A new study found that 87% of the most shared posts on Facebook were photos.
The next closest items on the list were links at 4%!
Another study found that photos give Twitters users a 35% bump in retweets. (h/t to Social Media Examiner)
You probably knew that images work well on social media. You’ve probably posted an image or two on your social pages and they’ve probably received tons of comments, likes and other social interaction.
The trouble is that images can be difficult to take, create and find. That’s why many business owners aren’t able to post as images on social media even if they know they should.
Well we’re here to help.
Here are ways you can use images (with less hassle) on your social media pages.
1. Use Your Phone
Social media companies make it really easy to share photos from your phone to your social media profiles. The social networks know that people love photos so it’s been in their best interest to make sure it’s easy for people.
And since most people have phones it made sense to make it easy for people to snap a pic on their phone and instantly upload it to social media.
The barrier here is that you might want to keep your phone for personal use and not for business use. If you’re the owner you should commit to using your phone for work-related tasks like taking photos and updating on social media.
Step 1: Connect your business social profiles on your phone
Step 2: Add an item to your daily calendar to upload at least one photo to each social profile (side note: use 1-3 social profiles only so you don’t spread yourself too thin)
Step 3: Keep a loose report on the photos that do the best and take more photos like that to increase engagement, but also keep experimenting with new types of photos
2. Add Text To Your Photos
A photo can work great on social media. It will separate you from the rest of the noise, but take it a step further and add text to your photos.
Let’s say you’re a hotel. Take a photo of a beautiful sunset out by the pool. Then add the text “Wish You Were Here” over the top.
Or if you own a destination tavern on the river, take a photo of the people in kayaks with the text “Summer Fun”.
There are lots of little phrases and captions you can use to add more intrigue to your photos. It will make them even more engaging to your social media followers.
Use Phonto, a great app for adding text to images on your smartphone.
3. Use Only Photos You Own
One of the tricky situations with online photos is that you can’t really use photos that aren’t your own.
You can, but it’s a gray area.
A good rule of thumb is that if you want to use another brand or person’s photo that you should be linking to their content or mentioning them.
For example, let’s say you partner with a local event to boost your travel business. You could use a photo from their website as long as you’re promoting them. It would be best to ask first.
To be completely safe it’s best to use your own photos; ones that you’ve taken with your own camera. Or ones that you’ve paid a professional photographer to take on your behalf.
Conclusion
Photos can really boost your social media engagement. For travel businesses, that engagement leads to more customers coming through the door.
But you probably already knew that.
Follow the tips above to supercharge your social media program. Use the ideas there to get more photos on your social media pages and more customers through your door.
