Every now and again I get asked for a top tip that I have picked up during my time working with social media. This weekend the latest question was in relation to using Facebook. How do you share a picture on Facebook so that your friends actually see it.
My response was a fairly simple one, it’s not just about the picture it’s about telling the story. What is it about this particular picture that is interesting? If it is interesting to you will it be interesting to your friends? Or is it completely out of context therefore making no sense at all to your friends, family or colleagues?
For example if I share the image below with you without any context… You would probably think something along the lines of “OK that is a piece of lace” and if you are into crafting you might think it is interesting but otherwise you might just move on to something else.
Putting the story together for the image above and putting it in context actually gives it a completely new meaning to people you are sharing the image with.
In this case that is a piece of handmade lace from a 1930’s garter pattern. The garter is for my sister-in-law to wear at her wedding next year and so far has taken over 100 hours to make and it is just over 1/3 complete.
Once you hear the story behind the picture you can see and feel the emotion and context being shared. Without that context many pictures fail to be noticed and therefore people don’t interact with them. So if you want someone to respond to your images on Facebook make sure that you share a few words that really sum up the moment.
Sometimes a single picture just doesn’t tell a story well enough on it’s own so make the most of the album features on Facebook and tell your story through a series of images or even videos.
Recently Facebook decided that if you share a video directly on their site it would preview and play directly in your timeline. So if you are going to share a video you will find you get more views from your friends by sharing it directly than if you shared a link to your video on YouTube.
Share your top storytelling tips by leaving a comment!