The challenge with social media and blogging
Alright, so you’ve jumped on board with social media and blogging. You spend time coming up with witty, clever postings that will make people laugh and get some interaction on your page. The problem is, you’re still not seeing any interaction. Sound familiar?
Many businesses run into this problem when they begin using social media. Content is king, but there’s something else that will REALLY take your social media efforts to the next level. I am, of course, referring to visual content.
Making visual content sharing easier:
In today’s day and age, people are MUCH more responsive to visual content. Photos and video receive more interaction and response than any other kind of content out there. With that being said, I do realize that not everyone is comfortable in front of the camera and that some don’t have the time to take pictures and film videos on a regular basis.
Here are a few ways to make it easier:
Use Instagram. If you haven’t gotten on board with this awesome photo app yet, now would be the time to do so. You can take pictures on the go using a number of unique filters and immediately share them on your social media sites. Anyone can be a professional photographer if they use Instagram well.
Share photos on Facebook. Too lazy to take pictures yourself? If you like enough business pages on Facebook, you can share some of the photos that they put up directly on your page. All you have to do is click “Share” under the picture, write a little introduction, and click “Share.” Boom, you have a social media post for the day and it’s visually interesting.
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Related reading:
- More reasons for the rise of the visual web
- Apps that help improve your smartphone photography
- 7 reasons visual storytelling is one of this year’s breakout trends
- Laboring over aesthetics and the RSS feed secret (circa 2008)
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Put more pictures on your blog. I completely understand how time-consuming blogging can be. To think of a topic, do a full write-up, link SEO-friendly keywords, find a relevant photo and post is an hour and a half process. Not everyone has the time for that. If you pare down the copy, however, and add more enticing photos, not only will you save on time, but your readership will go up. Make sure the photos you add are interesting though. Having four stock photos won’t be nearly as effective. Clever photo captions wouldn’t hurt, either.
If you’re going to make a video, do it correctly. As effective as videos are, we understand that it’s difficult to be comfortable in front of the camera. We also know that many people make videos that are less than entertaining. If you’re going to embrace video marketing, have fun with it and be creative. Soon, you’ll be more comfortable in front of the camera AND getting more traffic on your blog and social media sites.
The takeaway
These are just a few ways that you can use visual media efficiently while still driving up your online presence. Remember: having superior visual content is just as important as having awesomely written content in today’s marketing world. Get out those cameras and start snapping photos!
John Rickmon
October 1, 2012 at 10:18 am
Not one client has ever asked me for my website. Nor has any associate. If no one is asking, why are people link farming, cloaking, and trapping leads?
AgentGenius
October 1, 2012 at 10:51 am
Likely depends on your market. In Austin (where we are headquartered) it is the norm to be at a networking event and someone whipping out their phone and asking for your website right then and there. So consider yourself lucky? 🙂
John Rickmon
October 1, 2012 at 10:56 am
I have never paid for an SEO lead and I never will. Is “Austin” code for KW?
AgentGenius
October 1, 2012 at 11:37 am
We’ve never paid for SEO either, that was clearly not the intention of the article. At all. Austin is NOT code for KW, no one on staff is part of or related to KW. For the record, I (Lani) have been in Austin longer than KW has. 😉
raymondduke
October 2, 2012 at 11:47 am
Nice article. Once my phone gets fixed I’m planning to start taking more photos with it. It will be good to have a library of random photos of my own to use when I’m writing up a blog post! I kind of did this already but your article convinced me I should do it more.
mooersrealtymedia
December 21, 2012 at 9:44 pm
With video go easy on the personal branding or talking head pieces. Push the local area community event videos. Because those are needed first before you can gain the outside buyer as the next step use of video. For property listings. Video is so powerful at creating the transport for the viewer, listener to your home town and the property listings in the communities you sell in. Stills are powerful, but video is 24 and higher still photos per sec with motion and natural sound. That delivers. Beams your customer to your local area. To get inside several homes anytime of day with 24 hour, 365 days a year open house tours.