How to Post Eye-catching Images on Social Media

Time needed: 30 minutes.

Ten how-to tips for posting eye-catching content on Social Media:

1. Visual content needs to be compelling. Great photos are pleasant to look at, but if they don’t tell a story or get viewers excited, they’re not going to engage followers.

   
   

2. Your social media images look should be consistent across your posts, helping followers easily recognize your content in their feeds. The average user follows about several accounts—make sure your followers can easily spot your style.
   
   

   
   

3. If using images other than photos, such as infographics, memes, or animations, make sure they’re crisp, clear, easy-to read, colorful, and eye-catching.

   
   

4. Don’t neglect your captions! Social sites are visual mediums—but your captions need attention also. Your voice is just as important as your look. Like your visuals, be consistent across your posts—and please use spellcheck.

   
   

5. Get all the important information into the first two lines of your caption. Write a few words or a detailed story, but only the first two lines of text appear in the news feed of most sites without tapping more. Therefore, people tend to scan captions rather than read them thoroughly.

   
   

6. Your caption should be relevant, entertaining or informative, and compelling. If possible, include a location. People will react to posts from places they know, have been to, or want to go to.

   
   

7. Hashtags are an important way to increase your visibility and discoverability. We recommend no more than three to ten hashtags per post. More than that can look like hashtag stuffing, a spammy tactic that turns followers off. In addition, if you use irrelevant or repetitive hashtags, users can choose to turn off content for specific tags.

   
   

8. To get the most out of a hashtag, choose hashtags that:

   
   – are relevant — #naturelovers #intothewild #wildlifefriend #naturephotography.
   – are specific — #canonphotography #thediscoverer #travelphotography.
   – do not beg for a follow or like-swapping — #like4like #followme
   
   

9. If you want engagement, you must engage with your followers. In other words, posting quality content is a start, but if you ignore comments, you’ll have slow growth. Pinning comments, from top fans or those likely to spark conversations, is a way to encourage more engagement and followers on your posts. At a minimum, respond to comments users post on your images, even if just a smiley face.

   
   
   

10. Avoid a lonely existence on the network. Interact with other profiles: seek out popular accounts that you find interesting, follow them, and like and comment on their posts