Image is Everything: Visual Communication and the Social Media Workflow

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Image is Everything: Visual Communication and the Social Media Workflow Ben Rubenstein @Ben_Rubenstein #LavaCon @LavaCon

description

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.

Transcript of Image is Everything: Visual Communication and the Social Media Workflow

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Image is Everything: Visual Communication and the

Social Media Workflow

Ben Rubenstein

@Ben_Rubenstein #LavaCon @LavaCon

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About me

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Senior Manager, Social Media & Online Community at TechTarget

Past:

Not a visual mastermind

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The big picture

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Content has changed – so has the way we produce, promote + consume it

Challenges abound – technical, procedural + philosophical

Communication solves a lot

Via flickr/aranarth

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Content: Perception

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Content: Reality

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Social media: Then

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Social media: Then

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Social media: Now

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Social media: Now

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Social media: Now

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Social media: Now

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Social media: Now

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Social media: Now

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Why you should care

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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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Our challenge

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We’ve tried our best

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But it’s hard…

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Our social strategy

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100+ sites = 300+ social presences Content planning and

scheduling (repositories)

Best practices training + documentation

Engagement + feedback

Efficiency tools

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Our first test: Profile creation + updating

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We’re asking a lot of our staff

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People want to do the right thing, but…

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Lack of experience Lack of time Technical roadblocks New tools, new rules

WritingEditingSEO

EventsVideos

Podcasts

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So we end up with images that are…

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Misleading (and ugly)

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So we end up with images that are…

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Legally questionable (and often ugly)

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So we end up with images that are…

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Just plain fugly

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Retraining needed

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Visual communication is hard, just like writing is hard

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New image guidelines needed

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• Protect the company• Build and maintain reader

trust• Communicate content well• Grab reader attention

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Solution 1: Simplify the process

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House-created images have standard naming convention, easier to find/distribute

Empower editors to find their own images in advance or request appropriate versions

Before After

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Solution 2: Clarify the options

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Use only: Images from our articles Original content Company-approved images Topic-specific icons

Single point of contact Reduces risk Increases communication

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Solution 3: Change the mindset

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Think about images and social media as you’re creating content What will you need?

How will you get it?

(great, more here)

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Solution 3: Change the mindset

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Promising outlook

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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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What we’ve learned

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Stockpile original content

via flickr/iconolith

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What we’ve learned

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Metadata matters

via flickr/iconolith

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What we’ve learned

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Constraints are good

via flickr/iconolith

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What we’ve learned

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Define roles, but recognize the blurred lines between them

via flickr/iconolith

What rhymes with “fugly”?

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What we’ve learned

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We’re all in this together

via flickr/iconolith

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What we haven’t learned: How to draw

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Thank you

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http://www.benrubenstein.net

linkedin.com/benrubenstein

@ben_rubenstein