How to plan what images you need for social media.

When you first start thinking about having a Photoshoot you have to think about what type of photos you’re going to need.

And this could be things like images for your website or maybe photos for social media. Perhaps you even have a new course coming out soon so you’re going to need some images for advertising.

So to give us a better idea we at look a few different things when we plan what images you need.

What does a typical day look like for you?

People are nosy and want to see what’s going on behind-the-scenes, so they want to see what type of day you have.

Whether you work from a home office or at a co-working site it’s good to put a little context into your daily life. Do you take the kids to school, perhaps you take your dog out every day around a pretty lake?

Are you a tea or a coffee drinker? What sort of activities are we likely to see you doing during the normal working day?

And it can be as mundane as you like because you want people to relate to you as a real person. Maybe we will get photos of you doing laundry or cooking?

Do you go out to your local village and do errands and is there a pretty little shop that you always like to call into, or perhaps a really nice café where you like to grab a coffee?

All these things can be shown in your photos and they give you a good way to share more about your life and behind-the-scenes of your business.

What do you like to talk about?

Next when we plan what images you need, we’ll have a think about what you talk about when you’re on social media. And this can be obvious things like your business or it could be family life.

We can obviously get photos of you working and it doesn’t have to be just photos of your face and your body in the pictures, it can be a bit more abstract.

Maybe we’ll get pictures of your desk or your noticeboard or I will set up the flat lay with some of the important things to you.

We could get pictures of you enjoying time with your family (even just collecting your kids from school). Almost like a day in the life of you.

What elements of your business do people ask questions about?

As time goes on you notice that people ask the same questions again and again. I find this is the case with photography because people ask simple questions that I can answer quickly on a blog or on social media. How can we get photos that relate to these questions?

Sometimes it might be very obvious like you talking on the phone or perhaps it could be something more specific like when I am asked how many pairs of shoes should people bring to shoots. I could have a photo of shoes.

What gives you more engagement when you talk about it?

Big question to ask yourself, is what topics give you the most engagement with your customers so you can plan what images you need. Whether this is something personal or something to do with business it can give us a guide to what you need photos of?

I personally find that when I post photos of myself I get the most engagement so it makes sense to have more of those photos (clearly I don’t though as it’s a constant battle to have the time to get photos of me when I’m out shooting most days!).

Do you have a specific place on your website that needs filling with photos?

It’s good to know before a shoot where you’ll physically be using the images?

Maybe at the top of your website you have a “hero” image that needs filling? But it needs to have lots of negative space (the areas around you that you can add writing to?).

At the top of LinkedIn, twitter or Facebook it allows you to place specifically sized images. It’s good to know beforehand what you’re going to use the images for.

Which type of images do you often find yourself looking for most often (either paid ones or from freebie sites)?

I can never find images of groups of women enjoying themselves or images of home offices that could actually be mine (you know…slightly dishevelled) but perhaps for you it’s even more niche?

When I was working with Cheryl of Flourish Research recently she needed images of specific aspect of her work and there were very few stock images (and no pretty ones at all!) so it made sense to plan what images you need and create the photo we wanted?

Having an idea of what photos are actually going to be useful, makes the whole shoot process so much easier.

And when you’re ready, here are three ways that I can help you:

1) Visit my blog for tips on VISIBILITY.

Every week I discuss strategies to improve your visibility, get over your fear of visibility and my latest shoots.  Read here

2) Plan a bespoke photoshoot.

We can plan a shoot based on what you actually need (read more) or you could join me at a Branding Day.

3) Join ‘Visibility School’.

Visibility school is a membership group where you get 12 months of photoshoots, a fab little Facebook group and lots of bonus content too (new for 2024 members) . Read