A common problem I hear from people is that they don’t have time to create the images to use across social media, or just as they’re ready to post something, it’s too dark/rainy/cold/the baby is crying and they can’t get the shot.
There is a simple answer to this: You need to create an image library to draw from for your posts.
This does NOT need to be a huge production – you don’t need to hire a photographer or a photo studio or get models (unless you want to and by all means, I highly recommend doing a professional photo shoot once or twice a year and updating your headshot at the same time!). Set aside 1 or 2 hours once a month, prepare in advance, and you can easily start building an image library of hundreds of on-brand photos that you can draw on at a moment’s notice to post out across social media with a relevant caption and Call To Action.
Here’s what you need to do:
▶︎ Brush up on your Beginners Photography and Product Photography skills if you need to
▶︎ Spend 1 hour making a list of the types of photos you want in your library (flatlays, X and Y products, quotes etc)
▶︎ Collect your product and any props you will need (decor for vignettes, coloured cardboard for backgrounds, desk scenes etc) being sure your props also match your brand aesthetic
▶︎ Schedule 1-3 hours in your diary or planner for when you are going to create your images (make sure this is a time when there will be good lighting, or organise your lighting if needed)
▶︎ Bring everything together and start snapping:
◆ Set up a scene and take photos from all different angles (you can then use angle #1 for one post, and angle #2 for another post a few days, weeks or months later)
◆ Swap out the product for this scene, and do the same or different angles again
◆ Repeat as many times for as many products as you like
◆ Set up the next scene, and start snapping from different angles
◆ Swap out the props and do it all again.
▶︎ Batch edit the images: Spend 1 hour each week going through the images and doing some light editing – hopefully they are pretty good to begin with and won’t need much, but a subtle boost to the brightness and contrast is always good, and perhaps some cropping if necessary
▶︎ Save the images to your phone and also your computer or ideally in the cloud (Google Drive, Dropbox etc) so you can access them from anywhere at any time
Using this system, you can quickly build up a large library of images, all slightly different, that you can use across multiple platforms in different ways at different times.