Storytelling Is Better With Pictures: The Nuts and Bolts of Creating Visual Content

Story Telling Is Better With Pictures The of creating visual content Who I Am Types of Visual Content 3 Things to Focus On Content on a Shoestring Strategies for Sharing Topics for Today: You're Gonna Have To Serve Somebody Content Your Boss Loves Text Is Boring I mean seriously. Do you think that your readers are going to sit there and actually read all the words on your website, blog post or news- letter? You have got to be crazy! With all these phones that beep with text messages, emails, tweets and status updates, there is no way that they are going to have the patience to get through the first paragraph of your prose before something else takes their attention away. I mean heck, when is the last time that you read a page full of text, no images, from top to bottom? It was probably 50 Shades of Grey, a white paper that your boss made you read or text for a school project (wow that was a long time ago). The point being is that text, just text, is now boring for our over stimulated, over caffeinated, multi- tasking brains. We need images. We need video. We need visual stimulation. And if we need it, what do you think that your readers, donors, advocates volunteers and peers need? Photographs Engineer Turned Marketer Racker For Four Years Who I Am San Antonio Food Blogger Twitterer - @pinojo App Creator Videos Infographics Information Board Focus On Kinds Content Your Boss Loves: Moves the needle Affects the bottom line Gets people in the doors Energizes volunteers Use Graphics In Call to Action Use Videos To Explain Lists of Info Put A Fun New Twist On Content Quirky Content Content Your Advocates Love Graphics Photo courtesy Leo Reynolds via Flickr They Like You, They Really Like You! Photo courtesy pennstatelive via Flickr Content Your Advocates Love: Provides helpful information Show rather than tell Tells a story Energizes and excites Use Videos To Excite Your Volunteers Show Instructions With a Video Tell Stories Through Imagery On a Shoestring Budget Content That Is Quirky: Quality Of Being Unexpected Plays On Current Trends Taps Into Regional/Cultural Passions http://bit.ly/QUAetk http://bit.ly/OrDwV2 http://bit.ly/QFYPzi http://bit.ly/PBdUTG http://bit.ly/UNyWEl http://on.fb.me/TjXNbP Show The Normal In An Unexpected Way http://bit.ly/Nlmwk7 Play On Current Trends http://oreo.ly/dailytwist Tap Into The Culture Of Your Audience One of Rackspace's most popular posts Programming is part of the culture of our customers http://bit.ly/yWaYAI Play on Regional Passions Photo courtesy jvp-photo via Flickr Photo Licensed under Creative Commons via http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-1311736416 Tools to Create Visual Content Do It Yourself A Little Budget Can Go A Long Way Websites to hire freelancers Don't forget your local colleges/universities - Advertise on campus - Internships for recent grads - Partner with media departments - Student projects for class - Student organizations Creative Commons - Have to go to advanced search to search on Creative Commons - Need to give attribution Videographer via craigslist, Voice over via fiverr - total cost $60 http://bit.ly/SV7yN9 Graphics Made on fiverr - $5 each Friends and Family Members - Don't wear them out! - Not the best long term strategy http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/ http://www.google.com/advanced_image_search Wedding Invitation a Friend Made Use Your Phone - There's An App For That Tons of Web Apps Photography - Instagram, Snapseed, Camera+, Gimp When You The World's On Your Shoulders Video - 8MM, Super 8, Video Cam Illusion, iMovie, Windows Movie Maker Graphical - Visual.ly, someecard Media Specifications - Keep you photos/images at a low file size - Wouldn't advise going over 200KB - Want to make sure viewer gets it fast - Keep videos between 1 - 2 minutes - Ask yourself, "Would I sit down to watch this?" Helpful Hints Consider where to store media WARNING: Geek Speak - Back up your content! - Large media files are best not on your server - Loads faster from a CDN (Content Delivery Network) Helpful Hints Use content that you already have - It's probably new to your audience - Show historical progression, throwback Focus on what's hot - If your numbers are small, piggyback Don't lose your message - Make sure visual content you create is consistent with your brand Helpful Hints Photo courtesy davesneakes via Flickr Photo courtesy WanderingtheWorld via Flickr Strategies For Sharing Understand Where You Want It Shared Place Social Share Options Around Content - Social Plugins/Buttons - Make sure to reference yourself - Be sure to set a "Featured Image" if using Wordpress or CMS Get Others To Notice You - Tag other organizations, nonprofits, brands and advocates in your posts - Contact bloggers about events - Share your visual content with volunteers - Get your advocates involved -Custom backgrounds -Badges on avatars Thank You! Applies Even To Food Bloggers Compliment Helpful Info With Visual Content http://bit.ly/mimHwd For a copy of this presentation, please visit http://bit.ly/storiesandpictures Crowd Source From Your Volunteers - Use their Facebook/Twitter photos - Create an Instameet to get unique photos - Have a graphic design contest - Utilize their expertise!