If you want to connect with today’s social media audiences, you need to post eye-catching images. However, engagement is more than simply using beautiful graphics. You also need to choose images that are relevant to your topic and that build your brand. Here are some guidelines to get more engagement from your social media graphics.
1. Have a Goal in Mind
What are you trying to achieve with this post or campaign? Are you trying to get more shares, make sales or build brand awareness? If you’re trying to get sales or opt-ins, you want images that are relevant to your product and call-to-action. For brand building, you have more leeway to choose content that’s engaging while not necessarily suggesting a specific action.
2. Identify Your Audience
Who is your audience? What platforms do your followers use and what kind of content do they respond to? Do they prefer a formal and professional style or a more casual and lighthearted approach? These are questions to ask before choosing your images. You may have multiple audiences for different products within your company. Be sure to choose images targeted to the right followers.
3. Brand Your Images
Remember that you don’t only want to capture people’s eyeballs but also call attention to your business. Feature your logo whenever possible so followers are exposed to your brand name. There are other ways to brand your images. For example, take your own photos that feature your products or place of business.
4. Be Consistent
While you may use different images depending on your purpose, there are certain ground rules that you should follow all the time. For example, people respond strongly to colors. It’s best to stick to certain color schemes with all your visual content. Font styles are another element that people respond to, often subconsciously. Staying consistent with your fonts makes your brand more recognizable. You should also stay consistent with the overall tone and style of your images. If you’re all over the place with colors, fonts, subjects and styles, you’ll confuse your audience.
5. Tailor Images to Each Platform
Adjust all your images to the platform. For example, on Twitter and Instagram remember to add hashtags to your content. Facebook is more appropriate for lighthearted and social content such as humorous memes while LinkedIn is for B2B content. One study from Curulate found that images on Instagram get more engagement when they have more background space while those on Pinterest do better without much background space.
It’s generally best to use different images for each platform. You probably have people who follow you on multiple platforms. If they see the same content from you on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram every day they’ll get bored. At the very least, don’t consistently post the exact same content to each social media site every day.
The Right Images Make All the Difference
Social media is more graphics-centered than ever. Photos, memes, infographics and other visuals are usually the first items that catch users’ attention. However, it’s not enough to simply post lots of images, no matter how appealing. You need to use graphics strategically, in a way that captivates your followers and helps you build your brand.
