As images gain more importance in the social media landscape, it can be tough for publishers (aka everyone) to keep up. In this session, we’ll take a look at ways non-visual professionals can approach this new challenge, and in the process help to break down silos and change the way we think about content creation from the start.
Image is Everything: Visual Communication and the Social Media Workflow
1. Image is Everything:
Visual Communication and the
Social Media Workflow
Ben Rubenstein
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2. About me
Senior Manager, Social
Media & Online
Community at TechTarget
Past:
Not a visual mastermind
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3. The big picture
Content has changed –
so has the way we
produce, promote +
consume it
Challenges abound –
technical, procedural +
philosophical
Via flickr/aranarth
Communication solves
a lot
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14. Why you should care
90% of information
transmitted to the brain is
visual (3M/Zabisco)
70% of all Facebook
activities revolve around
photos (Harvard Business Review)
Social media posts with
images: 47% increase in
engagement (Curata)
TL,DR: Visual content
is easy to share, easy
to remember
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20. We’re asking a lot of our staff
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21. People want to do the right thing, but…
Lack of experience
Lack of time
Technical roadblocks
New tools, new rules
Writing
SEO
Events
Editing
Podcasts
Videos
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22. So we end up with images that are…
Misleading (and ugly)
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23. So we end up with images that are…
Legally questionable (and often ugly)
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24. So we end up with images that are…
Just plain fugly
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26. New image guidelines needed
• Protect the company
• Build and maintain reader
trust
• Communicate content well
• Grab reader attention
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27. Solution 1: Simplify the process
Before
After
House-created images have standard naming convention, easier to find/distribute
Empower editors to find their own images in advance or request appropriate versions
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28. Solution 2: Clarify the options
Use only:
Original content
Company-approved images
Images from our articles
Topic-specific icons
Single point of contact
Reduces risk
Increases communication
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29. Solution 3: Change the mindset
(great, more here)
Think about images and
social media as you’re
creating content
What will you need?
How will you get it?
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31. Promising outlook
More appropriate social images
Promotion plans starting earlier
Increase in FB engagement
Social sharing functions under
review (metadata/microdata)
New, image-heavy site designs
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35. What we’ve learned
Define roles, but recognize the blurred lines between them
What
rhymes
with
“fugly”?
via flickr/iconolith
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36. What we’ve learned
We’re all in this together
via flickr/iconolith
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37. What we haven’t learned: How to draw
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