Using photos on social media – 5 great tips

Using images effectively on social doesn’t stop with snapping the fluffiest, cutest kitten you can find (although to be honest that’s a very good start!). We have five great tips to help you make the most of your favourite photos.

1. Align your photos with your practice brand

Your practice logo, specific fonts and colours are all part of your brand. Use them to good effect in images using a tool like Canva. Where possible, always post your logo on the image in the same place (top right hand corner for instance) and make sure any text you add to the image is the right colour and font. This keeps your branding consistent and ensures that if the image is shared, it still triggers recognition and a reminder of who you are.

2. Tag your photos on Twitter

The ‘who’s in this photo’ function pops up automatically when you add a photo to your Tweet. You can tag the Twitter account belonging to the person (or pet!) that’s shown in the photo or use it to tag people that you have a relationship with who might be interested. By doing this your tweet shows up in their ‘Notifications’ and acts as a prompt for them to like or retweet, increasing the number of people that see your content.

3. Create images that contain text

Have a great tip to share? Create an image containing the text and include your logo and styling. It’s also a great way to get round the 140 character limit on Twitter. Text also works really well in Facebook and Twitter headers to explain what you do, your brand values or mission statement. Don’t forget to thank your new Twitter followers with a ‘Thanks for Following’ image too: list them in your tweet and post a couple of times a week – it’s a great way to encourage engagement. Don’t use too much text on Facebook though if you intend to boost the post as it will reduce reach or may even get your post rejected for boosting.

4. Put together a protocol

If you have multiple people in the practice posting to your social accounts, or even just someone else post during holidays it’s a good idea to have a protocol that defines the type of images you post and what you want to avoid. Choke chains, docked tails, or ‘guilty’ dogs that are actually showing appeasing behaviour, can all be detrimental to your reputation and a protocol is a great reminder of what needs to be avoided.

5. Make it move

It’s possible to create simple animations in Canva. If you do use video keep in mind around 85% of videos on Facebook are watched without sound so be sure to add captions – there’s an option to do this when you post directly into Facebook.