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Photography Secrets for Bloggers

January 9, 2014 by Rosemary 1 Comment

YouÂre already aware of the shift toward image-centric content, and IÂm sure youÂve already started amping up the graphics in your blog posts, right?

The latest development is that even the Creative Commons licensed and free photography youÂve been using is not 100% reliable.

The safest thing to do by far is to take your own photographs. (Professional photographers, please stop reading here…)

Chances are, youÂre carrying around a pretty decent camera already, inside your smartphone. If you invest a little bit of time in learning some composition and editing skills, you can stop worrying about stock photos and image licenses forever. And you have unique photos on your site to boot! You may even find a new hobby, and decide to purchase a standalone camera to take it to the next level.

Top Photography Secrets for Bloggers

Keep a visual mindset all the time. See that coil of rope? Could it illustrate a post about pathways? How about those birds lined up on the shore? Make it a habit to look around you for imagery wherever you go.
Horizontal is good for blog posts. Don’t just reflexively hold your phone vertically all the time. Horizontal orientation works better most of the time for blogs, and for sliders and other graphics as well.
Go as high resolution as you can. You’ll be glad later when you want to zoom in to a specific part of the picture.
Use online editing tools like Picmonkey to make nice text overlays for social sharing or to add your site URL or copyright.
Take a TON of photos. Think about the pros and how their shutters are snapping a hundred times during a photo session. If you want to capture that one great picture, take 10x the snaps.
Make a spot to organize them (Evernote, digital albums, Dropbox folders). Create a dedicated place to upload your blog photos after you take them, and name them with descriptive names that will make them easy to pull into the right posts. Consider organizing into categories like Nature, Office, Architecture, or whatever suits your niche.
Keep a backup. Be sure you keep a backup of your photo files, and don’t rely on your computer/laptop. Use the free services that are available, like Google Drive or Dropbox to keep them secure.
Think micro. For casual photography, we often look at the big picture, or the family group, or the huge vista. For blog posts, you might want to think about the way a shadow hits the sidewalk, or the ladybug sitting on a leaf. Get small.
Consider buying some pro tools. To get the lighting perfect on small objects, you can buy inexpensive, portable studios like a Modahaus. There are also inexpensive lighting kits like the Kick.
Pay attention to tips from the pros, like these excellent photo ideas from National Geographic, or these great composition tips from Digital Photography School.

Have you tried your hand at digital photography? As a blogger, it can be a very useful skill-set!

Author’s Bio: Rosemary OÂNeill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

How to Use Instagram to Promote Your Business

September 19, 2013 by Rosemary 11 Comments

By Brittany Thorley

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but can the latest social media phenomenon used by a host of celebrities, budding photographers and snap happy users alike be the key to driving traffic to your website?

The social media sphere has become awash with image-based websites like Pinterest, whilst other social favourites like Facebook and Twitter are making it easier to upload and share your favourite snaps. While 54% of major brands use Instagram for promotional reasons, many growing businesses donÂt consider using Instagram to market their products or services.

Getting Started with Instagram

Setting up an Instagram business account and incorporating this social favourite into your social media marketing strategy couldnÂt be easier and its features ensure you can get and stay connected with existing and potential customers and clients in a fun and frivolous way that still has your business ethics at its heart.

Instagram takes you through the setting up of your profile step-by-step, covering everything from choosing an account name and filling out your bio to adding other social networks and getting started with their photo editor and sharing features. When deciding on your Instagram account name, we recommend using a name similar or exactly the same as your Twitter handle to make it easier for fans and potential customers to find and follow you on multiple platforms. We would also advise downloading the app to make maintaining and updating your Instagram account less of a chore and more spur of the moment!

Instagram also hosts its own ÂInstagram for BusinessÂ blog, which is regularly updated with tips, news and examples of how other businesses, both big and small, use Instagram to drive traffic and subsequently boost sales.

Striking the Right Balance between Fun and Business

A successful Instagram business profile has a mixture of fun images and business-focused additions; we would advise telling the story behind your brand to make it an engaging and fun journey for your customers that still essentially means business. Use the stories of your workforce to add a personal approach. Instagram has a number of helpful options for tracking engagement and the success of individual images, so test the water in the first few months and see what your audience likes best.

More than Images

In addition to uploading and sharing images, you can also use videos to market your business identity and values. These videos can be embedded into your on-site blog and shared via your other social media platforms to create engaging content, cultivate a following and extend your reach.

Be a Trend Follower and a Trendsetter

Instagram uses the same system as Twitter and uses hashtags (#) so that users can follow trends and be a part of the wider community. Keep an eye on whatÂs trending and use this to influence what you post, and tell your own story with your own hashtags. Use InstagramÂs like and comment features to connect on a more personal level with new followers, ‘like’ other usersÂ images and engage with them with genuine comments.

How Often Do I Post to Instagram?

Like Pinterest, you donÂt have to post on Instagram on a daily basis. In fact too much posting can actually do more harm than good and will over-occupy the news feeds of your followers and lead to quite a few Âno followsÂ. Instead use your profile to post whenever you feel that the content is a valuable addition and aim to inspire potential customers and clients with your updates Â remember with Instagram and any social media marketing strategy, the focus should be on quality, not quantity.

How are you using Instagram for your business? Post your account handle here, if you’d like to share.

Author’s Bio: Brittany Thorley is a social media marketing expert at Think Big Comms, a PR agency with a difference that specialises in ethnic marketing strategies.

5 Brands Using Instagram to Grow their Business

July 25, 2013 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

By Ryan Harris

Analytics company Nitrogram recently released a list of the the top 50 brands on Instagram. Rankings included numbers of followers and mentions on the popular photo-sharing site.

At the top of the Nitrogram 50? Nike, Starbucks, Forever 21, the NBA, and Adidas.
These brands have hundreds of thousands – even millions – of followers who post their own photos with the brands’ hashtags.

#Awesome. But what do these brands have in common that helps them succeed on Instagram? Take a look at the top 5 brands on Instagram to find out what they’re doing right.

1. Nike

Number of followers: +1.8 million
Number of mentions: +14.2 million

What’s Nike doing right? The answer is simple: high-quality photos and videos with inspirational captions. Uploads include colorful Nike sneakers, action shots, and athletes in Nike gear. A recent post, a close-up of a flexed foot in a lime green Nike running shoe, is simply captioned “Innovation is the antidote to limits.”

Photo credit: http://instagram.com/nike#

But Nike isn’t number one just because of its photos. The brand is integrating Instagram with their business in innovative, exciting ways. Nike PHOTOiD allows users to design their own custom Nike footwear based on their Instagram photos. Just upload an Instagram, choose a Nike shoe, and check out a unique design based on the colors in your photo.

2. Starbucks

Number of followers: +1.3 million
Number of mentions: +3.6 million

Starbucks sticks to the classic Instagram formula: simple pictures that somehow look both artistic and amateur. Starbucks’ uploads aren’t glossy, in-your-face advertisements. They’re photos with artsy angles, muted filters, and simple subjects. This post, captioned “Enjoy the little things,” shows a flower-filled Starbucks mug in front of a stack of unfinished canvases.

Photo credit: http://instagram.com/starbucks#

But Starbucks’ greatest strength on Instagram? Their lack of self-promotion. Most of Starbucks’ posts include minimal references to the brand. One, a summery shot of an iced coffee by a fountain, is only recognizable by the ubiquitous green straw. Some, like a photo of a father and daughter playing in the ocean, don’t have any brand references at all.

3. Forever 21

Number of followers: +1.5 million
Number of mentions: +1.6 million

Forever 21’s young fan base lends to their success, since most of Instagram’s users are between 18 and 29. But Forever 21’s photos are classic Instagram, too: artsy snapshots with vintage filters. Many of Forever 21’s uploads show partial shots of complete outfits — the post below depicts just a pair of bright blue pants and a hand with a matching manicure.

Photo credit: http://instagram.com/forever21#

Another one of Forever 21’s strengths is its use of Instagram to interact with customers. Rather than just posting photos of their products, Forever 21 encourages fans to upload their own ensembles for the chance to be featured on the brand’s Instagram account. Fans get instant Instagram fame– and Forever 21 gets more followers and more mentions.

4. NBA

Number of followers: +1.2 million
Number of mentions: +2.4 million

It might be a surprise to see the NBA among the best brands on Instagram – basketball fans and photos with soft, artistic filters don’t seem to mesh. But the NBA’s Instagram account proves that they don’t have to. The NBA’s posts are typical sports photos: close-ups of athletes in action with minimal editing and no-nonsense captions, like this photo of Dwight Howard.

Photo credit: http://instagram.com/nba#

The NBA faces a unique challenge on Instagram: keeping the attention of its fans and followers even after the season ends. The NBA accomplishes this by capitalizing on current events. Recent posts include NBA trades, ESPY award winners, and the off-season activities of its biggest stars; one shows Miami Heat player Chris Bosh on a trip to India.

5. Adidas

Number of followers: +799k
Number of mentions: +3.2 million

Adidas, which competes with top brand Nike in the athletic wear market, takes a slightly different approach. Their photos lack the artistic quality of Nike’s, instead trying for simplicity and consistency. Many of Adidas’ recent posts, like the one below, show nothing but a pair of Adidas shoes on a black background. They focus on the product rather than the presentation.

Photo credit: http://instagram.com/adidas#

Adidas also jumps on popular Instagram trends like #tbt, or Throwback Thursday, to promote their brand. Each week on Throwback Thursday, millions of Instagram users post old pictures with the caption #tbt. On a recent Thursday, Adidas posted a #tbt of several classic Adidas shoes, inviting followers to comment with their favorites.

Want to make the most of Instagram for your brand but not sure where to start? Take the lead from some of these big brands and apply them in the same way. Take simple photos and pair them with memorable captions that evoke a certain feeling you want to associate with your brand. Or go the way of Starbucks and go less promotional, more personal, which is what Instagram does so well thanks to its photo filters. Above all, be ready to engage with your customers by encouraging interaction with your posts, and maybe even asking for user submitted posts.

Author’s Bio: Ryan Harris is an Internet marketing strategist and copywriter who specializes in working with businesses large and small to develop strong brands. He writes for a wide array of tech sites including DSL.com. Connect with Ryan directly via email.

Do Images Encourage Interaction?

February 8, 2013 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

By Rob James

If you own an online business and want to optimise your website, it’s important to consider the many benefits of using images to encourage interaction from users. Images can add an emotional connection to websites, and when combined with excellent layout, typography, and animation, can help to build a compelling website for your business. How do images engage users, then, and what are some of the more specific actions you can take to use images as part of your own site?

The building blocks of images on a site can range from anything from an effective logo to icons and animation, as well as images in side bars and articles – in most cases, these graphics and images serve a functional purpose – they grab the attention, and they provide a complement to the copy on your site. A basic page layout can consequently use images as sparingly as possible, and can rely on stock pictures tailored to your business, or ones that you’ve taken yourself.

Emotional Images

However, images on a site should be more than just functional – they should be able to provoke an emotional response from users in the shortest period of time. One way in which this becomes more effective comes when images are animated, or when they can be navigated like a game, and broken down to include click throughs and pop ups that produce videos – some examples of where images can become more animated can be found here. Producing interactive image maps, where information for a business is spread across a whole image with different clickable sections – a map of an office or a city with separate sections activated by clicking on different parts of the screen represent examples – can also make a site more engaging.

Chuck Longanecker has emphasised the importance of âemotionally intelligent interactions for encouraging conversions on sites; this involves using professionally created graphic design and high quality photographs to make a site look more like a glossy magazine lay out than a traditional web page. Longanecker cites examples from error message screens that use rich graphics and images as good examples of how even the most mundane parts of a site can be made more effective.

Remember User Experience

What this adds up to are sites that are tailored to your business, but that take the process of web design further by using HMTL5 and Flash coding to make a site rely on intuitive graphics, where drop down menus, sliding bars, and videos embedded into the site, rather than loading separately, promote a clean user experience. One good example of this in practice are sites that use full size backgrounds, and the minimum of copy, on their landing pages – fashion and car brands are particularly effective at this approach.

What can you do, then, to boost your own site? The first step to take is to either find or commission high definition images to use on your site, which can ideally be blown up to act as a full screen background – sites that take this approach look particularly great on HD tablets. Alternatively, look to a web design company that can take your existing site and rethink its graphic design – so much of what’s important now about a site is looking less and less like a simply laid out set of information, and more like an interactive puzzle that users can navigate.

Going forward, it’s also important to remember not to overload your site with different images, and to always make sure that you have the rights to use an image or graphic; Creative Commons images are available through sites like Flickr, while you can also license images from the Getty and other collections for a small amount of money. In addition, you can test out the success of new images and image layouts for your site through Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) – this involves running tests where users see different versions of the same site, and then checking to see which had the highest rate of conversions or click throughs.

Are you integrating compelling images in your site design? What’s your favorite resource?

Author’s Bio: Rob James is an online marketer who highly recommends Boxmodel mobile web development agency. Rob can be found blogging about a variety of technology related subjects, including computer hardware, mobile apps, web development, and SEO techniques.

Image: Flickr CC albdruck

Cool Tool Review: Creative Commons

July 8, 2010 by Guest Author 2 Comments

Todd Hoskins Reviews Tools for Business

Todd Hoskins chooses and uses tools and products that could belong in an entrepreneurial business toolkit. He’ll be checking out how useful they are to folks who would be their customers in a form that’s consistent and relevant.

Cool Tool Review: Creative Commons
A Review by Todd Hoskins

Open Field by kathrynstar at DeviantArt http://kathrynstar.deviantart.com/art/Open-Field-20924389

Creative Commons is not a tool, but it’s important for every blogger, editor, and author to understand the licenses made possible by the non-profit founded nearly ten years ago. It makes the world a better place for both businesses and artists by enabling the free and easy use of creative materials.

If you are a business looking to include photography, artwork, or even music in your printed materials, ads, or website, you may want to contact a stock photography house. But if you’re a small business or individual working on a tight budget, it makes sense to find works available in the commons.

You can do a metasearch directly on the Creative Commons website. For example, if you want some imagery of an open field to illustrate an aspect of your business, choose your keywords, and search. Once you find an image, you can download it and use it with the restrictions provided by the license. The most typical license allows reuse with attribution, meaning you need to acknowledge the person who created or obtained the original work.

Here’s some helpful tips for giving credit to the author and publisher:

Creative Commons Attribution

View more presentations from elisabeth abarbanel.

It is the spirit of the web that makes Creative Commons great – that we can share, mix, and give credit to the people who influence, assist, and improve our own business and creative pursuits. For white papers and any creative materials that you or your company create, consider putting it out in the Commons as well. It may create some visibility, but more importantly it makes you more of a participant in the exchange rather than just a buyer and seller.

Summing Up â Is it worth it?

Enterprise Value: 4/5 â There are many places to source creative materials (I love Veer), but it also is valuable to know and use Creative Commons and participate in the larger community.

Entrepreneur Value: 5/5 â No attorneys needed. Period.

Personal Value: 5/5 â Never before has so much material been available to mix and reuse. Have fun and share.

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