Image is Everything: Visual Communication and the
Social Media Workflow
Ben Rubenstein
@Ben_Rubenstein #LavaCon @LavaCon
About me
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Senior Manager, Social Media & Online Community at TechTarget
Past:
Not a visual mastermind
The big picture
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Content has changed – so has the way we produce, promote + consume it
Challenges abound – technical, procedural + philosophical
Communication solves a lot
Via flickr/aranarth
Content: Perception
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Content: Reality
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Social media: Then
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Social media: Then
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Social media: Now
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Social media: Now
@Ben_Rubenstein #LavaCon @LavaCon
Social media: Now
@Ben_Rubenstein #LavaCon @LavaCon
Social media: Now
@Ben_Rubenstein #LavaCon @LavaCon
Social media: Now
@Ben_Rubenstein #LavaCon @LavaCon
Social media: Now
@Ben_Rubenstein #LavaCon @LavaCon
Why you should care
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90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual (3M/Zabisco)
70% of all Facebook activities revolve around photos (Harvard Business Review)
Social media posts with images: 47% increase in engagement (Curata)
TL,DR: Visual content is easy to share, easy to remember
Our challenge
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We’ve tried our best
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But it’s hard…
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Our social strategy
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100+ sites = 300+ social presences Content planning and
scheduling (repositories)
Best practices training + documentation
Engagement + feedback
Efficiency tools
Our first test: Profile creation + updating
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We’re asking a lot of our staff
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People want to do the right thing, but…
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Lack of experience Lack of time Technical roadblocks New tools, new rules
WritingEditingSEO
EventsVideos
Podcasts
So we end up with images that are…
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Misleading (and ugly)
So we end up with images that are…
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Legally questionable (and often ugly)
So we end up with images that are…
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Just plain fugly
Retraining needed
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Visual communication is hard, just like writing is hard
New image guidelines needed
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• Protect the company• Build and maintain reader
trust• Communicate content well• Grab reader attention
Solution 1: Simplify the process
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House-created images have standard naming convention, easier to find/distribute
Empower editors to find their own images in advance or request appropriate versions
Before After
Solution 2: Clarify the options
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Use only: Images from our articles Original content Company-approved images Topic-specific icons
Single point of contact Reduces risk Increases communication
Solution 3: Change the mindset
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Think about images and social media as you’re creating content What will you need?
How will you get it?
(great, more here)
Solution 3: Change the mindset
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Promising outlook
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More appropriate social images
Promotion plans starting earlier
Increase in FB engagement
Social sharing functions under review (metadata/microdata)
New, image-heavy site designs
What we’ve learned
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Stockpile original content
via flickr/iconolith
What we’ve learned
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Metadata matters
via flickr/iconolith
What we’ve learned
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Constraints are good
via flickr/iconolith
What we’ve learned
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Define roles, but recognize the blurred lines between them
via flickr/iconolith
What rhymes with “fugly”?
What we’ve learned
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We’re all in this together
via flickr/iconolith
What we haven’t learned: How to draw
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Thank you
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http://www.benrubenstein.net
linkedin.com/benrubenstein
@ben_rubenstein
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