Photography, Personality &Social Media

Abigail King

Social Media Conference – Visit Costa Brava – September 2011

Abigail KingSOCIAL MEDIA – INSIDE THE TRAVEL LAB

– “One of the best travel blogs in the world.” Lonely Planet

– Ranked as one of the most influential travel blogs by Google, Klout, Peer Index, Invesp and more...

FREELANCE JOURNALIST

– Lonely Planet, BBC, CNN, Red Magazine, UK Travel Daily

- @insidetravellab & @abigailking

Personality

• Personality matters in social media• Keep your corporate brochure and information

pages but also...• Express yourself on social media as you would do at

work- friendly-authoritative-professional-approachable

Be Yourself

• Otherwise it will be too difficult to maintain• People can sense authenticity

• You DO NOT need to be a teenager who talks in text speak to use social media

Need Some Ideas?

• Think of social media as a radio station instead of a corporate brochure

• Radio presenters stay on theme yet...– They make unscripted comments– They replay the same songs (to some extent)– They interact with listeners on the phone

Using Names• Named person on Twitter• Named person on Facebook• Named person on Google+...

• Spot the theme?

• BUT – use your brand name as the twitter handle• Like traditional business meetings

Example

Need Inspiration?

• Follow the seasons – Semana Santa, Reyes Magos, summer etc

• Follow the news – major sports events, heat waves, celebrities etc

• Food & recipes – everyone has to eat• Broadcast your news – renovations, new offers

etc in moderation

Amplify Others

• Set up a twitter search for keywords that are relevant to your business

• Retweet and reshare Facebook posts about your area of expertise

• Invite submissions from readers

Hire Someone

• Social media has arrived. Take it seriously.• Make sure that whoever you hire matches

your personality, your brand and your values and knows enough to represent you and your product.

• Don’t become a cautionary tale!

PHOTOGRAPHY: freezing a moment

The Power of Photographs

• Speak every language• One picture paints 1000 words• Attention-grabbing• Quick • Easy to understand • More likely to be shared across social networks than video or text

Using Photographs

• What is the right image?• Finding the right image• Tips for taking better photos• Editing • Preparing photos for the web• Photography and social networks

Which Photos?

• Have a professional, formal set available on your website. People expect them.

• Use informal photographs on your blog and social networks. Avoid looking corporate.

•Eye-catching•Personal•Relevant

•Good

Finding Photos

• Take them yourself (more about that later)• Invite your readers/customers/visitors to

submit them• Use professional photographers• Source from Flickr – search under the correct

Creative Commons License for your project

Taking Photos

• Take as many as you can. This is the digital age. • Experiment. Take your time.• Mix close-ups with portraits with landscape views

with special effects...• Avoid flash wherever possible.• Stabilise the camera on solid surfaces or use a tripod.• Read the manual...

A Few More Tips...

• The rule of thirds• Horizontal pictures• Morning and evening light• Get close to people. Avoid putting them in the

centre of the shot.• Take close-ups of interesting details

Editing Photos

• Photoscape (open source) • Photoshop • Picasa• WordPress• Flickr• Instagram

Editing Photos

• Crop• White balance• Play with the contrast, saturation, brightness• Experiment with special effects – but don’t

overdo it

The Original Photo

Black & White

Paint

Line Drawing

Photos on the Web

• Do not upload full size photographs• DO NOT UPLOAD FULL SIZE PHOTOGRAPHS

• WHY?• Slows down your website• Irritates your readers• Lowers your Google ranking• Creates long term storage problems on your server

Photos for the Web

• Resize – 500 – 1000 px • Label the following– The title of the photo (filename)– The alt tag (the text a reader sees if the

image does not appear)– The caption

Social Networks

• General– Facebook– Twitter

• Photo Specific– Flickr– Instagram– 500 px

Questions?

www.abigailking.co.ukwww.insidethetravellab.com

Slides will appear on slideshare...