4 Photo Mistakes Companies Make on Social Media & How to Avoid Them

For a company, having a space on social media is always a few clicks away, but having the right presence that people will notice, value, respond to, and interact with – is another pair of sleeves. There are many photo mistakes companies make on social media, and we will point them out here and show you how to avoid them.

In a competitive worldwide fight for attention in this digital arena, images are a powerful asset for any brand, yet so many companies fail to deliver in that area by making common mistakes we are about to cover today.

Usual oversights and issues we see over and over again:

• Treating all social media platforms the same
• Disregarding the statistics of images already posted
• Ignoring the competition and their activity
• Little attention to detail with the images

Why is this so important? By addressing these problems, you are benefiting your business in many different ways:

• By posting more appealing images, you make them more sharable
• Relevant visual assets scratch the itch of your fans – they answer questions, entertain, build loyalty
• Professional-looking images help you build trust and reputation with your customers
• The premium approach helps you grow brand-building relationships with other companies and influencers

Important remark: This article focuses on social media images on a profile that has its foundations already set up properly. This implies that you have a profile that’s complete – meaning you used all the available “profile info” and “about us” fields and you provided your users and fans with relevant and engaging information in your brands’ tone. 

If you are yet to do that, we recommend fixing these issues first.

Let’s start with our list.

Mistake 1: Treating all social media platforms the same

Think about all your interactions with different social media networks. Do they feel the same and do you use them in the same manner? We bet that the experience is quite different for you, so it makes sense to apply that logic to every platform you handle, because now you are the content/value provider.

What do we mean by this?

If you are sharing the same photos on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, always keep in mind the differences between each platform, to make sure that you tweak the message and the feel if there’s room and a sense to do so. 

For example, Facebook has a broader reach age-wise, while Instagram is predominantly used by younger generations. Twitter, on the other hand, is a micro-blogging service and is different from Instagram as Instagram is different from Facebook. 

Remember: Some fans overlap, but the audiences can be very different, so the ways you are communicating can affect the performance of your posts.

Some basic differences: Just as videos are very popular and shareable content on Facebook, photos – and high-resolution ones for that matter – are where Instagram’s strengths lie. And as far as Twitter goes, you don’t have to spend too much time on it to realize that news posts and GIFs flood that popular network.

Conclusion? Instagram is photo-oriented, so this is the main place where you want to show your creativity and professionalism with your images, and use concise and relevant captions as a compliment to your visual content.

On Facebook, posts with images can get much more interaction than posts without one, even 60%+ more. On this platform, people tend to form communities and share interesting content with their friends, and for that reason, many companies use images and text to tell stories.

On Twitter, companies love to use several relevant hashtags next to the images, keep it short, sweet, and conversational and make an appropriate call to action.

Mistake 2: Disregarding the statistics of images already posted

Keeping track of numbers your posts receive is like keeping your finger on a pulse and giving your fans the social media “diet” they need.

Why track? It’s not about what photos you like the most, it’s about which posts hit the mark – what’s important are the metrics. With organic reach data, you get to know your audience on a deep and meaningful level, and in paid advertising, this crucial information will tell you what to do (or not to do) to further polish-up campaigns and improve/narrow your aims (save money).

How to track? On Facebook, the Overview tab in Page Insights will show you everything from page likes to post engagements, while Twitter also has its daily-updated Analytics page – on analytics.twitter.com. As far as Instagram goes, important numbers can be found in Meta Business Suite, next to Facebook’s deep analysis.

To companies all over the world, data tracking is as important as market research – and for a good reason.

Important note: To create more personalized and more relevant marketing experiences, you can use “all-in-one” third-party tools like napoleoncat.com, which allow tracking of engagement rates, reach, hashtags, and followers, as well as comparison of different social media profiles.

Mistake 3: Ignoring the competition and their activity

Your brand and your customers are your primary focus, but your competition can be one of your greatest assets. 

There are a lot of reasons for keeping track of what companies in your line of work do, how active they are on social media, and how their audiences engage with them (and vice-versa). This rule is important in any case – if you are trying to be completely different and stand out, or if your goal is to “copy” and better their recipe.

Reason to monitor competition:

• You can find out how differently they interact with their fans/followers/customers on different social media and which platforms perform the best
• You can see which posts work best and you can get inspired by your competitors’ content and strategies
• You can find the holes your competitors inevitably have, and reflect on your own potential flaws to try to fix them

Important note! There’s a difference between blatantly copying your competitors’ strategies, and applying and improving on certain successful methods they practice, so be aware of that fine line as this can negatively affect your reputation.

Mistake 4: Little to no attention to details with the images

Post-processing today is half the work, and more or less not controversial at all. To us, a raw image is simply an opportunity and a collection of pixels with endless potential, and in most cases – a way of presenting the reality as we saw it with our own eyes.

Whether you have a person who edits images, or you are doing this by yourself, it’s important not to skip this step. One little change, like exposure adjustment, can make a world of difference. Otherwise, you are most likely just throwing away valuable likes and shares.

Why is Image/photo manipulation and enhancement important? Higher quality equals higher opinion your fans have of you and your brand on this social media landscape, and logically – stunning images are more shareable.

What are some of the easiest things you can do to improve your image? Quick fixes include cropping, straightening the horizon (if applicable), color correcting, contrast adjusting, sharpening, and noise reduction.

Useful note! If you are looking for some quick-fix solutions that are also free, applications that can serve you just fine “on the go” are Photoshop Express Photo Editor, Adobe Lightroom For Mobile, and Instasize Photo Editor. There are, of course, much more free and paid options.

In our Social Media Photography Business Workshop we teach how to make good pictures for your Social Media channels your business and for every day use. We show you basics and easy fixes for getting great visuals for theselves. This will not only increase the quality in your visuals but also getting more people to see your pictures – for free!

Conclusion!

You learned the 4 main Photo mistakes to avoid in the social channels such as Instagram.

It is vital to know avoid those. Learn to not do them again the fast way in our dedicated business photography workshop.

Get to know our Business Workshop – we teach companies how to make great visuals for theselves. No need to hire a photographer every time – your smartphone is enough. Learn how to make such beautiful pictures for your business yourself in our Social Media Photography Business Workshop.

Compelling images are vital to your business – you can use them to attract attention, drive sales, and build trust. 

They say images equal a thousand words, and in modern times – images can equal a thousand likes. The success of your posts mostly depends on you, so do the right research, be on top of your game, and make competitors chase you.