Content Photo Research Tips
This article was published on February 9, 2024
Categorized in: Content
Content marketing is about a lot more than just writing articles. There are different types of content, but the one thing that they all have in common is even if they are word-driven, the internet is a fairly visual place. You need to have imagery associated with all your content without fail in order for them to perform well. People just don’t like to read long blocks of text without something visual to break things up.
However, there is a lot more that goes into the use of photos for content marketing than people might realize. It’s not enough to randomly select a photo that you feel might relate. There’s a lot to keep in mind.
Photos Need to Be On Brand
Too often, we’ve seen companies that spend a fair amount of time on their branding elements, such as their logo, website design, etc, but then hardly give their photos a passing thought. The problem is, they relate to the brand more than these companies might realize. If the companies are off brand, random, and disjointed, then this can do more harm than good for people’s perception of your company.
Photo selection needs to keep this in mind. When putting together your branding elements for the company, also include some rules for photos. Although this may feel like an extra, unnecessary step, you will notice a difference in the way people perceive your business, just buy the photos alone.
Photos Should Align with Demographics
Another photo selection tip for digital marketing is to make sure that photo selection that involves people hits on all the main parts of your target market and demographic. For example, if your customer base is 80% women, 80% of your photos should be women. It’s even better if you represent different physical features in your selection.
Most of this is subconscious, but when people see a photo of someone who looks like them, this may endear them to your brand a little bit more. It also sends the message that you care about all members of your target audience, not just a select few.
Photos Should Be Relevant to the Content
One of the most important elements of photo selection is that the photos should relate in some way to the content of the piece. For example, if you are selling software as a service and are writing a piece explaining the software, you’ll want to find a photo that either relates to the industry, a screenshot of the software if you’re able, or a photo of someone using the software program.
If the photo doesn’t relate to the content in some way, this will create feelings of confusion to the reader. This may also be subconscious, and it may seem like a minor thing, but if photos consistently miss the mark from your content, it may affect the way your content performs.
It may seem like a small detail, but it isn’t. Your content is very much improved by the photos you select!
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About the Author: Brick Marketing President, Nick Stamoulis
Nick Stamoulis is a digital marketing expert and President of Brick Marketing. With 25+ years experience, he specializes in solving complex digital marketing challenges through SEO, content marketing, social media, PPC, email marketing, SEO for AI (GEO) and conversion optimization.
