Being a business owner means you have to wear many hats: boss, employee, accountant, Human Resources, and perhaps the most important, a marketing expert. In the new digital age, social media has made marketing even easier than ever before and better yet, FREE! The trick for efficient marketing is to create content that your target audience not only finds interesting, but actually encourages engagement. One of the first steps to attracting your ideal client in the 2.5 second scroll on social media is through eye-catching and visually interesting images. Here are 4 tips that will help you maximize your social media potential with DIY photography. WIN!
Create
One of the first things that I recommend you do before taking the actual photo is creating a plan. I am a huge believe in working smarter and not harder. If you are able to produce multiple content images at one time, do it! Doing something blindly tends to produce mediocre results lacking in that extra attention to detail. Sit down, figure out what your end product is going to be like, and write it down.
Compose
After formulating your plan, composing your image (whether on your smart phone or with your DSLR digital camera) 
is pretty important. Arrangement of your subjects can make a photo more visually pleasing. If you are ever curious as to what are the best composition tips, go visit some of your favorite popular social media accounts and analyze their technique. Take inspiration with their product placement, their on location images, or their text advertisements and modify to fit your business.
Capture
Although composition is a pretty important part of creating that stellar content, capturing your image in the correct lighting is hands down the most important element in producing a great photo. Whether you are going for the golden hour back-lit candid image, gorgeous evenly lit product photo, or a sunny and bright outdoor photo, lighting is KEY! Practice, practice, practice! Natural lighting tends to be more flattering for product photos than uneven, indoor lighting. Think about the shadow placement. For outdoor images, the golden hour, the hour after sunrise or hour before sunset, is a favorite among photographers myself included.
Crop
This is one of the simpler tips there is for social media marketing but knowing your crop for whichever platform is something to keep in mind. Instagram is (mostly) 1:1 ratio square images. If you are using Snapchat, you are dealing with 9:16 ratio which is heavily portrait oriented. Facebook can go either way. You don’t want to take a photo only to have to crop out some of your favorite details due to cropping issues. This goes back to tip 1 in creating a plan, knowing your purpose for the image, and working smarter, not harder!
Bonus tip – Cohesiveness
When it comes to your social media feed, it’s really important to develop a cohesive look for your images. This can be as simple as always using the same filters and settings on your images. It could also be done with including the same pop of color (from your branding!) in your images. You want to create something that is recognizable in that split second scroll that gives your audience a pause to view more!
As diverse as your businesses can be, your social media is not meant to be a cookie cutter to someone else’s feed. Do what feels right for your brand, your identity, and be sure that it makes you proud!
If you are feeling overwhelmed, hire a professional!
xx,
Sami
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