Contents (tl;dr)
Use photos and videos < you are here
3. Use photos and videos
Text-only posts are nice, but they’re not particularly eye catching.
Without a photo most corporate posts are just ‘meh’
Take this post we published a few weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team at our Motorway Control Centre are always there to make sure you have a safe journey home.
During this challenging time our team are always spaced 1.5m apart and working in rostered pairs to make sure we keep everyone safe.
That was a nice message to share, but it was only when you saw the accompanying photo that the post actually become a good one:
Showing is more powerful than telling
You can tell this story…
Mix around 6,000 seedlings, some rays of sunshine and a few drops of water — and you’ll get bush regeneration.
Together with @HornsbyCouncil we’ve been able to bring life back to this section of Beecroft Reserve which runs along the Hills M2 Motorway.
But it’s only when you show that story that it really comes to life:
Bonus tip: People love before-and-after shots, the more dramatic the better. If you are creating, building, or changing anything, try to take (and subsequently share) as many before-and-after shots as you can.
Don’t just document, tell a story
Many people take photos just to document what’s going on. Don’t do that.
Use your photos to tell a story about your event or project: share specific details along with your feelings and opinions.
For example, let’s say you attend an in-person conference (remember those from the pre-pandemic days?). The laziest photo you could take at an event like that is something like is (about half of which is just the backs of chairs and people’s heads):
All that photo says is “I attended a conference”.
You photo should say a lot more than that. At the very least it should focus on a subject or it should express an emotion.
Like it could say “the conference was huge”:
Or “I was a panellist at a talk”:
Or “my talk went really well”:
Or “the speaker was super engaging”:
Or even just “we had a great time”:
Basically, try to figure out what story you want to tell – ie what you see or feel at this event that you want to tell people about – and then take a photo that helps you tell this story.
Match your image with what you’re saying
The type of photo you take needs to match the story you’re trying to tell. So…
Take a wide shot when you want to set the scene or show the scale of your project or event.
Take a medium shot when you want to showcase one part of your project or event.
Take a narrow shot when you want to focus on something specific in your story.
More photo-taking tips
I’ve covered how to take better work-related photos in another series, so check that out for more specific photo-taking advice:
Since I shared this advice with people at work, the quality of photos I’ve received from them has improved drastically.
Also, if you’re interested, here are a couple of photo editing show-and-tell posts I did on my personal blog that you might also find useful:
Often videos are better than photos
From a communications point of view, photos and videos accomplish different objectives:
Photos are good for awareness: they’re easy to understand, and a good photo can almost instantly tell your story.
Videos are good for understanding: but only if people watch your video first. Once your video plays, of course, you get the opportunity to tell a more complex or comprehensive story to your audience.
This post about car seat testing, for example, was much more effective with a video than with just a photo:
New research from @neuraustralia has shown a potential safety benefit in using plastic chest clips on child car restraints, reducing the risk of serious injury in a crash #RoadSafety #StaySafe
Watching a video of a crash test is much more effective than just seeing a photo of a car seat strapped onto a crash simulation sled. (We tested this. The video got a lot more engagement.)
Serendipitous videos are even better
Good serendipitous videos from CCTV cameras are always gold. If you use CCTV cameras and have access to video from them, try to mine them for as much content as you can.
Those are some sweet sprinklers in the Burnley Tunnel!
A truck carrying sugar started smoking in the Burnley Tunnel & was quickly spotted by our Traffic Control Room who kicked our deluge system into gear.
Thanks to @MFB_NEWS & @VictoriaPolice for attending to the incident
Always add descriptions to your photos and captions to your videos
Everyone should be able to understand what you’re trying to say.
Add image descriptions or alternative text (alt-text) to your images.
Here are a two useful guides, both of which have good references for additional reading (at the bottom of each page):
‘Alternative text - digital guide’ (Victorian Government Digital Standards)
‘Alt text, captions and titles for images’ (Australian Government Style Manual)
Add captions (and, if you can, transcripts) to your videos. There are several automated tools (and even live transcription services) that can do this for you now.
Many videos on the web use open captions (ie text that is burned into the video). But websites like YouTube and Facebook let you upload caption files, so there you can also use closed captions (ie captions that you can turn on and off by clicking the [CC] button).
My recommendation is to add open captions to all your videos. That way you can use the same video on websites and do and don’t support closed captions.
Use photos and videos: recap
Let’s recap how you can tell a better story using photos and videos:
Without a photo most corporate posts are just ‘meh’: photos bring a story to life, particularly interesting behind-the-scenes photos that people don’t often get to see
Showing is more powerful than telling: you can really drive home your point with a photo
Don’t just document, tell a story: share specific details, along with your feelings and opinions
Often videos are better than photos: good videos let you explain your story better
Serendipitous videos work particularly well: the more unusual or unexpected your video, the more effective it’ll be
Always add descriptions to your photos and captions to you videos: everyone should be able to understand what you’re trying to say
Next in the series
On to ‘Use numbers’…