29 Mar
Using Images To Enhance Your Social Media Game
Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 29.03.13 by John Meloche
Do you have a Facebook and Twitter profile? If you’ve answered “no”, the truth is that you are already a major step behind many of your competitors. Social media is the wave, not only of today, but of the future. It’s all the rage because it provides people with free and easy ways to communicate with others all over the globe.
Pictures are what help to make social media sites so popular. Pictures, of course, are nothing new. But somehow, viewing them online or on smartphones is a wildly popular activity. Naturally, you’ll want to utilize social media to grow your business. And, as such, you should be up on how to use pictures to your advantage.
On DynamicBusiness.com, Greg Butler lists a number of tips on how to properly use images on your social media profiles. In yesterday’s blog, we highlighted his suggestions to avoid using straight product shots and go for more interactive, bold and eye-catching images to attract other social media users to your pages. In today’s blog, we’ll look at a few more of his tips.
Know where to find stock photos. There aren’t many rules preventing users from posting pictures that they didn’t take. So although your profile picture should be your own, feel free to locate stock photography for a background image or other interesting posts you may wish to make. Often, people post pictures that they find online and comment on them to start up conversations.
Cool images can be found on Flickr, says Butler. However, there may be some guidelines that you’ll need to review before snatching them up. “”Check out the requirements and make sure you have permission to use the images,” he writes, “you may have to credit the image’s creator.” The internet, of course, is home to tons of free images. Go ahead and Google what you’re looking for. You’re bound to find something cool.
Technological limitations. Consider whether or not your image can be properly viewed on a mobile phone, reminds Butler. It’s important to make sure that the full visual impact of your page is made regardless of what device a person is viewing it from. Take a look at your page on both your computer and your smartphone to be sure that your images work.
Consider the file formats. For images, JPEG, GIF and PNG are the most common, says Butler. JPEGs are most easily used because they are compressed. However, this sometimes reduces the quality. GIFs are good for low resolution images and are mainly used for solid colours like logos and other graphics. PNGs are great for transparencies. They also don’t lose their quality during editing.
Be inspired. Writes Butler, “Research success stories and take a look at good examples of how other businesses are using content on social media. Take your time, generate ideas and create a new image. Take advantage of great free photo editing software such as GIMP, Photoshop, and Picasa and get creative!”
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