Photo sharing has made a booming market in recent years. It appears that everyone appreciates a nice picture and even about six months ago there was a new social network launch which depends solely on photo sharing features. In the past, many businesses have depended on the power of words and sales pitches to gain customers while spending endlessly in adverts to reach more potential audience. However, all these are now changing as people are waking up to the real benefits of social networking and leveraging specifically the gripping and engaging qualities of digital images.
Instead of thinking what other adjective might work to get that lead, another sale letter that may work on your fan page or what to tweet that people will actually like to click and read, why not share a photo? Like the old adage; an image can say a thousand words and this remains true till now. So if you are thinking of harnessing the benefits of photo sharing but don’t actually know what you will get from it, here are some of the business related benefits of photo sharing and how you can get started.
Link Building
I guess you may not have thought of this, but proper photo sharing can earn your target site a good reputation with the serps. Almost all the social networking sites and photo sharing platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest allows users to link to a relevant site with their images. You can leverage this opportunity to create quality back-links to your site which will force the serp bots to recognize your site as an authority in its niche. This was one of my main strategies when I started my own Mixbook site last year and helped me break through the competition.
Traffic Generation
What is a business without customers? Whether you have a niche blog, a consulting business or a retail store, you can’t make a dime without a customer. Getting access to potential customers and getting them sold is always the root of every marketing strategy. While several other methods have been in place over the years, digital photos are now becoming so relevant in getting and retaining the attention of prospects or customers. To this end, when you share photos, pins as in Pinterest or tweet with an enticing image, i.e. edited with pinnacle, there are higher chances of attracting more viewers, readers and thus a click-through to your site. At some point, we all get pissed by long pages of texts and may get tired of reading despite the content. However, with an image, it is a different ball game; you are entertaining, offering value and selling at the same time.
Gives Businesses the Human Touch
People are attracted to simplicity and this is what boosts their trust on so called experts or, merchants. When you behave like an alien with that ‘I know-all’ attitude, you simply don’t fall in their category and thus can’t help them because this is what they think; from the way you talk, the meaning you make or imply and the pictures you share show that there was never a time you lived like them and as a result lack knowledge on how they can ever be satisfied. This may be the reason few people respond to your sales pitches and full page of in-text promises.
Why not share a photo instead? If you are a blogger teaching people how to blog for money, why not show them what you look like; share photos of your house and perhaps that of the old house you left few months back, share the snapshot from your last seminar, and many other images that highlight your human qualities. This will prove to them that you are just an ordinary human like they are, but also an expert who knows a little more than them at the moment. I bet they will have every reason to listen to your points and accept your suggestions and recommendations.
This applies to almost any business. It takes merely common sense to figure out some related events, items or inspirational photos that your audience will appreciate, which also complements your products and services. For instance, it is far better to tell your Facebook fans that you just added a couple of products in your fashion retail shop or to show them photos of a couple of in-fashion accessories with short descriptions like “stylish blue tweed jacket — used by Usher Raymond last weekend”, “home theatre set… 5 days old in the market from Samsung”, and others like this. Imagine the kind of response you could get with an image and description like that! The opportunity is limitless, and I have personally fed my Mixbook and Pinnacle coupon blog with more traffic just by playing this game through the social media.
Photo sharing has become a powerful marketing strategy that many businesses are now taking advantage of. While gaining you quality backlinks to improve your site’s search engine ranking, it will also give your business more exposure and make it appear more caring and trustworthy before your audience.
10 comments
Andrea says:
Jun 15, 2012
Your helpful tips seem to be very important for me, I1m a newbie to the blogger scene and honestly I’ve just started my blog about my hobbies, but I have made some resolutions: I want to be recognized as a tech blogger. These tips could help me reaching my goals as soon as possible, thanks for sharing this useful information! I really like your point on the importance of pic sharing, there is so much to learn for me about the world of blogging and search engines… but I think that the most important thing is instead of all the special marketing tricks and strategies – the content. The images you share. And the way you share them. Pinterest and Facebook are the best solutions for that, I think.
Duffie says:
Jun 15, 2012
Steven, you are so right with your observation that most of us tire of reading long pages of text, often padded out meaninglessly.
Frankly our time is valuable and the message needs to have immediate appeal and a photo replaces an awful lot of text and helps with our personal image and credibility. Besides, it’s so simple to do!
Thank you for the thought. We need a nudge along sometimes.
Steven Papas says:
Jun 18, 2012
Thanks Duffie. I am glad you found the tips useful. The truth is that photo sharing can work magics for business. The key, however, is to use an enticing and relevant image.
Aasma says:
Jun 18, 2012
Photo sharing certainly a great way for traffic generation. By sharing your images on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social networking sites.
Steven Papas says:
Jun 18, 2012
I have to agree with you Aasma. Additionally, most of these social sites have viral features that can boost our traffic stats when done well; talking about Facebook “Likes”, Pinterest’s “Re-pin”, Twitter’s “Retweet”, etc.
Laura says:
Jun 18, 2012
I really like your point on the benefits of photo sharing on the link building process. After the Penguin update, the link building techniques must be re-thought and these alternative methods could help one’s site to survive.
Steven Papas says:
Jun 21, 2012
You are so welcome Laura. It is an interesting moment for the SEO industry and many people, including SEO agencies are currently testing and speculating on what might be the long-term solution to the frequent Google slaps. Undoubtedly, the search bots seem to be in love with social trends and some link juice from these sites are more important now than never. I am glad you found the tips helpful!
Alex says:
Jun 20, 2012
I partially agree with this statement. Well, if your niche blog, a lot of pictures, such as nature, technology, food. But if your blog is about internet marketing, SEO, blogging? What pictures will you share? Although you can try to show a bunch of text as graphs, charts, but it will not so effectively.
Elena Anne says:
Jun 21, 2012
Photo sharing is an important part of having a business. It allows customers to have a visual interaction with you. I would recommend Pinterest, which a lot of businesses are now incorporating into their social media plan.
Elena Anne says:
Jun 25, 2012
Photo sharing is definitely an important part of marketing your business. Fortunately Pinterest offers a fun and easy way to do this. In addition, check out my new blog post on saving costs: http://yourlifetube.com/vitacost_coupon_codes.