5 Tactics for Increasing Engagement on Your Social Media Photos

For marketers and business owners, engagement on social media photos is critical. You need it to grow your business, interact with existing customers, and expand to new audiences. 

Even as Instagram claims it’s no longer a photo-sharing platform, photos are still widely shared on the platform. They’re also easier to create on a steady basis than Reels and other video formats. 

As any marketer knows, understanding the leading social platforms’ ever-changing algorithm and staying up to date with what audiences expect is tough work, from coming up with ideas that will resonate on TikTok to keeping up with the latest marketing memes. 

These five tips can help you increase social media engagement on your photos – and have fun while you do.

1. Add an Unexpected Color

In order to increase engagement on photos, it’s important to get your audience to pay attention. Adding a pop of an unexpected color or image filters can help to grab their eye for a moment. Using an unexpected color will throw viewers off, and they might do a double-take.

There’s a reason why New York taxis are painted school bus yellow. It was specifically chosen because it is easy to spot from a distance. The bright yellow color grabs the attention of pedestrians looking for a ride, just like you want to grab the attention of your audience.

For social media users who are infinitely scrolling, it’s important that your post stands out. By adding an unexpected color, your post will look different from the rest.

The best tool to introduce an unexpected color in your post is Snapseed. Snapseed allows you to enhance color to really make your post stand out. You can get it for your iPhone or Android.

2. Add Motion to Your Still

Another way to increase engagement on your social media posts is by adding motion to your still image. A little bit of movement can go a long way to catching your audience’s eye. Humans automatically focus on movement, even when they aren’t directly looking at what moves. Tap into the biology of the human eye to grab the attention of your audience.

The motion you add to your still can be as simple or as dramatic as you want. Adding motion to a picture converts a still image into an arresting and engaging work of art.

The best tool to use to add motion to your still image is Motionleap, an app by Lightricks. Motionleap lets you turn normal pictures into animated 3D photos. You can easily add movement, pick the speed, or replace the background. Make your post come to life to maximize engagement with your followers. Motionleap is available in the App Store and on Google Play.

3. Schedule Posts Consistently

Human beings are creatures of habit. We like routines because they make us feel less stressed and make our lives feel more meaningful. Instagram’s algorithms and strategists have certainly caught on to this. Instagram rewards creators who post reliably.

That means you’ll have more impact if you consistently schedule post on facebook or other platform two to three times a week than if you post a bunch one week and then nothing the next week.

Remember that you want both existing and new potential customers to know who you are. Make sure you keep in mind that your audience is growing, so make sure to let everyone know who you are and they can expect your content.

It may be more convenient for you to prepare a bunch of posts at one time, but it’s better if they actually get published at regular intervals. The best tool to use to control the release of your posts is Later. With Later, you can plan, analyze, and publish your content. Later can also help suggest the best time for you to post and make sense of what works best for your account by providing you with personal insights.

4. Experiment with Filters

Being consistent doesn't only mean posting at a regular cadence. Your whole account can be consistent, and it’s important that you focus on that. Branding extends beyond the product or tone you use in your posts. Branding in photos also applies to filters.

Filters allow you to give your whole feed a consistent vibe. Take a leaf out of the best influencers’ books and make sure your photos all meld well as a whole as well as individually. When someone scrolls through your account, everything should look and feel the same. Take a look at how Simone Bramante’s feed accomplishes this.

You can use VSCO to create a custom editing process using one of VSCO’s presets and then adjusting the grain, fade, clarity, and more to create your own unique look. You can then apply these edits to all of your photos to make your account look and feel consistent.

5. Tell Stories

To maximize engagement with your audience, you have to let them in. Customers love getting the chance to peek behind the curtain and getting to know the real you behind the brand. It’s hard to give them a chance to get to know you with a single photo, but a carousel allows you to string together multiple photos into a linear story. Instagram’s native carousel is a post with multiple photos or videos that can be viewed one at a time by swiping through them.

A key part of this tactic is that Instagram counts swiping gestures within posts as engagement. You’ll be rewarded for this engagement with higher exposure to new users and higher priority when it comes to content surfacing in peoples’ newsfeeds.

You can use a carousel to tell a story by posting before and after pictures, share recaps of an event, introduce your team, or step through one of your routines or processes. Carousels are captivating and help draw users into you by allowing you to tell your story.

Final Thoughts 

Engagement on social media photos is super important for marketers and business owners. Engagement is a vital part of growing your business, expanding to new audiences, and getting the chance to interact with your existing customers. Photos are a big part of social media, so it’s important for you to figure out how to optimize the photos you post to score maximum engagement with your audience.

Remember to create a unique and consistent look for your posts with VSCO, since this helps establish your brand, makes your content recognizable, and looks good. Your customers like consistency, so make sure to spread out your posts with Later, rather than sharing them all at once. 

Attention is everything in social media, and by adding a hint or splash of motion to your still photo, you can draw in new and existing customers to truly engage with your content using Motionleap. On top of movement, you can also add a splash of color using Snapseed to grab their eye.

Using a combination of these tools will help you maximize engagement, since they all provide unique advantages that will let your posts perform better on social media.

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