11 Facebook Photo Ideas That Boost Engagement

Fear not, this is not yet another Facebook Timeline cover photo tutorial. While the cover photo is certainly cool and pages are doing very clever things with it, it’s important to remember the cover photo just sits on your page.

Most people will never return to your page once they “Like” it. They’re most likely interacting with your page from within their newsfeed and may never even see your beautifully designed Facebook page.

What people do have the chance to see everyday are the photos you’re posting on your page. The more people like, share and comment on your photos, the better chance your photos will appear in the newsfeed, which will drive more people to like, share and comment on them.

In other words, photos matter a lot on Facebook.

Start including more photos in your updates, and there’s a good chance your engagement will soar. Below are 11 ideas for how pages can and should use photos on Facebook….

Creative Ideas for Facebook Photos

It turns out the marketing industry knows a thing or two about using photos to engage an audience, so I’ll be using some well-executed examples from some fellow marketing brands (and a few clever things we’re doing, too ).

Don’t fret if you’re not in the marketing industry, these ideas for using Facebook photos can be used by any business…

1. Images from Blog Posts

If you’ve published a blog post full of compelling visuals, turn the post’s images into their own album. You can then link to the full post in the photo captions. These don’t even need to be from recent posts, either. Comb through your archives and use evergreen content that’s full of great photos.

Example

Search Engine Land got extended use from these fun, informative sketches from a blog post by turning them into a photo album. Not only does this make for great content for their page, it certainly helped drive their Facebook audience to their site to check out the full post.

2. Announcements

Simply posting a link to a big company announcement may get overlooked, no matter how exciting the news. To call attention to important announcements, include an image that will drive people to click on the link and help the announcement stand out in their mind.

Examples

When Social Mouths redesigned their site, posting a screenshot of the new site was way more effective than simply posting a link.

We added in a simple picture when we announced our official conference hashtag.

3. Your Office

Showcasing a hip work environment is a no-brainer. But even if your office is a standard cubicle farm, there are probably some unique aspects within its confines that make your office photo worthy. Does one of your employees have a desk full of quirky knick knacks? Is your office fridge always immaculately organized like it belongs on a house on Cribs? What seems like such a typical part of office life may actually be what makes your company unique.

Example

Raven Tools has been posting lots of pictures after a recent move to a new office. I especially loved seeing what their team likes to snack on when they shared this photo of their well-stocked pantry.

4. Your Team

Who are the people behind your company? If you have a small or mid-sized business, feature each employee’s picture in an album and include their title and a short bio (or a link to their bio on your site). You could also include links to their social profiles, allowing your audience to connect one-on-one with each of your team members.

Example

Outspoken Media showcases their team using their on-site pictures, and also includes short bios in the photo caption.

5. Life Outside of Work

Plain and simple, people like to see other people having fun. There’s no better way than to show who your employees really are than by showing what they do for fun when they’re not in the office.

Example

Some of our team recently went to a baseball game, so we shared the pictures on our page to prove we (sometimes) leave our computers. 

6. Memes

It’s no secret the Internet loves memes. There’s an abundance of memes out there, and probably at least one that relates to your industry. If not, you can create your own silly meme with one of the many meme generators out there.

Example

Hubspot shared this meme that’s extremely relevant to its business but also pretty darn funny.

7. Comics

Since comics are colorful and easy to understand, they make great attention-grabbers in the newsfeed. Have fun with these; like memes, comics are a chance to show off your company’s sense of humor.

Example

Lately, we’ve been posting some ridiculously simple but clever comics. Our audience engages with these far more than anything else we post. We could probably post a link containing winning lottery numbers and it won’t get anywhere near as much attention as these do…

8. Survey Results

Let’s face it, convincing people to leave Facebook to go read a survey is an uphill battle. Instead, post the results right on your page by using pictures.

Example

Marketing Land made an entire album full of charts from a recent Google survey.

9. Statistics

While you can’t post an entire infographic on Facebook (well you can, but it won’t look very nice), you can still share small bits of data using mini-infographics, charts, and graphs.

Example

Social Fresh shared this chart from a recent blog post, along with a link to the full post.

10. Screenshots

It’s much easier to tell people where to find something or how to use it using a screenshot rather than written instructions. On Facebook, you can use screenshots to create tutorials with step-by-step instructions, show new features on your site, or call attention to a sudden change you’ve noticed in a platform or software your audience uses.

Example

Social Media Examiner uses screenshots to alert their audience of new Facebook features. This is also a great way to encourage discussion by asking if anyone else has noticed the new features yet.

11.  Animals

You can always fall back on adorable animal pictures. If you have a pet-friendly office, show off your team’s animal offspring.

Example

SEOMoz shared pictures during  their “bring your dog to work” day.

Conclusion

Using the above ideas, you can better engage your audience and stand out in the newsfeed. Make sure the photos you post have a purpose and relate to your brand and/or industry. Aim to share photos that either teach, entertain, inform or give an insider look into your company.

How are you using photos in your Facebook strategy? What are some brands that you think get this right? Let us know in the comments below. 

Like BlueGlass on Facebook to see more ideas for using photos!