Create consistently good web and social media content, part 3

3. Use photos and videos

Text-only posts are nice, but they’re not particularly eye catching.

Without a photo most corporate posts are just ‘meh’

Take this post we published a few weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic.

The team at our Motorway Control Centre are always there to make sure you have a safe journey home.

During this challenging time our team are always spaced 1.5m apart and working in rostered pairs to make sure we keep everyone safe.

That was a nice message to share, but it was only when you saw the accompanying photo that the post actually become a good one:

Photo of a large control room with high ceilings. The wall at the far end of the room is filled with multiple screens showing status graphics and live CCTV video. The room has several large workstations with sit-stand desks, each with five computer monitors arranged in a semi-circle. There are two people working in the control room and they are at the opposite ends of the room from each other.

Showing is more powerful than telling

You can tell this story…

Mix around 6,000 seedlings, some rays of sunshine and a few drops of water — and you’ll get bush regeneration.

Together with @HornsbyCouncil we’ve been able to bring life back to this section of Beecroft Reserve which runs along the Hills M2 Motorway.

But it’s only when you show that story that it really comes to life:

Photo collage of two photos. The photo on the left shows a dry and brown corridor of land next to a shallow spillway. The photo on the right shows the same corridor now lush with vegetation.

Bonus tip: People love before-and-after shots, the more dramatic the better. If you are creating, building, or changing anything, try to take (and subsequently share) as many before-and-after shots as you can.

Don’t just document, tell a story

Many people take photos just to document what’s going on. Don’t do that.

Use your photos to tell a story about your event or project: share specific details along with your feelings and opinions.

For example, let’s say you attend an in-person conference (remember those from the pre-pandemic days?). The laziest photo you could take at an event like that is something like is (about half of which is just the backs of chairs and people’s heads):

Photo of a large conference room. There are dozens of people seated in chairs facing the stage, and the bottom half of the photo is just the backs of these chairs and the backs of the audience’s heads. On the stage is the speaker, who is standing behind a podium and is talking to the audience. On the wall in front of the audience is a large projector screen showing a slide with the title ‘The Second Curve - planning for an uncertain future’. The rest of the text on the slide is too small to read. [Source: Karen Shuster]

All that photo says is “I attended a conference”.

You photo should say a lot more than that. At the very least it should focus on a subject or it should express an emotion.

Like it could say “the conference was huge”:

Photo of a massive conference room. There are hundreds of people seated in chairs facing the stage, all focused on what the speaker is saying. The speaker is a small figure walking across the stage in the left corner of the photo. [Source: Samuel Periera]

Or “I was a panellist at a talk”:

Close-up photo of a microphone on top on a table, taken from the side of the person who will be speaking into that microphone. In the background, which is out of focus, you can see several dozen audience members facing the speaker, who is evidently a panelist who is seated at the table on the stage. [Source: Ben Rogers]

Or “my talk went really well”:

Photo of a speaker standing with their back to the audience while they take a selfie of themselves with the audience in the background of their photo. [Source: Howard Lake]

Or “the speaker was super engaging”:

Photo of a what appears to be a café in which several people are seated on long tables. All the people are focused on the speaker, who is standing on the opposite side of the room. We can only see the back of the speaker. They are holding a microphone and are gesturing as they speak to the audience. [Source: Cydor]

Or even just “we had a great time”:

Photo of several people seated in the front row of an audience at a talk. They are all dressed professionally and the three closest to the camera are smiling. [Source: Priscilla Du Preez]

Basically, try to figure out what story you want to tell – ie what you see or feel at this event that you want to tell people about – and then take a photo that helps you tell this story.

Match your image with what you’re saying

The type of photo you take needs to match the story you’re trying to tell. So…

Take a wide shot when you want to set the scene or show the scale of your project or event.

Overhead photo of a large event registration space, probably taken from the floor above. Dozens of people are standing around chatting with each other, while some are standing in front of tables to collect their name tags. [Source: Product School]

Take a medium shot when you want to showcase one part of your project or event.

Photo of people in a meeting room. Most people are sitting around a large table with their laptops open in front of them. The far wall that has lots of colourful sticky notes grouped on it. A woman is standing by this wall with her hand raised towards to the sticky notes. Most of the people sitting on the table are looking at her. This appears to be a project planning session. [Source: Leon]

Take a narrow shot when you want to focus on something specific in your story.

Photo of two people seated at a table, both looking at a large computer monitor. The person closest to the camera is using a trackpad and keyboard. [Source: Christina @ wocintechchat.com]

More photo-taking tips

I’ve covered how to take better work-related photos in another series, so check that out for more specific photo-taking advice:

Since I shared this advice with people at work, the quality of photos I’ve received from them has improved drastically. 

Also, if you’re interested, here are a couple of photo editing show-and-tell posts I did on my personal blog that you might also find useful:

Often videos are better than photos

From a communications point of view, photos and videos accomplish different objectives:

  • Photos are good for awareness: they’re easy to understand, and a good photo can almost instantly tell your story.

  • Videos are good for understanding: but only if people watch your video first. Once your video plays, of course, you get the opportunity to tell a more complex or comprehensive story to your audience.

This post about car seat testing, for example, was much more effective with a video than with just a photo:

New research from @neuraustralia has shown a potential safety benefit in using plastic chest clips on child car restraints, reducing the risk of serious injury in a crash #RoadSafety #StaySafe

Watching a video of a crash test is much more effective than just seeing a photo of a car seat strapped onto a crash simulation sled. (We tested this. The video got a lot more engagement.)

Serendipitous videos are even better

Good serendipitous videos from CCTV cameras are always gold. If you use CCTV cameras and have access to video from them, try to mine them for as much content as you can.

Those are some sweet sprinklers in the Burnley Tunnel!

A truck carrying sugar started smoking in the Burnley Tunnel & was quickly spotted by our Traffic Control Room who kicked our deluge system into gear.

Thanks to @MFB_NEWS & @VictoriaPolice for attending to the incident

Always add descriptions to your photos and captions to your videos

Everyone should be able to understand what you’re trying to say.

Add image descriptions or alternative text (alt-text) to your images.

Here are a two useful guides, both of which have good references for additional reading (at the bottom of each page):

Add captions (and, if you can, transcripts) to your videos. There are several automated tools (and even live transcription services) that can do this for you now.

Many videos on the web use open captions (ie text that is burned into the video). But websites like YouTube and Facebook let you upload caption files, so there you can also use closed captions (ie captions that you can turn on and off by clicking the [CC] button).

My recommendation is to add open captions to all your videos. That way you can use the same video on websites and do and don’t support closed captions.

Use photos and videos: recap

Let’s recap how you can tell a better story using photos and videos:

  • Without a photo most corporate posts are just ‘meh’: photos bring a story to life, particularly interesting behind-the-scenes photos that people don’t often get to see

  • Showing is more powerful than telling: you can really drive home your point with a photo

  • Don’t just document, tell a story: share specific details, along with your feelings and opinions

  • Often videos are better than photos: good videos let you explain your story better

  • Serendipitous videos work particularly well: the more unusual or unexpected your video, the more effective it’ll be

  • Always add descriptions to your photos and captions to you videos: everyone should be able to understand what you’re trying to say

Next in the series

On to ‘Use numbers’…