Photos are important to your brand, and if you need proof, I'd like to take you on a memory field trip back to 2013.

In one of the bigger "scandals" of the time, one of the best and most notorious professional homemakers ruined her street cred by posting photos of her food on Instagram that made her delicious and time consuming recipes look like complete trash heaps.

Don't believe me? Check out this Buzzfeed article that is a hysterical memory of the time that Martha Stewart posted her disgusting food photos on social media, and Twitter brought all the funny snarky responses. Let this article serve as a warning that photos are important.

You can be a literal published cookbook author, but the photos you put out to the world and publish hold merit and weight. Photos could either improve your brand's credibility, or be it's detriment. 

Now here's my take:

Lately, I find myself turning more and more to visual platforms for social media. Don’t get me wrong, I still love a good bout of Facebook wit, but Instagram is my place. It’s my escape from political rants and also from my family trolling me to get a rise because I’m the baby of the family and the youngest cousin in a tight knit circle.

That's me with the bad haircut, crying because I didn’t want to sit on the piano bench when all the “big kids” were standing. Thirty plus years later, this instance still gets brought up at least twice a year. I’m also a wedding photographer in Michigan, so the “visual” aspect of Instagram appeals to me; I like looking at and creating pretty things.

When I started diving into the world of SEO and inbound marketing, the image part of it really resonated with me. Pinterest was on the rise, and my peers were spending hours sucked in to a platform that was 100% visual. At that point, photography blew up and it started taking a miracle for photographer’s work to be recognized along with a name, outside of just their image. That’s when SEO and photo importance all started.

Algorithms started recognizing that people weren’t just searching for words anymore, they were also searching for photos. Aside from adding in the keywords for your photos to be found on the web, adding in good photos is simply visually appealing. In addition to being appealing, photos help people connect the dots.

In today’s world, a brand is a brand and people are searching for that significance that makes one stand apart from another. Our fearless leader Erik MacPherson has spoken entire seminars on the importance of brand significance and how it connects generational gaps between Boomers and Millennials and GenZ.

People want stories, and photos play a massive role in telling that story. Logging in to a stock photo site doesn’t help tell your story. Photography is accessible to everyone now; iPhones can take photos and people will connect with candid original photos more than a stock image. 

And for all of you who came here for some actual statistics, here are 5 key ways photos can help improve your brand.

In closing, words are important, but so is a story. Your brand has a story to tell. It has a history. It has employees that make up your professional family. Telling that story and using the images will connect people in a time that they may feel disconnected from most people or companies. If you do it right and connect all those dots, you’ll build a client base that is loyal and feels strongly about being a cheerleader or advocate for you and your story. Pair that with some amazing customer service, and you’ll have clients for life.