Jay LeonardThere’s a ton of content on the web nowadays and getting your content noticed can be difficult at times. One thing that simplifies content creation is mixing up content into different types. Below is a mind-mapping info-graphic of social media content into six different types: Images, Text, Other People’s Content, Videos, Website/Blog, and Podcasts.
IMAGES
Images are the cornerstone of social media today. Why do you think social networks like Instagram and Pinterest have become so popular? They are all about images. People surfing the web today are overloaded with so much information, that they are in a hurry to get through it all. So, what’s the quickest way to absorb information? It is through the use of images. One thing to remember when choosing your images is to know for which social network you are choosing them. For instance, Pinterest images might be different from what you post on Facebook.
Image Idea #1: Funny Images
Funny or humorous images are used quite often in social media. The key goal when using these images is to always remember your audience. Just a random funny image without a point is worthless. Such images might get you some viral sharing, but in the end, you could lose your audience if you just do funny images randomly, and do them too often. So how should you use funny images? Let’s use this example: The Funny Egg. It grabs your attention, doesn’t it? Well, if you are a restaurant, it might be funny to make a joke about the eggs. Or maybe you can relate it to your audience through a story.
Do you have a story of something that happened in your business that can be paralleled with the one, poor broken egg? In my business, I could relate to the one business owner that didn’t implement social media into their marketing and this is what happened to his business. That’s obviously just an example, but the point is, if you use an image have something relative to your business to stand behind it. Yes, cat images are very popular on the web. They can be funny and I’m not against using them. You just have to use them wisely.
The example above is funny, yet a bit obnoxious. It is an example of what is out there, but should probably not be used for a business, in my opinion, as the point of the image is not really relatable to most businesses. Funny images work well on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram too. The key to remember is to not just post a bunch of funny images on your Facebook page, with no rhyme or reason behind it. If you are a dentist and post egg pictures like the above constantly, people will not look to your page as an authority, they may actually not find your page has any value, so they may even unlike it. So use the funny images wisely.
Image Idea #2: Eye-Catching Images
Below is an eye-catching image from Pinterest. It is unique and makes you look at it a couple times. Images like this can work well. They need to be very unique to be eye-catching. The one below is so interesting, that it makes you ask yourself, “Is this real?” It also is cool enough to make you want to share it too. That’s the goal: to get your content shared.
Office Reception from G+
Another great source for eye-catching images is Facebook Page for: LoveDesignCreate.com They have such cool images of travel and unique items that really capture the eyes. The image on the left is just one example of many they have. Once again, don’t just randomly post an image for the sake of trying to get sharable content. If I posted this image and wanted to relate it to social media, I would write something like “Does social media sometimes feel like a never ending tunnel? Why? Asking a question with an image related to your business keeps the material focused.
One of my favorite Facebook pages is Pool Supply World’s page. Why? They have an extremely visual business. They post pictures of exotic pools like the one to the left that grabs your eyes and makes you dream about pools and travelling. Pool Supply is fortunate to be in such a great visual business, but they also do an excellent job of asking for shares, likes, and comments. This is a page to watch!
Image Idea #3: Tips on Images
We create a lot of our own tips with 15 Minute Social and brand it with our logo. I have seen logos or websites added to images, so if it is shared, then your brand goes with it. Adding a tip is simple to do. First, write down the top 10-20 most frequently asked questions, then write down short answers (these are your tips) to turn into your ‘Tip Image’. You can either hire a graphic designer to create the image, or you can find an image of your own and use a site like www.iPiccy.com or www.PicMonkey.com to create your tip image yourself.
Image Idea #4: Quotes on Images
Quote images are very similar to the Tip images. You can find quotes related to your industry or even create some yourself, and then turn them into an image. To the right is an example of a quote image.
Image Idea #5: Office and Business Images
If you have an office location you work out of, do you post images from there? Maybe post images of office antics? How about taking pictures of clients? One example would be an orthodontist office. I work with quite a few, but one I work with, Lakeville Orthodontics, uses lots of pictures from their office. What do they take pictures of?
Kids spinning the “birthday wheel”, after pictures of clients when they get their braces off, patients goofing around, staff pictures, and more! Below is one example from their office. Do you have a visual business? Are you a Contractor, Realtor, or Interior Designer? Then your business should have lots of images to show off! You can load full albums into Facebook, create boards of different projects on Pinterest and put your images on Houzz too. My husband and I own a contractor company, so our business uses the images of each project on all the social channels. Here is a link one of his boards on Pinterest: Pinterest Board.
Another company that does an excellent job showing off their projects on their Facebook Page is Lennar Homes.
They build homes all over the country, so they have plenty of awesome homes to show off; like the one I posted here. Let’s say you don’t have a visual business and you are really not sure where to find images to use. Joshua Parkinson at Post Planner did a blog post on great places to find good images. Here’s the link to that post. In the blog he mentions the guidelines, but it does not hurt for me to mention again… it is important when you take something off the web, that you reference where it came from. Referencing is not only for legal purposes, but it is proper “netiquette”.
Image Idea #6: Info-graphic Images
Info-graphic images are something that popped up on the web not too long ago and they have taken off! What is an info-graphic? It is a visual image that teaches (my definition). The true definition from Wikipedia is: Information graphics or info-graphics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly.
Above is an example of a teaching info-graphic that actually relates to what we are discussing in this guide. The source of this info-graphic is found at ReadWrite.com.
Above is another info-graphic teaching the “Gangnam Style” dance steps. It is cute, attention grabbing, simple, and teaches, all at the same time. This is why info-graphics are so powerful: quick teaching/learning. The resource for this image is Visual.ly.
You may be saying to yourself, my business doesn’t have anything I can teach in an info-graphic. Think hard. What are the 10 top questions customers ask? Could you turn the answer into something visual? Sure! Is there a story behind your business? Maybe that could be an info-graphic.
The ideas are endless. Info-graphics, most likely, are not something you can do yourself unless you are good with graphic design and have the time to put into it. If you hire out, you will want to choose a concept that is really good and can be used over and over for your business because with the time a graphic designer has to put into these images, they do not come real cheap. You received 1 Type of Content here, but there are 5 MORE Types! In this blog post, I covered 1 of the 6 main social media content types that can get awesome engagement: Images. If you’d like to dive deeper into the 5 post types I did not cover here:
- Text
- Videos
- Website/Blog Posts
- Other People’s Content
- Podcasts
- Other People’s Content
You can get it all in my FREE ebook: Ultimate Guide to Social Media Content Creation It’s a pdf download that includes all 6 areas in detail along with the info-graphic image. Save it & Print it as a cheat sheet for your social media posting!
Read More: 3 Easy Steps to Images That Pinterest Users Will Love to Share
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jay Leonard.
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