Artistry triggers emotion
What’s the difference between a standard and an artfully-captured photo?
Standard photos are consumed, but artistry triggers an emotional response.
The other day, I woke up to a Facebook direct message that simply stated, “There will be imitators, but there only is one John DeMato…”
Well, that’s certainly a well-timed, morning boost for my self esteem, wouldn’t you say?
I asked her what inspired this unprompted compliment?
She then sent me one of her colleague’s recent social posts.
It was a series of virtual photos taken of him while conducting an online presentation. It was a laptop placed on a kitchen island, and the photos were taken from a dead-center vantage point. And the expression on the presenters face was neutral - not too animated, just middle-of-the-road interesting.
Before I could comment on the quality of the image content, my client followed up, “Someone doing very average shoots that made me remember the artistry in your brilliance and to never take it for granted.”
Well jeez, that was humbling, :)
Now, I’m not sharing this story with you to victory lap it in your inbox.
I’m sharing it to point out an aspect that many speakers, authors, trainers and other expert-based business owners take for granted when thinking about how they present themselves visually across their online presence.
The quality of your image content matters.
It needs to matter to you because it has a tremendous effect on your audience.
Why?
The internet, in general, and social media platforms, specifically, are pretty fucking noisy places, wouldn’t you agree?
Posting random shit without rhyme or reason only contributes to this noise, and it buries you further among the sea of other content that populates your audience’s feeds.
But when you curate image content that presents you artfully, when the image purposefully leverages visual aesthetics such as lighting, composition, angle, timing and compelling backgrounds to draw all the attention back to you in the frame, that’s an eye-catching and persuasive argument to which people pay attention.
Why?
Artistry triggers emotion.
It inspires your audience to stop the scroll, care enough to read the stories you share with them, and follow through on whatever call-to-action you request at the end of that story.
Artfully compelling photos visually punctuate the sentiment of not just the stories you share on social media - they punctuate the sentiments of EVERY story you share across every touch point in your online presence.
Blog posts. Website pages. Webinars. Online presentations. Digital Ads. Professional Profiles.
Everything.
It’s the linchpin to gaining the attention that your expertise and experience deserves.
Photos that leverage aesthetics capture people’s imaginations.
It separates you from others that share your space of expertise because you’re presented in an extremely compelling and flattering light.
These aren’t simply photos that chronicle the what and how of how you serve.
They’re an experience.
They represent a preview for how the audience will feel once they work with you to get past what’s holding them back.
This is a powerful - and absolutely necessary - emotion when looking to build a community of advocates and clients.
But, this is not a short-term game, folks. It’s built over time and consistency.
Trust is not built in a day, especially in the digital landscape. You earn that connection through purposeful intention week-after-week, year-after-year.
In order to achieve the visibility that you seek for your work, you have to earn your audience’s attention.
Run-of-the-mill photos aren’t, quite frankly, going to blow wind up people’s skirts.
Investing in visually stunning, image content is a persuasive piece in the earning-the-attention-you-deserve puzzle.
It visually positions you as the authority that you are.
And it’s the only way that your brilliance will be recognized and not taken for granted, :)
PS - If you found this article valuable, I invite you to join my email list so that you save yourself from commuting to my blog every time I post something new, :)