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Get the most out of your social media product photos with PhotoRobot’s tips, trends, and strategies for 2021.
Are your social media product photos generating the level of conversions you imagined? Your product imagery on social media has to be more than simply compelling enough to grab attention. It has to drive traffic to your product pages.
On social media, you have only seconds to attract someone’s attention if you really want them to stop scrolling. Then, the challenge becomes convincing them why they should stop what they’re doing long enough to hear your message.
To do this, you really have to make your post (and your product photography for the web) not only eye-catching. It has to also be mobile-friendly, reactive, and interactive. These are the cornerstones to communication strategies on social media today. Moreover, they are essential for building a great customer experience.
In this post, join PhotoRobot to discover how leading brands are using social media to promote their products. We’ll share current trends, our tips, and some strategies for getting the most out of your social media product photos.
First and foremost, your social media product photos are the face of your brand. You must ensure product imagery matches the visual theme of what you’re trying to sell. This is true whether it’s clothing, electronics, toys, luggage, sporting goods, or anything else.
Consumers expect consistency across visual content on all channels where your product appears. Anything that doesn’t quite fit or match your visual theme can quickly produce red flags, leading to consumers scrolling right on by your ad, post, or product.
This is where you want to research and determine specific styling and formatting practices for each social media network. For example, consider using Facebook to promote new products, special offers, and things like gift boxes or discounts.
Conversely, you might want to develop a strategy for Instagram or Pinterest using image sets around a specific or trending theme. It might be a photo set showcasing a collection of summer sunglasses, or a tableau of photos for your new line of bicycles.
Want a product marketing campaign to go viral? The whole point of social media is to share and connect with others. Consumers online are retweeting, sharing, liking and commenting on posts they enjoy and think others will enjoy too.
This is a key element of social media, and one that leading brands are learning to capitalize on. Unlike with marketplaces like Amazon, where conversions rely more heavily on presentation, success on social media calls for consumer engagement.
Obviously, your product photos matter, but remember why you (and the consumer) are using social media in the first place — to communicate. Social media product photos should engage their audience with compelling stories and questions, or anything that encourages conversation.
Then, how you as a brand respond (including how quickly / often) says volumes about your brand overall. It shows consumers how responsive your brand is, along with your commitment to and involvement in your community. Ultimately, it’s another means of public relations.
From e-commerce integrations to shoppable product feeds, social media has merged with e-commerce. There is Google Shopping, Facebook Shops, Instagram Shopping, and shopping you can do on Pinterest.
Rather than directing consumers to a product page, these channels allow for directly purchasing products on an app for the social network. Often, this is a seamless experience, with a CTA (Call to Action) which consumers can click to make a purchase.
Another way to direct sales, which has been made popular by Facebook Messenger, is to set up a chatbot. These automated bots can answer customer queries, suggest products, and assist through the buying process.
While countless trends have come and gone on social media, there are a few poised to continue making their presence felt. Flatlay and still images, while successful in the past, simply aren’t as impressive or as eye-catching as they once were.
Today’s shoppers are inundated with immersive product experiences, even on social media. 360 packaging shots and product spins are among these, often displayed in GIF format in a slow rotation, or on-page in a way consumers can move and interact with.
Another impressive format is 3D modeling and 3D product configurators. These allow consumers to experience more complex and configurable products, see moving parts in action, and deploy on-the-fly customization options.
Then, many are also turning to product videos on social media. A quick video is a great way to catch attention, inform about a product, and show products in action. It’s also very easy to accomplish with modern technology, with videos now much more compact and deliverable.
Social media product marketing requires effort and involves many processes, often both internal and external. There is transforming physical stock into product imagery, uploading product photos online, making announcements, and running promotions.
All of this and more has to be coordinated across all of the social media networks where your product photos appear online. The more products or new arrivals and trends you have to contend with, the more demanding your processes become.
This is where some consider hiring out in-house service providers, or even investing in their own cameras and professional product photography equipment. Doing this allows you to streamline workflows and time-to-web, while keeping everything in-house and on schedule.
At PhotoRobot, we take great pride in our line of robots for product photography and our software for automation and control. In fact, we believe we have a robot for any order, no matter the product size or volume of products to photograph. PhotoRobot is a modular solution, adaptable to scale and demand while likewise able to grow with your expectations. We can help you find the perfect set up for you (and your operations), while ensuring efficient delivery, installation, and training around the globe.
Simply contact PhotoRobot to speak with one of our technical specialists. We’ll help you start rethinking production, and improving your social media product photos today.
