Whether we admit it or not, all of us like to think we’re popular. And for many of us this has manifested itself in sharing our experiences with friends online whether they want to share them with us or not.
In the pre-digital age, this meant passing around the holiday photographs at family gatherings or getting people to huddle in the front room to watch homemade movies. But today, in the age of the smartphone and the social network, the immediacy of being able to do that means we can not only share our experiences instantly through photography but we can get the validation that our friends’ feedback represents.
One of the reasons behind the growth in social networks has been our genuine need as individuals to engage in social contact with our friends. In part this is down to our desire to show off – to share the places or events that we’ve been to and the experiences that we have had. Others might be genuine achievements, like running the London Marathon or taking part in the Race for Life. The positive comments we receive as a result encourages us to do it more.
The reason for using photography as the medium for this is the old adage that a picture speaks a thousand words. They don’t only convey your message it also sets you in the context of the event or the situation you are keen to share. Photography has become the medium through which we live our lives – so much of what we do and what we experience is captured as an image and shared with the world. Now we have the technology at our fingertips to enable us to do so in almost real time.
Imagine, now, if you, as a brand, could share in the intimacy of those special moments and be part of the memories that each of us wishes to share with our friends. Imagine that, in a subtle and unobtrusive manner, you could be in that picture with me at Glastonbury, or sharing that drink with my friends and, in some way, through your presence, impose some credibility or verification on the image that I wouldn’t get from simply the picture on its own.
That’s how photo-activation marketing works. It authenticates your experience by attaching it to the brand, proving that you were where you said you were or did what you said you did, but in a way that enhances rather than detracts from your achievement. And because we like to share, you – the brand – become joined in that experience, part of the group, a friend for a day and you enjoy all of the word of mouth benefits that go along with it.
