Do you need help with selecting the right photos to use on Facebook?

Photos and other images typically enhance the reach of a post. Even with the increasing use of videos, photos still provide a big impact. Yet, sometimes it’s hard to know which ones and how many to post.

Certainly, the selection of photos is largely a matter of personal style and preference. But there are some general guidelines I have come up with as both social media professional and user. And while I usually focus on Facebook business pages in my blog posts, this post covers all your Facebook interactions.

 

Restricting Access

If you are sensitive about who can see the photos of your children or grandchildren, there are several options:

  • By placing the photos in an album, you can restrict who can access the album.
  • Posting them only in a private group means only members of that group can see the photos.
  • You can also make the posts containing those photos available only to a subset of your friends. You do this by assigning certain Facebook friends the status of “Acquaintance.” Then, for posts with these kinds of pictures, you use the audience of “Friends Except Acquaintances.”

 

Cover photos

  • For your personal profile (aka timeline) select photos that showcase your interests and experiences. These can be family photos, favorite landscapes, places you’ve been, your pets, etc.
  • Keep in mind that your cover photo is accessible to the public. That means anyone who finds your personal page can see it.
  • If you received a lot of likes on a photo, it might be a good candidate for a cover photo.
  • On your business page, you can include your business name and logo in the picture. Just be sure that it doesn’t take up more than 20% of the total image.
  • Action shots are great for your business page if they show you doing something related to your work. Examples could be you delivering your service or creating your product.

 

Profile photos

  • On your personal profile, a headshot is fairly common. Here, the photo can be more casual than the one you’d use on your business page.
  • You can use pictures of yourself and a family member – human or animal – on your personal page. Remember that, like cover photos, these are accessible to the public.
  • Many people use a photo of themselves or the logo of their company on their business page.
  • If you choose a picture of yourself for your business page, it should be a professional looking headshot. And it’s a good idea to use the same photo on other social media sites where you have a business presence.
  • To avoid confusion, use a different profile photo on your business page than you use on your personal page. Doing this also reminds you of which persona you want to present when commenting on something – personal or professional.

 

Other Photo Tips

  • Do not use copyrighted photos. There are lots of sites that offer non-copyrighted photos and other images for anyone to use such as Pixabay and Pexels. And there are sites where you can purchase the right to use images such as Deposit Photos and Shutterstock.
  • Credit the photos taken by others. It’s the right thing to do, and the photographer will really appreciate it. The photo featured in this blog post was taken by Leyni Illa-Petersen at Social Media Day Denver earlier this month.
  • If you are tagged in a photo and don’t care for how you look, don’t allow it on your timeline. You can remove the tag after the post has gone up on your timeline. Or you can enable a setting that allows you have to review each photo. You get to do this review of the photos you’re tagged in before they show up on your timeline.
  • Only use photos that enhance the point you are making in your post.
  • Avoid overwhelming people with pictures. Judiciously selecting your images will make people more apt to view them.

 

How About You?

What are your thoughts about selecting the right photos to use on Facebook?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 45 and up, become more effective using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. She provides social media tutoring and training to business owners, business development professionals, authors, speakers, coaches, business consultants, job seekers, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.