As the online shopping onboarding process gets close to launch, a somewhat surprising task falls on the shoulders of the retailer: gathering missing images for items that don’t already have a picture in the ecommerce provider’s system. The ecommerce provider will have national CPG images, product descriptions and nutritional information imported from a number of international databases. The provider will also comb through your store’s data to match available images to items that don’t have an image because of how the items are labeled or abbreviated in your backend system. Once that’s complete, a store will most likely be in the 80% image match range. (Most stores launch with an 80-90% match rate. It’ll never be 100%.) The retailer is given a missing image report and it’s usually overwhelming at first glance. It will probably have thousands of items listed, but you don’t need to get pictures for all of them. Many of the items in the list are things you no longer carry or rarely ever sell. You don’t need to worry about those. What’s the likelihood you’re going…
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Smart Photography on a Smartphone
Sharing pictures on social media is one of the best ways to tell your story. But what kind of story are you telling with those pictures? You want the photos on your business page to grab people’s attention as they’re scrolling through Facebook or Twitter, but you want it to be for the right reasons. As a small business owner, you might not have access to professional photographers or expensive cameras and equipment. But that shouldn’t stop you from taking quality pictures on your smartphone that you can share on your business profiles. Here are a few helpful tips to taking better pictures on your smartphone: Get close and fill the viewfinder Depending on what you’re photographing, you will want to get close to it when taking a picture so that you not only get all the detail of your subject but also block out anything distracting in the background. A grocery store is usually filled with backgrounds that could be considered distracting, such as shelves filled with products, food displays, people, etc. Smartphones give you the option to crop…
Picture perfect: Choosing images that get results
Last week Getty Images hosted a webinar by Creative Research Expert Jacqueline Bourke on how to select images what will increase engagement. In 2015, there were 1.5 trillion images were shot. That number will only continue to increase. The quality of those images keeps getting better and better. Consumers now expect high quality images in all their content. It is important that you select images that engage your audience’s emotions and senses. We are visual creatures. Ninety percent of information is transferred visually. Our audiences are being bombarded by an ever increasing amount messages. Visual images are processed 60,000 times faster than text. A strong visual image will allow for our content to stand out from the crowd. Images are obviously crucial on platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, but tweets and Facebook posts with strong visual elements have more engagement than text only counterparts. Below are some trends and examples of how they have been used: First person: This perspective pulls your audience in and makes them a part of the image. It is much easier for them to envision whatever you are pitching…
I’m a little unsteady: Eliminating shaky video
Movie aficionados will know that a secret Blair Witch sequel was unveiled at Comic-Con on July 25. Since this blog is nothing if not topical, the topic of shaky video seemed appropriate. For those unfamiliar with the 1999 cult-classic The Blair Witch Project, the movie is “found footage” from campers terrorized by some witch. I don’t know. To be honest, I have never seen it. But I have seen enough parodies and heard enough people talk about it to have a pretty good handle on things. The only thing you need to be concerned about is that most of the video is super shaky. Last month, I talked about how bad audio is the quickest way to ruin a video. Second on the list is having unsteady video. We all have been forced to sit through clips of soccer games filmed by parents who appear to be on the fifth espresso of the morning, or concert videos taken by people waving their hands around like they just do not care. Obviously, these videos are not to be confused with professional…
Blowing the Filter Off Instagram
Not all social media channels are the same. Facebook is still the giant, Twitter is still the one that makes people ask “why?” and Instagram is the one everyone is trying to figure out because that’s where the younger generations are headed. At the November Social Media Club of Kansas City breakfast, Instagram was the featured platform. Three marketers from three distinct organizations shared their tips on the platform, sharing their stories of how they started in the channel and what they’ve learned along the way. Katy Zimmerman, the Social Media Coordinator for Bread & Butter concepts was up first. Zimmerman’s job is to get bodies into her restaurant concepts. To do this via the Instagram channel, she shared the 5 things she does when thinking about what she’s going to post on Instagram on behalf of her concepts. Re-imagine Product – or, more simply, play with food. Zimmerman deconstructs recipes, shows the ingredients in different ways and arranges food to catch the eye. Utilize Surroundings – pulling the restaurant’s atmosphere into photos. Bringing the ambiance of the restaurant into…
Visual Resonance in Social Media
A picture is worth a thousand words. You’ve heard this saying before, of course. If you’re in the social media marketing world, you’ve also likely considered how you make that one picture or image say a thousand different things to a thousand different people. This elusive desire is tapping into your ability to create images that evoke or suggest personal images, memories and emotions: in other words, your ability to inspire visual resonance. Stefan Mumaw, Director of Creative Strategy at Hint recently presented at a Social Media Club of Kansas City breakfast to help break down this concept of digital resonance and how, as marketers, we can strive to achieve this in our communication with consumers. As social media has evolved, the consumer expectation of those who participate has also changed. More and more, consumers are seeing brands as people, expecting them to have empathy, to react to situations in the same way as people do. The challenge is that often, brands use social media to talk about things; the things they sell, the things that matter to them, not…
The Latest Trends in Social Media Content Planning & Listening
Last week, I attended the emfluence User Conference with several of my AWG Marketing colleagues. The conference gathered digital marketers and IT professionals from a variety of industries to learn about the latest trends surrounding social media and email marketing. Alyssa Murfey, emfluence’s own Director of Strategy, presented “Social Content Planning & Listening” covering new features, ideas and strategies affecting social media content. Here are a few key points: Google Analytics This important tool is loaded with features to help you discover the types of digital content that are working for your brand and also guide future posts. If you’re not looking at this data, it’s time to start! One metric that you may want to take a look at is Trackbacks. This report shows you the people who are sharing links to your content. This creates a great opportunity to form relationships with people who are already your brand advocates. It also allows you to examine what kind of content is appealing to others. Pinterest Formally known as the social site for women and weddings, Pinterest has been changing.…