Ask your fans to give their two cents by using an image.
For one of the best examples of timeliness, look no further than Oreo. You’ve probably seen the
famous tweet that Oreo
sent out during the 2013 Super Bowl. The marketing team acted swiftly
during a power outage, posting a well-timed tweet before the power came
back on. It was perhaps one of the most quick-witted acts of marketing
on social media to date.
Oreo scored a touchdown with their famous quick-witted Tweet.
Of course, Oreo has a team of people at the ready to
jump on these kinds of opportunities. But that doesn’t mean small businesses can’t do it too.
Keep an eye out for new updates to products or services in your niche. Those updates are important news for your customers!
In the example below, Facebook expert
Amy Porterfield acted quickly to share news about a new Facebook feature by posting a simple screenshot from a blog post at
Duct Tape Marketing.
Screenshots provide instantly shareable images—a great way to quickly announce breaking news.
By
using a shareable screenshot with a link to the original article, Amy
added value to her community, brought engagement to her page and drove
traffic to Duct Tape Marketing’s blog.
Of course, you don’t have to wait for breaking news to make a splash. With a little planning, you can
be ready for popular upcoming events and
release images at the start of a celebration to get early traction.
Keep in mind that events recognized by others in your industry will
attract more shares.
For example, on International Midwives’ Day, my business created a
simple yet compelling image using PicMonkey to celebrate the day.
We posted it early in the morning on the
Know Your Midwife
Facebook page. The result? Over 1,400 shares by the end of the day! The
image swept through pregnancy, birth and parenting pages across
Australia, then the US and the UK.
Creating a timely image that appeals directly to your audience results in big engagement.
One
of the keys to creating a shareable image is subtle or no branding.
There is a fine line between a timely post and shameless self-promotion.
In the image above, we decided not to include any branding at all. That
made the image more universal, which encouraged other pages to share it
as if it were their own.
#3: Create Original Art
In a
world where we’re bombarded with information, anything new stands out
from the crowd and catches our attention—on any platform, at any time.
Take advantage of that and be part of the 20% of people who create
original content for the other 80% to share.
When you create original images, they’re yours to keep. You can
use them in any way you want, whenever you want.
You
never have to wonder about breaching copyright, reading the fine print
on a stock photo or making the big mistake of using an image from Google
Images. (A quick reminder: Don’t use images you find on Google; it’s
not a stock library.)
You don’t need to hire a graphic designer to create original images. You can
do it yourself with the advice and tools listed below.
Tips for Creating Original, Shareable Images
I’m not creative enough!
I don’t have time!
I have no idea where to start!
Yes
you are, yes you do and no problem. There are a number of easy-to-use
tools that give you instant creativity and design skills, as well as
allow you to share images quickly.
If you’re at your desk, you can
use image-editing tools like
Canva or
PicMonkey. Both offer gorgeous (and handy) templates. Use them to
create 5-10 images with a similar theme.
Not at your desk? Use your phone! Apps like
Instagram,
InstaQuote,
Overgram (free) or
Over (paid) make your on-the-fly pictures into works of art you can share immediately.
There
are hundreds of apps and tools available for you to use, and the list
above is by no means exhaustive. But remember, you don’t have to try
everything all at once. Avoid being overwhelmed by starting with just a
few tools.
As you
become skilled with one tool, add another tool or app to your design kit. When you find something you love, stick with it for a while until something else strikes your fancy.
Two More Tips for Creating Original Images
- Create a branded background template
you can reuse for tip or quote images. You can simply upload it to
Canva or PicMonkey when you want to create a new image with a text
overlay. Reusable templates save lots of time!
- If you have a
graphic designer, ask him or her to give you PNG files to work with.
They’re easy to overlay on backgrounds or templates, which means you can
create images quickly when you need them.
#4: Optimize Size, Branding and Source
When
creating images, optimization is key. Think in terms of size, branding
and source information so your image not only suits the platform(s) you
post it to, but has the best chance of being noticed and shared—and
sending traffic back to your website.
The
best size for your image will depend on how you want to use it and where you’re posting it.
When
you want to use an image on Facebook and Twitter, 1200 x 627 pixels
works best. Keep that in mind when setting the featured image for a blog
post.
If you’re posting primarily to Instagram, square-ratio images work best and can work well on Facebook too.
When
you’re aiming for Pinterest, use an image with a portrait orientation
as those are shared most often. They also look good in Facebook’s news
feed and in Google+.
To
see how important image size can be, take a look at my test below. I uploaded a 1200 x 627 pixel image and used it as my blog post’s featured image.
Your blog post’s featured image will show up when readers share your post on social networks.
When
I shared the link on Facebook, it pulled the featured image into the
news feed as a linked post without using any additional
Open Graph coding or plugins.
Use the right dimensions for your blog post featured images so they play nicely with social networks.
When I used
Buffer to share the blog post link to Twitter, the image still looked fabulous and stood out in the Twitter feed.
Images uploaded to Twitter stand out in the news feed.
Experiment with image sizes so you can
optimize your content for each platform.
In many cases, one image size may suit more than one platform. Find out
what works for you, your preferred platforms and where your audience is
hanging out.
Here’s an important tip: As you’re creating your original shareable images, don’t forget to
brand them with a simple watermark. Once created, you can save the watermark and add it to future images as well. Your URL or logo make ideal watermarks.
Make
the watermark bold enough to remind people that you created and own the
image (and where to find more information), but subtle enough that you
don’t appear too self-promotional.
In the example below, you can see how
Y Travel Blog
did a great job of creating a beautiful, pinnable image with subtle
branding. Their logo in the bottom right corner isn’t intrusive.
A subtle watermark can help identify an image while protecting its source.
#5: Use an Obvious Call to Action
In
any news feed on any social platform, you’re always competing against
friends, family, funny photos, small businesses and big brands for the
attention of your ideal audience.
Your engaging image may catch their attention, but then what? If
you don’t know what you want fans to do when they see your image, they won’t either.
Your goal is to
garner likes, comments or better yet, clicks and sharing (the golden tickets of social marketing). To get those, you
need an obvious call to action.
Ask yourself two things: Can the image stand alone? Is there a clear call to action?
As
humans, we’re drawn to images and we naturally migrate to those in
social news feeds. If we can’t immediately discern the meaning of the
image, we may look to the description or post to find context, or we may
move to the next interesting thing.
To
give your fans and followers immediate context and encourage them to take action,
add some text to your images. In the example below, which image are you more likely to click on?
Titles add context and encourage users to click through for more content.
The bottom picture gives viewers clear context and can stand alone. Your fans know what they’ll find when they click through.
When you’re sharing images, there are two places to
put a call to action: on the image itself or in the description
(this is usually a clickable link). This is universal, whether you’re
using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or Pinterest.
Mari
Smith added a call to action to her Facebook cover photo asking fans to
click to sign up for an upcoming webinar. An effective way to convert
fans to attendees!
A Click Here button or call to action on an image can be hard to resist!
When
fans click on the image, they can find out more about Mari’s webinar by
clicking the hyperlink included in the image description.
Include a second call to action in your description to tell your fans what you want them to do.
If
you want to try the same thing on Instagram, take a cue from Tabsite
co-founder Mike Gingerich. He posts a snapshot of his latest blog post
to
Instagram. It’s a
simple photo of his computer screen coupled with a call to action in the
description that leads followers back to his blog.
A simple reminder to visit your blog for more content can be a great call to action on Instagram.
Instagram is a bit different from the other social networks. You can
include a URL in your description,
but it’s not clickable. However, you’re allowed one clickable link on
your Instagram profile, so be sure to make this a link to your website.
On Pinterest, the
Beauty Department excels at providing images that have a clear call to action to visit its blog
for more information.
Want the full story? Click through to the blog!
Some Parting Thoughts
Shareable
images are the key to creating engaging social media content. There
isn’t a single network that doesn’t rely on compelling images to garner
interaction.
An easy way to
integrate more visual content into your social marketing plan is to
use images that speak to your audience.
Try posting an image at the same time every day, and be sure to
include a strong call to action.
Take advantage of the many tools available and create a template that reinforces your brand and makes it quick and easy to make new images in batches.
With a little work and planning, you’ll be seeing higher engagement and more website traffic in no time.
What do you think? What kinds of images do you share with your fans? Which social networks have been most responsive? Share your experience or examples in the comments below.