DOTC: Imagery Is Everything

Images in your social media and on your blog will be far more engaging than those without.  Don't believe me?

Let's ask the experts.  Hey, Hubspot?  What do you think about using images in social media?

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33800/Photos-on-Facebook-Generate-53-More-Likes-Than-the-Average-Post-NEW-DATA.aspx

As a result, our study revealed that photos on Facebook Pages received 53% more Likes than the average post. We also compared each businesses' average comments-per-photo to their overall average comments-per-post and found that photo posts attracted 104% more comments than the average post, too.

 How about you, smart guy Jeff Bullas?

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/05/28/6-powerful-reasons-why-you-should-include-images-in-your-marketing-infographic/

Engagement rate on Facebook for photos averages 0.37% where text only is 0.27% (this translates to a 37% higher level of engagement for photos over text).

Be sure to click the links and read both articles - good stuff.

Okay, so where do you get the stock photos?  You can't just Google a few keywords and take images from the internet willy-nilly.  If you are doing that, stop now! You have to have rights to those images - and they can cost a lot of dough, especially when the rights are restricted to one medium or another.

Ah, but this is a DOTC post, so I'm going to give you three sources of FREE images. 

Free Stock Photos are AWESOME!
Yes, Hubspot, yes, they are.

First, and my favorite, is Morguefile.  All sorts of great and interesting images to use, and usually, it doesn't even require attribution for use.

Second, Hubspot has offered some really nice images for your use, here and here.  They also put out a bunch of nice holiday themed ones here.  Go download these immediately, I use them all the time. 

Third, I use www.freerangestock.com.  Most of these images require you to notify the creator you used the image and you have to attribute the image (but not all).

Yes, there are others, but these are the ones I use most often.  Most are fine to use in all applications except to place on items to sell (so, you can use it on your blog, but not sell them on a t-shirt).

So now you have no excuse not to make your marketing a lot more interesting!  Let me know if you have any favorite free image sources you like!

P.S. A word on meme images:  they are technically illegal and use of them will risk you getting in trouble - I do not advise that you use them.  That being said, Meme Generator is an easy place to make your own.