Increase Your Engagement By Using Imagery

A picture is worth a thousand words.

We’ve all heard this oft-used saying and we’ve all applied it to various aspects of our professional and private lives. But have you applied it to your social media campaign?

Imagery is a great way of generating social media engagement, and something you should give considerable thought to as you formulate a plan to reach out to more and more people online.

What’s so great about images?

Without getting too scientific, pictures can be processed by the brain much quicker than written content, which makes them a valuable commodity when it comes to marketing.

If you’ve ever scrolled down your Twitter or Facebook feed, you’ll be only too familiar with how difficult it can be to read endless reams of comments and updates. Both sites do well in creating enough ‘white space’ to make it easier but at the end of the day it’s all too easy to scroll over comments without reading them.

An image however immediately grabs the attention and, if it’s particularly good, doesn’t let go for a while.

If you’re looking to get your business noticed, increasing engagement with imagery is a good place to start.

Creating sharable images

While sharing images can increase engagement, it’s worth noting that you can’t post any old thing on your Facebook fall and expect the comments, likes and shares to roll in. You have to post something of worth.

Defining what makes any particular image worthwhile depends very much on your individual circumstances, and those of the people that follow you. As with so many aspects of social media, there are no hard and fast rules and you’re recommended to try things out and make them up as you go along.

That being said, there are certain trends that seem to work. Here are some tricks you can use to create an image that generates engagement.

News & Updates

Recently moved offices? Got a new product hitting the shelves? Want to welcome a new member of staff? Use pictures to update your followers with the latest news and goings on at your company.

Infographics

Appealing to the creative nature of people, infographics are a great way of setting yourself up as a market leader that’s worth listening to.

Humour

Funny and amusing images work. Simple as. Whether it’s a simple joke over a colourful background, a photo of an amusing situation, or a straightforward photo with a rib-tickling caption, people like funny pictures.

Quotes

No doubt you’ve seen images featuring famous, uplifting and thought-provoking quotes on them as you’ve trawled through your social media pages. All the rage, these are actually a very good way of creating engagement without needing to put hours and hours of effort into things.

Tips

Like a quote, a simple tip can become gold when it comes to social media engagement. It can also set you up as a market leader worth listening to.

Checklists

Want to appeal to the online world? Create a checklist. There’s a reason that these “Top 10 of everything” lists are so popular; people like lists.

Fan of the week

Want to make somebody feel great? Implement a ‘Fan of the Week’ initiative and choose one of your followers to promote. Share their picture and why they’re so great and become the company that cares.

Caption competitions

A great way to get people involved, post an image and ask your followers to provide a caption. Whether the image is funny, thought-provoking or totally bizarre, you’ll find people quickly jump aboard and begin interacting…especially if there’s a prize involed.

Don’t forget video

Still images aren’t the only way to be visually creative. Videos are another tool that can be used to harvest engagement on social media.

Now, before you panic and start contemplating heading out and buying a lot of expensive equipment or hiring a costly video-making firm, be aware that your video doesn’t have to be Oscar-winning quality.

Plenty of small companies create useful videos using nothing more than a smartphone. Vine – a social media site that allows video sharing – deals solely in six second videos, so you don’t even have to create anything too lengthy, just something eye catching. How about a welcome video, a slideshow or a simple cartoon?

Pictures Aren’t Everything

Remember, there’s more to social media than pretty pictures. The key to generating good engagement is to be varied with the content you post. Don’t rely on images and videos to get you over; make sure you’re mixing it up.