Recently I produced a number of photos for a sporting goods retailer to use on its social media channels. The company doesn’t do too much hard selling on social media. Instead it offers fitness tips and tries to motivate people to exercise more.
This retail chain uses a lot of original photography and video to get its message across. And that message is that the retailer cares about its customers’ fitness and well being.
Some companies make the mistake of using social media for advertising. But for long-term gain, you should be showing customers that there’s more to you than just selling product.
Help your customers use and enjoy your products. Cheer on your customers. Otherwise you’re just another store.
To help build trust, people need to know the story of your company. Yes, that’s become a tired cliché but it still holds true.
Potential customers need to believe first. They need to believe that your company is better, that you understand them, that you’re concerned for their success.
The best way to interest, fascinate and even intrigue your customers is through the use of original editorial photography. Real pictures of real people doing real things. Be authentic.
• Create original photos so you’ll be telling your own story.
• Create original photos to humanize your company.
• Create original photos to win the online battle for attention.
• Create original photos to add value for your customers.
• Create original photos to inspire and motivate your customers.
• Create original photos because your customers deserve it.
Using original photography requires time and money. But it’s been shown that original content, especially photography, reaches more people. Content that creates value (i.e. unique content) is favoured by Facebook and Google.
A social media post with a photo can have triple the number of reshares than the same post without a picture.
Photography can create an emotional response in viewers. People feel first, think second. But stock pictures do nothing because they’re disingenuous. To be accurate, cheap stock pictures produce one emotion: boredom.
Photos that are too familiar, such as stock pictures, don’t create a positive emotional response because familiarity breeds contempt:
Contempt is the emotional reaction to not feeling cared for and perhaps disrespected. … One solution rests in learning to authentically communicate…
– Mel Schwartz
Emotion in marketing causes people to engage or not, to re-Tweet or not, to like or not, to trust or not.
The most effective pictures are relevant, they demonstrate something and they have story appeal. Story appeal influences emotional response. All of this can be done by using original editorial photography.
