{"id":4140,"date":"2015-06-29T12:13:34","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T19:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/?p=4140"},"modified":"2015-06-30T12:10:41","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T19:10:41","slug":"how-to-create-viral-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/design\/how-to-create-viral-images\/","title":{"rendered":"From Blogging to Social: Tools and Tips to Create Viral Images"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week\u00a0we talked about how powerful picture list posts can be<\/a><\/span> with the right strategy and story, but they can be even more impactful with the right pictures (a.k.a. viral images).<\/em><\/p>\n

When trying to avoid\u00a0the dreaded outcome of click bait (but seriously, why did I click on this?<\/a>), it\u2019s important that the quality of the entire list post is top notch.<\/p>\n

You want to show people that this is not just another list post, and along with story and strategy<\/a>, classy images go a long way to not only improve user experience but also\u00a0shareability<\/a>. Everyone loves sharing good-looking pictures.<\/p>\n

\"Viral<\/a><\/p>\n

Finding Good Stock Photos<\/h2>\n

It sounds pretty obvious, but making killer viral images starts\u00a0with good photos.<\/p>\n

Original photography is usually the best option if it\u2019s available, but if not, there are free stock photos galore available all over the web. Long gone are the days of relying solely on Shutterstock for awkward, non-authentic corporate images.<\/p>\n

AllTheFreeStock<\/a>, StockSnap<\/a> and The Stocks<\/a> let you search other high quality stock sites within their own. They pull from sources like Pexels<\/a>, Unsplash<\/a>, and\u00a0Stock Up<\/a>, all of which have mass curations of professional, beautiful images. However,\u00a0you probably won\u2019t find super specific things like a pug riding a tricycle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pixbay<\/a> is best for a less curated and more all-inclusive approach. For each term you search, they\u2019ll just pull everything they can find under the Creative Commons Public Domain deed CC0<\/span><\/a>. You can use any of the images for free, even for commercial purposes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Viral<\/a><\/p>\n

Editing Like a Pro<\/h2>\n

In a \u201cPower of Images\u201d<\/span><\/a> webinar with Buzzsumo<\/span><\/a><\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Anna Guerrero from Canva<\/span><\/a> gave a demo of their web-based platform\u00a0<\/span>and Design School<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Canva’s\u00a0free design classes are a great place to start if you want to go\u00a0a step further with your images by adding graphics and text.<\/span> It\u2019s just one of many tools to expand your photo perfecting skills beyond the filters in Instagram.<\/span><\/p>\n

General Editing<\/h3>\n

Many of the stock photos you find amidst the more curated websites will already have some sort of edits applied. But whether you\u2019re working with those or something straight out of your camera, there are web tools to\u00a0help turn your pics into viral images.<\/p>\n

As we mentioned, Canva<\/span><\/a> is great for upgrading images by adding text and graphics with pre-set templates that are really hard to mess up. When it comes to editing the photos, there are some preset filters as well as simple brightness and contrast options. If you\u2019re working with a RAW photo though, you may want something a little bit more serious to get your photo where you need it.<\/p>\n

Polarr<\/a> gives you a lot of the perks of Adobe Lightroom<\/a> without the learning curve. It\u2019s a free, web-based platform that lets you easily toggle the basic settings like contrast and brightness, but also clarity and gamma.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know what those settings are, don\u2019t worry! There\u2019s an explanation of each one,\u00a0and you can always go back.<\/p>\n

Sizing<\/h3>\n

Firesize<\/a> is worth mentioning,\u00a0even for the Photoshop pros. It\u2019s a site that lets you resize an image (smaller or bigger) by just entering the image URL and the dimensions you want.<\/p>\n

In a couple steps, you\u2019ve just avoided opening Photoshop for one measly crop or messing with image size in code.<\/p>\n

\"Viral<\/a><\/p>\n

Viral Images on Mobile<\/h2>\n

To create viral images on your mobile device, it doesn\u2019t get much more professional than apps like Afterlight<\/a> or VSCOCam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both come with stunning filters that don\u2019t look like filters, along with professional editing features that make it hard for even the photo novice to edit a bad pic. VSCO is all photo, while Afterlight gives you some extra textures and frames as well.<\/p>\n

These apps are often just used to push photos to Instagram, but think big picture! Before you square them off, your impeccably edited photos could be great for your adding viral images to your blog or other content marketing materials.<\/p>\n

\"Viral<\/a><\/p>\n

Viral Images on Twitter<\/h2>\n

Even if you don\u2019t have the time to make your images snazzy and perfectly cropped on Twitter, there are super easy ways to execute image-based tweets \u2014 they get 150 more retweets than text-only tweets, so it\u2019s worth the extra few seconds.<\/p>\n

With Twitshot<\/a>, you just paste the\u00a0URL you\u2019re linking to and you\u2019ll get all of the images in the article to select from. Unlike when you post a link right into Twitter, your image will show up on the timeline as well as in the single-tweet view.<\/p>\n

To create your own Twitter images without having to dive into all of the options of Canva, you can use\u00a0Tryspruce<\/a> or Buffer\u2019s Pablo<\/a>. Both are set up for you to put text on top of an image using classy fonts and a simple, professional design. It\u2019s great for creating viral images with article pull quotes, inspirational quotes, or even quick tips, all of which are super retweet worthy.<\/p>\n

Images Really Do Matter<\/h2>\n

Images are important.\u00a0Our brains process them faster because we’re a visual species, double-tapping away, handing out hearts and likes to anything that gives us the slightest amusement.<\/p>\n

If you take the time to really earn your “like” with stunning viral images, then those likes will turn into shares<\/a> and hopefully even more satisfied readers. If you’re going to put the work into your post, you owe it to yourself to put the work into your images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To be sharable, your content has to have a good story and it has to look good. Creating high-quality viral images is a big part of that, and that doesn’t mean to stick the Amaro filter on everything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":4160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[280,284,295,279,170,296,299],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Create Viral Images<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you want your content to spread like wildfire, viral images are key. 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