How To Build Your Online Brand With Images

Building your online brand is essential to the success of your business these days. It’s about getting your business seen in online searches and getting your name known through social media.

Your goal is to build authority in your industry, and a great way to do that is through building a strong online brand.

Companies of all different industries should emphasize online brand building. Every business is on the internet now, and yours will get buried under the masses if you don’t focus on gaining authority and building your online presence. But how do you go about building your online brand and gaining authority?

Well, when it comes to branding, great visuals are a great place to start. This article will give three awesome examples from leading businesses – examples you can steal to grow your own brand online.

Build Your Online Brand With Social Media

When it comes to social media marketing, excellent visual content is your most important aspect. Customers are increasingly expecting high-quality images attached to every piece of online content.

Check out how Airbnb uses images on social media:

Here’s a few reasons why you need to use images on social media:

• Photos on your posts increase engagement.
• Images are more memorable.
• Visual content is more likely to go viral.
• The future of social media is visual (e.g., Instagram and SnapChat).

Your contests and giveaways on social media should also maintain the same style, branding, and quality as the other photos you use on your social media profiles. Consistency helps build your online brand and will help viewers recognize your posts immediately. When users recognize your giveaway because of your stellar images, they’re more likely to enter and share!

Here’s an example of a social media contest with great imagery from Doc Miller:

Build your Brand with a Beautiful Hero Image

Social media isn’t the only place you’ll use images to build your online brand. Your website images are essential too. For example, the hero image is like a welcome sign for your website.

Here are a few things you need to know about hero images…

You might know that a hero image is the banner image at the top of a website. Make sure the image you select is a high quality photo. You can also use this spot for a short video or animation.

You can even pair your hero image with a call-to-action like a newsletter signup or shop now button. Although, be careful not to ask too much of your visitor before they’ve had a chance to look around.

Before you go changing up your website layout to include a hero image, there are a couple things to keep in mind:

• Make sure not to use a large image that will affect your page load speeds.
• Don’t forget to check how it will affect your mobile load speeds (even as little of a difference as 0.4 to 0.9 seconds will reduce your traffic by 20 percent).

The hero image is your visitor’s first look at your company and what you can offer them. So choose images that really fit with the brand you’re going for and will resonate with your target audience.

See the way Patagonia uses hero images to show what they stand for.

The images you choose for your hero banner placement will be great assets in securing your online brand. Here are a few other tips to keep in mind when building your online brand with images.

Build Your Brand with Quality Images

When your online brand — your company’s reputation — is on the line, I cannot stress enough the importance of high-quality images. Stellar visual content is memorable, shareable, and usually evergreen.

Amazing photography never gets old.

Stellar content can evoke an emotion by touching on current events. It can show your support of an admirable cause. Or it can be images of your customers using your product every day. The fact is that this is going to look different for every business, so get creative and do something unique!

To create your own high-quality brand images, you don’t even have to buy an expensive digital camera anymore. Many of the best photos we see online today are shot with a cell phone.

Apps like Snapseed and VSCO are great tools for giving that artistic edge to your photos, just don’t go overboard. Here’s a cheat sheet guide to images sizes on all major social media platforms.

Build your Brand through Images Which Tell your Story

Don’t tell your story, show it.

Your audience is much more likely to look through your pictures before reading most of your written content. For images to effectively build your online brand, those images need to tell your story.

To do that, you need to know your story. What are your goals for this business? What makes you different? What do you want people to feel with regards to your product or service?

These questions will help you outline your company story and will give you a better idea of what to look for in your images.

Once you’ve nailed down the online brand you’re going for, and you’re starting to form the content and images you’ll use, it’s important to maintain consistency across all of it.

You don’t want to confuse your audience with a social media post or website image that is off brand and random. It should provide value to the goals that you are trying to reach and the goals of your customer that led them to your business.

This is how REI tells stories through content:

Final Thoughts

Images are a cornerstone in solidifying your online brand. It’s not always feasible for every business to hire a professional photographer, but your everyday stock images won’t do either.

The keys to successful brand building with images are consistency, quality, and knowing what your target audience wants to see. Good luck!

About the Author:

Avery T. Phillips is a freelance marketer with too much to say. She loves nature and examining human interactions with the world. Comment or tweet her @a_taylorian with any questions or suggestions.

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