That says it all! But it is really important to highlight the word relevant. It’s one thing choosing an image for your content, however it is another thing choosing the RIGHT image.
First impressions are everything and a well-chosen image doesn’t just catch the reader’s eye; it communicates your story, enhances your brand identity, and encourages engagement.
In this insight, we will discuss why choosing the right image matters, the criteria for choosing the right image, tips for optimisation, and common mistakes to avoid.
Visuals communicate ideas faster and easier.
Why choosing the right image matters
Grabs attention instantly: People are naturally drawn to images. In fact, research shows that relevant images will get 94% more views than content without.
Enhances understanding: The right image can simplify complex concepts and communicate ideas more effectively than text alone.
Increases engagement: Posts with images produce significantly higher engagement on social media platforms. On channels such as Instagram, you have to use a picture or graphic when posting on the main feed – make sure it has the right impact.
Strengthens brand identity: Using images with specific styles, colours, and themes in your visuals helps create a recognisable brand aesthetic.
Builds connection and humanises brand: Using photos of your team and office space is a great way of connecting with your audience. The right photo can create an emotional response, helping your audience connect with your message on a deeper level.
Makes content more shareable: Content with compelling visuals is more likely to be shared which increases reach and visibility. People remember 65% of the information shared with images, compared to just 10% when content is only text
Boosts SEO and readability: For blogs and websites, using the right images with appropriate alt text and file names can improve your SEO rankings. Additionally, visuals break up long blocks of text, making content more readable and digestible for visitors.
The criteria for choosing the right image
Having criteria for choosing your images ensures it effectively supports your message, engages the audience, and reinforces your brand.
Here are a few key things for you to consider when selecting the right image:
- Arguably one of the most important factors is Relevance to content. The image should be directly related to the content. Ask yourself if your image adds value to the text. Does it directly reference the headline of your content? Is it relevant to your industry? Does it match your branding? For example, as a web design company, if we were sharing insights into coding and website development, we would not use a photo of a worker in a shop, or a delivery man in his van. If we were a courier, then maybe this would suit.
- High quality and resolution. Have you optimised your images for the web? For websites, it is important to balance quality and file size to maintain fast load times without sacrificing clarity. For social media, ensure images are high-resolution and not blurry. Low-quality images can harm your brand’s reputation! And of course, make sure you are using correctly licensed images from stock photography libraries such as ShutterStock, iStock or Adobe Photos.
- Consistency. Is the photo you have chosen consistent with your messaging and also other content and images you have chosen throughout your site and on social media? For instance, if you use a lot of illustrations in your content, stick to this consistent theme. This follows for colours as well. Do the colours in the image reflect your branding?
- Can you use your own images? What we mean by this is, using photos from your office, team and products. A team photoshoot can be so powerful for your content. Stock images can often feel generic and overused, blending your brand with the competition. Custom images present a unique and authentic image of your business, making it more trustworthy. Your audience can see who is behind the workings of your business! Customers often like to see real examples, in particular, this is important for industries such as property / real estate, financial services, food and service-based businesses. It builds your brand credibility and ultimately tells a story and connects with more people, increasing engagement! Using your own images allows you to maintain a consistent style, colour palette, and tone across your content. We often find you can find a great stock photo, however you can’t find other images that are consistent with the quality and style of this photo.
Although it may seem pricey to be using your own photos, in the long run – if you are active in posting content – you can save more money than you use on stock images and subscriptions. Your own images can be repurposed on different platforms and adapted for different purposes. And best of all, in the age of AI – they’re genuine!
Sourcing your imagery
According to Venngage, stock photos perform the worst out of all visual formats- Generic photos that don’t suit the branding or people.
What do we mean by this? The cheesy American-style photos. They don’t represent our culture necessarily in the UK and therefore aren’t relatable to the content or your business. They can represent stereotypes, overly staged settings, insincere depictions of people, or unrealistic portrayals of everyday activities.
Although using team pictures and your own photography is the best solution for this, it isn’t always realistic for some businesses. Instead, make sure you are refining your search queries and searching process. We use Shutterstock for our images. Other platforms include Unsplash and Adobe Stock.
Try and use images of people working naturally expressing authentic emotions, or focused on tasks and avoid staged poses. Remember to consider our criteria when choosing your image: is it relevant to your industry and the topic of your content? Does it align with your branding? Is it consistent with your other content? Have you optimised your image and is it of high quality?
How to optimise images
As we mentioned previously, optimising images, especially for the web is super important for user experience. Each platform will have its specifications but here are a few tips we use.
Choosing the right format
- JPEG- best for photos and images with many colours, it offers good compression without losing much quality
- PNG- Ideal for images that require transparency or text overlays
- SVG- Use for logos, icons, or illustrations that need to scale
Resize images to the proper dimensions
Large images can slow down load times and use unnecessary bandwidth so use tools such as Photoshop to resize and optimise images for the web. If your website is built with WordPress, there are various tools such as Imagify that can compress and resize images to suit their placement, and can drastically improve site loading and performance. No 3mb hi-res images please!
Optimise image alt text and file names
Use descriptive file names like modern-kitchen-design.jpg instead of generic names like IMG_1234.JPG. Adding meaningful file names and alt text to improve SEO and ensure accessibility for visually impaired users is so important.
Understand platform-specific requirements
Each social media platform has its own recommended size and specifications.
- Facebook:
- Shared images: 1200 x 630 px
- Cover photo: 820 x 312 px
- Profile photo: 180 x 180 px
- Instagram:
- Square image: 1080 x 1080 px
- Portrait image: 1080 x 1350 px
- Story image: 1080 x 1920 px
- LinkedIn:
- Shared image: 1200 x 627 px
- Company logo: 300 x 300 px
- Cover photo: 1128 x 191 px
Use the correct aspect ratio for each platform to prevent images from being cropped or distorted!
Create mobile-friendly images
Are your images legible and visually appealing on smaller screens? Consider text size, image orientation and overall readability.
Conclusion
The images you choose for your blogs, website content, and social media is so important. So take time to carefully select your images. Visuals speak for themselves and a picture speaks a thousands words, so choose them wisely! Use our tips and remember the criteria.