Social media photography
Social media is becoming more and more visual, making it the very place to share photography, whether it’s for personal enjoyment, to stay connected to friends, to share your work as a professional photographer, to reach communities or to develop and grow your brand. Users love visual content because we are very visual creatures.
This is why tweets and Facebook posts with images get shared at a higher rate than those without, and why Instagram is one of the titans of social media. Sharing photographic content on social media is also very fun and versatile as we can share everything from selfies to social media photography as art to inspiring social media photos.
Social media photography is so huge that people can make a living from it, and there are even professional social media photo editors.
If you are interested in using your platform to share social media photography, this is the post for you. In this post we will be going over:
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- Introduction to social media photography
- Promotional social media photography
- Types of social media photography
- Social media photography best ideas
Introduction to social media photography
Until recently, social media were referred to as ‘social networks’, like the original social network, Facebook. This is because the original vision for social media was to network and connect with friends and family – contained to our own microcosms. Now, social media has evolved to become less exclusive to our inner circles, connecting us to a wider macrocosm, where we can share ideas, beliefs and experiences with wider society.
Because of the visual and experiential content produced it has become ‘social media’ for entertainment and consumption, as well as the original concept of networking. Instagram, in particular with its lack of words, is a very visual experience for users, who express thoughts and ideas through photographs.
Benefits of social media photography
Despite practically the whole of modern society using social media, it often gets a bad rap. Although many people have negative feelings towards Instagram and other social media, it has enormous potential for good. You can use social media to put yourself out there, meet like-minded people, educate others, share opinions, raise awareness about issues, advertise your own brand, and gain insights from interaction with others. And you can achieve all of these aims by creating and sharing photographic content, as millions of people do.
Promotional social media photography
Are you still sceptical about the power of social media photography? Here are some social media statistics that illuminate the potential of social media for your brand:
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- Instagram, the kingpin of visual social media has roughly one billion monthly active users.
- More than 25 million businesses now use Instagram to reach and engage with audiences.
- Facebook had more than 2.8 billion monthly active users in 2021.
- Marketers spend the most time creating content for Facebook and their own company website, respectively.
- Advertisers can reach more than 169 million people on Pinterest.
If you are using social media photography to develop your brand, consider these kinds of content to transform your social media accounts:
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- Product photos: Although you should be creating a balance between product photos and other kinds of content, product photography is important to convey exactly what it is you are selling. Lifestyle product photography is also great as it shows your product in a lifestyle context.
- Lifestyle photography: Lifestyle photography is great for promoting brands. It helps to show your brand as a whole, rather than just your product. It helps consumers see what lifestyle your brand promotes.
- Employee photos: Sharing photos of your team really helps to personify and humanise your brand, showing consumers that it’s not just a faceless corporation that they’re engaging with.
- Behind–the-scenes: Similarly, whether you’re part of a company, or promoting yourself as a professional, people love to see behind-the-scenes as they can see what goes into your craft.
- Seasonal content: Another reason why people love social media is that it is constantly up-to-date and relevant. You can make your content even more relevant and appealing to users by creating seasonal content.
- User-generated content: User-generated content or UGC, is content that a user would create, such as a user sharing a photo of them using your product. You can then share this to your account, which boosts credibility and trustworthiness as it is users promoting your brand; not you directly.
Types of social media photography
Because of the vast nature of social media, there is no limit to the types of social media photography. Here are some of the most popular, and profitable niches of social media photography, utilised for both promotion and enjoyment:
Social media photography best ideas
If you are looking to elevate your social media accounts and reach a wider audience, these are the types of content that receive the most engagement (likes, shares, comments) on Instagram, causing the algorithm to push this content out to more and more users:
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- Food photography: Food photography not only leverages a ton of likes and comments, but it is also one of the most popular categories of social media photography, with a whopping 300 million food photos on Instagram.
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- Human faces: It could be because it humanises your brand, or because people like looking at people, but Instagram photos with faces get 38% more engagement than those without.
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- Landscape/travel photography: People love seeing beautiful, picturesque photography of places far and wide.
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- Animals: Seeing sweet photos of animals appeals to the nature lover in all of us, so it’s no surprise animal photos quickly go viral.
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- Behind-the-scenes: People love seeing photos of the person behind the mask, and the goings-on behind cool and interesting events.
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- Trending content: Due to the cutting-edge and relevant nature of social media, photographic content that is tailored to social media trends in real-time can do big numbers.
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- User-generated content: Big brand accounts are pros at sourcing user-generated content on social media and promoting these posts on their accounts. Recycled user-generated content tends to get high engagement as it increases credibility in a brand.
We hope you enjoyed reading our social media photography guide!
If you require a professional photographer to help elevate your social media, consider Splento. At Splento we connect you with the top-rated professional photographers per your requirement, at an affordable rate. Chat to a member of the team today to see how we can assist you with your photography needs.
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