Around a billion people use Instagram every month, so it’s an incredible platform for building and marketing a business. But you won’t have much success if you make a ton of photo marketing mistakes.
Whether you don’t have a posting schedule or you post whatever is in your camera roll, you can do some damage.
Keep reading to learn about some common photo marketing mistakes and how you can avoid them.
1. Only Selling
One of the biggest photo marketing mistakes you can make is only posting photos that look like ads. Social media is an excellent place to market your business, but you don’t want to overwhelm your followers.
If all you post are photos promoting your latest product, you can drive people away. People don’t like it when someone is selling something to them.
While that can make it hard to sell your products with photos, it’s not impossible. Instead of only posting photos of products, share your workspace or some tips related to your business.
For every five photos you post, four should be more entertaining or informative. That last photo can be where you sell your latest product or service. Then, you can keep your feed more authentic and relatable.
2. Inconsistent Posting
Social media marketing revolves around consistency. While some platforms don’t show business posts as much as personal ones, you should have a posting schedule.
You don’t have to post a photo every day, but you need to be predictable. If you post every day for a week, your audience will come to expect that.
But if you go weeks without publishing a new photo, your followers may forget about you. And when you do post that photo weeks out, your followers may not see it.
If you have a bunch of photos that you can post, schedule them out. Choose a schedule that works for your business, and don’t be afraid to experiment with what gets the best results.
3. No Focus
If you’re just starting a business, you may not have much of a digital marketing strategy. But one of the biggest photo marketing mistakes you can make is not having a niche.
A niche is like a topic that you focus all of your content on. If you run an online clothing shop, you can focus on clothing and fashion.
Or if you want to offer photography sessions, you can focus on photography tips. Your friends and family may want to see pictures of your pets or your latest vacation, but your customers won’t care.
You want to show your true self, but you don’t want to post just anything. Keep your business social media accounts professional and relevant to your brand.
4. No Faces
Another big mistake to avoid is not showing human faces in your photos. You don’t have to show yourself, but you can use models or other images.
If you own a small business, showing yourself can personalize your company. Your customers can learn more about you and see who they’re buying from.
Instead of always posting product photos, include some with people in them. Show people using your product or engaging in your service.
You don’t need every photo to have a face in it, but having some will make your brand more intriguing. Seeing photos of people can turn more website visitors into customers.
5. All Static Photos
While standard photos are interesting, they can get boring after a while. You can use GIFs to break things up in a long Instagram feed.
One way to use a GIF is to show how to use your product. You can use written instructions or videos to showcase your product, but a GIF is short and sweet.
If it doesn’t make sense to showcase your product with a GIF, you have other options. You could choose a GIF that shows off your excitement at releasing a new product or service.
Or you can learn how to make GIFs from photos to get even more creative. No matter how you use GIFs, they’re a great tool to stand out with your digital marketing strategy.
6. Sharing Too Much
When running a business social media account, you need to be careful about what you post. Even if you have a huge library of photos, you may not want to post all of them.
For example, you may have a photo that’s blurry, dark, and generally unappealing. If you post that online, it won’t look good. It could be the first photo of yours that someone sees, and they may conclude all of your photos are like that.
You should also avoid sharing photos that give away any company secrets. That way, you can protect yourself and keep your competition from learning those things.
To avoid sharing too much, look at your photos as a customer. Think about how the photo looks and what your followers will think. If it doesn’t look as good as your other photos, don’t publish it.
7. Not Editing
You may have an excellent photo that you want to share but that has some minor issues. If you know how to edit photos, you can fix small things like lighting and contrast.
When editing a photo, you can also crop the image or add a filter. You can also use the same editing style to make your photos look good together.
That way, your social media profile will look more cohesive and professional. However, you also want to avoid editing your photos too much.
While some editing can make a good photo even better, you want to keep it natural. Avoid editing a model’s body shape or skin tone. Make sure the photo still looks good after you finish editing it and that there aren’t any weird spots.
Then, you can post the photos you want while maintaining your audience’s trust.
Have You Made These Photo Marketing Mistakes?
Many business owners have had some failures on their way to success. When it comes to digital marketing, there are tons of common photo marketing mistakes.
From not using GIFs to only posting ads, you should avoid these issues. Then, you can make your business more relatable, and you can attract more customers.
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