Visual Storytelling Using Social Media

SARAH EVA MONROE
Senior Creative Director, mStoner
Sarah Eva Monroe began her career as a creative, working
as a photographer, print/web designer, and art director.
After earning her Master’s degree in Integrated Marketing
Communications from the Medill School at Northwestern
University, Sarah Eva moved into the agency world, where
she led digital/social media strategy for major brands in the
higher education, non-profit, and advocacy space. On the
client side, she’s been part of internal marketing teams at
three higher education institutions, as well as the Obama
campaign’s 2012 digital team.
Sarah Eva’s approach to solving client challenges is to create
beautiful work that happily achieves functional goals, and
loves the process of flexing creative work in response to
analytics and user data.
Tweet her at @SarahEva
2

VISUAL STORYTELLING
• Assumptions:
• You know the top social platforms—Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, Tumblr—and how to post images to them.
• You understand that images drive engagement, but
want a refresher on why and how to build a visual
storytelling strategy that makes sense for your brand.
DIGITAL PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTE #SMWVisualStorytelling / 3

Storytelling
• Is interactive
• Presents a narrative
• Engages the listener’s imagination

Storytelling and Social Media
• Social networks are two-way
communication streams
• Social media engagement is
optional: many users are looking
to be entertained.

Yelp Exists to Tell Us Stories

Visuals are Efficient Story Helpers
“The human brain can process
entire images that the eye sees for
as little as 13 milliseconds”
- MIT neuroscientists

A cat
wearing a
birthday
hat

Side note: KISS on fonts
A cat wearing a birthday hat
A cat wearing a birthday hat
a
cAT
wEaRiNg
A
BIrtHdAY
haT
A
cat
wearing
a
birthday
hat

“People don't always read an ad,
but they can't help but see the
picture. They are getting
impressions of the brand
all the time.”
Halle Hutchison, head of brand and advertising,
Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA
h8p://online.wsj.com/arBcles/SB116467838729434053

source

THE RISE
OF THE
VISUAL WEB
+
iPhone
designed
by
Edward
Boatman
from
the
Noun
Project
Photo
Gallery
designed
by
Antar
from
the
Noun
Project
Brain
designed
by
hunoBka
from
the
Noun
Project
=
♥

“As social audiences access more
and more social content through
mobile devices, consumption habits
trend toward succinct content with
strong imagery and design.”
-Ogilvy blog
h8ps://social.ogilvy.com/the-‐rise-‐of-‐the-‐visual-‐web/

SO THE VISUAL WEB IS HERE

WE KNOW VISUALS WORK…

But visuals are challenging…
• A few days ago at the Food Network…

Choosing an image strategy
TACTIC STRATEGY
Actual brownies? Appeal to appetite, drive connection to the emotional
satisfaction of eating dessert and/or the satisfaction of
making a dessert your family and friends enjoy.
Funny brownies? Football demographic is into humor and it can strengthen
personal connection with brand if users feel in on the joke.
Use text within image itself so
it’s more shareable?
Allow sentiment and branding to travel along with photo
beyond original tweet.
Show only brownies or people
too?
Our brains are hardwired to be drawn to faces and,
especially, eyes. Using people can help viewers imagine
themselves taking the action you are prompting.
If people, what are audience
expectations of gender,
ethnicity, and setting?
Careful attention to staging and details of an image can
reinforce message resonance.

Need an asset ASAP!
• Buy a stock photo?
• Reuse a photo from the website?
• Shoot a new photo?
• Create a stylized illustration? (Try Canva.com)
Next step: consider options

Choosing the right story helper
Sources for actual brownies:
• Stock photos: you can get
a nice shot for $5 (Veer,
Getty, ShutterStock)
• Go to a coffee shop, buy a
brownie and take a photo
• Flickr creative commons
filter (must attribute)
What do we show?
• Actual brownies?

Be smart when using stock images
h8p://womenlaughingalonewithsalad.tumblr.com/
Dell and Gateway
featured the same
model and the same
location in their
back-to-school
campaigns. (2004)

Sources for funny
brownies:
• Make your own meme,
but check
knowyourmeme.com
first so you are clear on
the meme’s meaning
• Embellish a normal
brownie image with
illustration or text
What do we show?
• Funny brownies?

What do we show?
• Use text within image
itself so it’s more
shareable?

Color Theory
A note about color:
• Explore brand colors first
and prioritize coordination
with image
• Pay attention to color theory
but only as a secondary
consideration

What do we show?
• Only brownies or people
too?
– If people, what are audience
expectations of gender,
ethnicity, and setting?
Understand your audience:
• Access your follower
demographics
• Think about context of
message
– Monday Night football involves
the NFL, which is under fire
right now. Safe, comforting
messaging is a better path than
something edgy.
• Bonus points for taking into
account geographies of
teams scheduled to play

Choices, choices, choices

CASE STUDIES:
THE STORIES WE’RE TELLING

Images drive engagement

BarkBox

CK DanceWorks Inc

VW: Throwback Thursday

CRN Construction

Dogs Trust Digital Marketing

Acura NSX: Snapchat

Crema Cafe

Ivivva

Stabilize
source
In low light, camera phones slow the shutter speed to let in more light and have a longer
opportunity to capture movement. Hold the camera phone with both hands and brace
your upper arms against your body when you shoot.

Images from Flickr
Emphasize diagonal lines
Photo tip: Diagonal lines generally work well to draw the eye of an image’s viewer
through the photograph. They create points of interest as they intersect with other lines
and often give images depth by suggesting perspective.

Rule of Thirds
When composing a picture, imagine two horizontal lines and two vertical
lines crossing like a tic-tac-toe grid on top of it. Place strong lines and
divisions like the horizon on the gridlines and let elements of interest fall on
the intersections.

Get closer
When the background of your picture is cluttered and the lighting is
questionable, fill the frame of your camera phone by moving in closer to your
subject.

source
Anticipate shutter lag
Get used to your camera phone’s timing so when something interesting happens, you’ll
have a good feel for the point when you need to press the shutter release to capture the
most interesting moment.

source
Pay attention to contrast
Get the right color tone. Shooting in black-and-white in any light can help
develop your photographer’s eye by letting you concentrate on the relationship
between light and shadow without the distraction of color.

source
Solid background
Try using a black background to make a subject stand out. Black velvet
material works great because it absorbs any light hitting it. As a result, no
shadows or reflections appear in the picture.

Image Credit: Olivier Duong
On the other hand, backgrounds can enhance and
emphasize the main subject.

Lighting – sunlight is the best light
Light, location and subject are entwined: it was only possible to take that photo in that
place with that type of light at one particular time. It’s almost impossible to reproduce the
effect afterwards – the uniqueness of the light becomes part of the image.

THANK YOU !
SARAH EVA MONROE
Senior Creative Director, mStoner
@SarahEva
@ChiDPI
@mStonerInc
49

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