Ways to Make Your Images Work for You - Health Works Collective

Images are key to achieving social media success – and that includes the world of healthcare. Graphic elements create conversation, inspire engagement and hopefully culminate in the addition of new patients to your practice.

Sure, one or two likes or Retweets are nice, but how can you get a photo to garner scores of comments and shares, like the big brands do? Here’s three simple tips:

For one, target your audience directly. Don’t make it complicated. People are using social media to get information. Their attention spans are amazingly quick, so to stand out you really need to be original. For a healthcare facility, one way to do get noticed is by providing advice in a visual, infographic form. For example, if you are promoting ways to fight lung cancer, a creative visual of a cigarette with a big X on it should grab attention and generate shares.

How-to images can also be a powerful way to encourage sharing and interactivity. If you are in the dental industry, maybe create a photo album of the various steps to proper teeth-brushing. You would be surprised, but some people may really need a refresher course in the basics: give it to them and win their trust.

Include text overlays. Sometimes a photo by itself may not produce the proper point you are trying to get across. There are many apps, such as Instaquote and PicMonkey, that allow anyone – not just a designer – to add text captions to photos and pictures graphically that can then be shared multi-channelly on all other social networks.

Remember that when creating images for your social networks, optimization is key. While one image may look prime on one social network, it may appear cut off on another. The best size will depend on how you want to use the image and where you are posting it.