Last year I was pleased to be able to train around 2,000 entrepreneurs, managers and professionals on social media marketing. This year this figure will double or triple. If you use social media for your business, personal branding or both then you can see that everything is more and more visual. This slideshare presentation which became viral highlights 19 visual social media secrets – tips from the pros.
It’s easy to see for example why Pinterest is so powerful and popular. You can find below the 19 visual social medis secrets and my comments attached to them. Enjoy!
1. “Your story can be significantly more powerful if you’re not the only one telling it. Curate your fans imagery about your brand with your own to tell stories that combine multiple perspectives with authenticity.” – Apu Gupta, CEO Curalate @apugupta
Well, in the connected world we are a part of the audience and customers can verify everything very easy so authenticity is an important factor.
2. “Be authentic and provide value. Create content that educates your users – they will become loyal followers and genuinely engage with your content.” Melanie Perkins, CEO Canva @melaniecanva
In social media, from 10 messages posted only one, maximum two (here is the exception) can be sales related. All the others has to be valuable content for the audience to educate, engage and entertain whenever possible.
3. “Visually tasty quotes and messages are a great alternative to photos. They’re a wonderful way to engage and inspire your audience.” Ben Wong Founder Wordswag & Videohance @wordswagapp
It’s a common practice to attach quotes to photos. The photo will target a certain emotion and in the meantime the quote will inspire the reader and the content can become viral.
4. “Instagram videos often get fewer ‘likes’ than a photo. However, being consistent with style and quality, I find that followers want to watch videos I post – and they produce more discussions about the content.” Paul Flemming, Travel & Destination Instagrammer, Mobile Videographer @lovethwalrus.
The customers want today instant gratification. Maybe this is the reason why even the photos get more likes than videos. It’s a weird reason but it can be like this.
5. “To really scale your visual content marketing use a platform such as ShuttleRock.com. This will allow you to crowd source your visual content.” Jeff Bullas, Social Media Marketing Blogger @jeffbullas
Such a platform uses the power of the community to crowdsource the content for the website
6. “Create great visual content on your website but also make sure it’s optimized so it gets shared … For example, enabling Twitter cards will mean your imagery will be displayed as part of the tweet which will lead to a better click through rate.” Ian Cleary, Razor Social @iancleary
The content needs to be shared very easy so to require minimum effort from the audience.
7. “The magic is in the mix – there are more visual mediums than ever before to bring your company’s story to life. Test different mediums to see what resonates the most with your target audience.” Jessica Gioglio, Social Media Strategist, author of The Power Of Visual Storytelling @savvybostonian
Still you need to test everything because the social media space is moving very fast and you never know 100% what works and what doesn’t.
8. “The images that we find work best on Pinterest are those that tell the reader exactly what they are going to get if they click through from the image on our site.” Caz & Craig Makepeace, Co-Founders of YTravel Blog @ytravelblog
Don’t mislead the customers. If the picture suggest one thing then they should not lead to something else.
9. “When using social media I put my best foot forward with every post by selecting the most visually appealing scene, shot as well as I can and edited in the best way possible. I want every post to be strong.” Lauren Bath, professional Instagrammer & Photographer @laurenbath
Quality wins more often over quantity.
10. “Understand how visuals play on each network. What looks (and plays) well on Pinterest are tall images whereas on Instagram you’re only allowed square images. Create 3 templates for your social content – Landscape (horizontal), Portrait (vertical) and Square. Then when you create a piece of content, format it in all three versions and share on the appropriate networks.” Dustin Stout, founder Dustin.tv @dustinwstout
The content has to be adapted to the various mediums where it is published. It’s not something very complicated, just that it should be done.
11. “Create a Visual First Impression! On Instagram, a few keywords and emojis makes for an eye-catching and clear introduction. Even when restricted to just 150 characters you can display a bio that leaves a well depicted impression.” Sue Zimmerman, Instagram Expert, @suebzimmerman
You only have few seconds to make a first great impression so use them wisely.
12. “Instead of just guessing about which content MIGHT get shares, do some research and find visual content that has ALREADY gotten shares – content that has already proven itself. Then replicate, repurpose and improve that content with your own branding.” Joshua Parkinson, Founder PostPlanner @postplanner
This is exactly what I’m doing. I am sharing something which is very popular already, bringa value to my audience and add my own point of view. Cool, huh?
13. “When appropriate, opt for images that inspire sharing and delight – whether they be funny, unexpected, or even a little off colous. In the end these are images people remember and tell friends about.” Loretta Grande, Designer at Picmonkey Picmonkey App
We publish on social media to inspire and add value. So?
14. “Don’t forget to add a call to action. You never want your fans or followers to question what action you want them to take next.” Rebekah Radice, Digital marketing strategist @rebekahradice
Don’t let the audience guess what you want them to do after seeing your visuals. Tell them what to do.
15. “Ask yourself 2 questions when creating images: If I were to see this image in a crowded stream/ feed would I understand the image’s message? And, would I want to click on it or share it?” Cynthia Sanchez Oh, So Pinteresting @ospinteresting
Be as specific possible and get the images out of the context of the medium where it is published. It needs to send the same message no matter what!
16. “Pin all your blog posts on Pinterest with a 735 x 1102 graphic and share with what I call the ‘now and later technique’. Use the call to action ‘read this now and pin it for later’ with a link to the blog post and another to your Pinterest pin.” Peg Fitzpatrick, Head of Social Strategy Canva @pegfitzpatrick
Of course, it’s ok to have the content shared but … if all the people just share the content and nothing reads, where’s the point?
17. “When it comes to getting people to share on Facebook, I have one over-riding core strategy … relatable content. I always try to create content that people can relate to or that they can find useful in some way; whether it is inspiration, humor or even business or social media tips.” Kim Garst, CEO Boom Social with Kim Garst@kimgarst
Relate to people’s problems, desires, dreams, goals and expectations. It will be very easy to build rapport this way.
18. “We want to share original, fresh visual content like we want to share a hot piece of gossip. Be in the minority that creates original images to be shared with the majority and you’ll get reach and engamenet on any social platform.” Donna Moritz, Visual Social Media Strategist @sociallysorted
Wow, this is good and the point is to be as original possible.
19. Don’t make it about you, make it about your audience. Storytelling to your fan base is great, but giving your audience a story to tell is even better and makes your stories spread further.” Jesse Des Jardins, Head of Social Media At Tourism Australia @jessedee
At the end of the day, it’s not about you, it is about people who invest their time in checking what you are publishing. If you need any help with social media, contact me at adrian(at)mushbloom.co.uk or apply for a free assessment of your company’s social media needs here.
pushing the humanity forward through my craft as an entrepreneur 