An introduction to photography in social media with a look at how showing personality helps travel and tour companies develop their social media presence. From the social media conference organised by Visit Costa Brava in September 2011.

1. Photography, Personality &Social Media Abigail King Social Media Conference – Visit Costa Brava – September 2011

2. Abigail King SOCIAL MEDIA – INSIDE THE TRAVEL LAB “One of the best travel blogs in the world.” Lonely Planet Ranked as one of the most influential travel blogs by Google, Klout, Peer Index, Invesp and more... FREELANCE JOURNALIST Lonely Planet, BBC, CNN, Red Magazine, UK Travel Daily - @insidetravellab & @abigailking

3. Personality Personality matters in social media Keep your corporate brochure and information pages but also... Express yourself on social media as you would do at work - friendly -authoritative -professional -approachable

4. Be Yourself Otherwise it will be too difficult to maintain People can sense authenticity You DO NOT need to be a teenager who talks in text speak to use social media

5. Need Some Ideas? Think of social media as a radio station instead of a corporate brochure Radio presenters stay on theme yet... They make unscripted comments They replay the same songs (to some extent) They interact with listeners on the phone

6. Using Names Named person on Twitter Named person on Facebook Named person on Google+... Spot the theme? BUT – use your brand name as the twitter handle Like traditional business meetings

7. Example

8. Need Inspiration? Follow the seasons – Semana Santa, Reyes Magos, summer etc Follow the news – major sports events, heat waves, celebrities etc Food & recipes – everyone has to eat Broadcast your news – renovations, new offers etc in moderation

9. Amplify Others Set up a twitter search for keywords that are relevant to your business Retweet and reshare Facebook posts about your area of expertise Invite submissions from readers

10. Hire Someone Social media has arrived. Take it seriously. Make sure that whoever you hire matches your personality, your brand and your values and knows enough to represent you and your product. Don’t become a cautionary tale!

11. PHOTOGRAPHY: freezing a moment

13. One picture paints 1000 words

14. Attention-grabbing

15. Quick

16. Easy to understand

19. Personal

20. Relevant

22. Taking Photos Take as many as you can. This is the digital age. Experiment. Take your time. Mix close-ups with portraits with landscape views with special effects... Avoid flash wherever possible. Stabilise the camera on solid surfaces or use a tripod. Read the manual...

23. A Few More Tips... The rule of thirds Horizontal pictures Morning and evening light Get close to people. Avoid putting them in the centre of the shot. Take close-ups of interesting details

24. Editing Photos Photoscape (open source) Photoshop Picasa WordPress Flickr Instagram

25. Editing Photos Crop White balance Play with the contrast, saturation, brightness Experiment with special effects – but don’t overdo it

26. The Original Photo

27. Black & White

28. Paint

29. Line Drawing

30. Photos on the Web Do not upload full size photographs DO NOT UPLOAD FULL SIZE PHOTOGRAPHS WHY? Slows down your website Irritates your readers Lowers your Google ranking Creates long term storage problems on your server

31. Photos for the Web Resize – 500 – 1000 px Label the following The title of the photo (filename) The alt tag (the text a reader sees if the image does not appear) The caption

32. Social Networks General Facebook Twitter Photo Specific Flickr Instagram 500 px

33. Questions?

34. www.abigailking.co.uk www.insidethetravellab.com Slides will appear on slideshare...