By: Alyssa Ruiz
Often times I ask myself what kind of visual content I like to see on social media to get inspiration for my own. I will think things like “How do I want people to feel when they see my posts?” and “What do I want to see on my timeline?”
From my friends, I look to Snapchat for quick updates, Twitter for on-the-whim photos and quick thoughts, Instagram for significant, fun events, and finally, Facebook for milestone life updates. These are my “big-four” and primary go-to’s as many people would coin it. There’s definitely a balance to be had when deciding exactly where to post and what to post after an event occurs.
A vacation is a big deal and I imagine you’re pretty stoked and already at the airport just shy of takeoff by the time you read this article. As a flight attendant’s daughter, I travel a handful of times a month and the idea of a vacation no matter how far always makes me feel like the luckiest, most ecstatic person on earth!
Whether it be a road trip, cross country flight or a cruise through the blissful oceans, you’re going to want to remember every smile, laugh and delicious bite of food. In wanting to preserve those memories, we want to snapshot and share them to our closest circle of groupies without question.
There comes a point for me, maybe you too, where I see myself searching for that one screenshot of that magazine clipping I was inspired by for a photo idea, editing a Instagram story for more than 2 minutes, I’m looking for the perfect gifs that compliment the filter of a Snapchat I took probably 6 minutes ago or deciding which picture to actually post on my feed somewhere. All this time you take to add the bells and whistles is thoughtful, your friends and followers can probably easily tell which stories were crafted and the ones that were raw photos and take a second to appreciate yours.
I’m a firm believer in doing this but in return, I’m also 100% guilty of cutting baby pieces of vacation time for this because I want to produce unique content that’s bright and new and something I would appreciate. When simply not posting is not an option, updating all these platforms can be a little more of a task than initially imagined. You have to have a balance to know when you just got to leave the picture alone and enjoy where you are, what you’re doing and still be able to share.
Here’s the guide for posting while on vacation without missing out on being in the moment:
Simplicity is Key I find my best pictures are the ones that don’t require too much. It’s a photo that can be done in about three shots and you can keep the day and energy going. I imagine the patience to work a camera, get the angle, use the brightness dial, adjust the focus and wait to get that shot you visualize is probably going to be from your friends and young adults because they get it, you really want this picture to pay off and they’d probably want the same for their photos. If it’s someone who is also on vacation taking these pictures, they really are doing you a favor and you don’t want to be too extra because you’re now on their time.
Instead Try to capture things that stand out whether it be really unique looking food or a bright melting sunset or an adventure you wouldn’t normally do on a regular basis (hiking, skydiving, ziplining, swimming with turtles, snowboarding etc.) Capture it! You’ll always have time to look back and maybe even get a cool action shot that will make your audience curious and stop scrolling for a second.
2. Keep a Private Pinterest Board Pinterest boards are so much more than just pinning other people’s content, you can make your own! This is where you can keep those photo ideas and even a separate board of places you’d like to visit. Ideally, you can like ideas from anywhere: it can be a photo of a magazine cover, screenshots of pins or other sites and maybe even a sketch so you don’t forget. This is the beauty ofPinterest!
Instead Try Freeing up your cell-phone storage in the easiest way possible, by just creating a private Pinterest board. Private because you don’t have to worry if each pin fits a theme, isn’t the clearest or obvious screenshots because it’s for you to store your ideas all in one place. This has helped me immensely cut the time I used to search for ideas and I wanted to execute. I can just open my board, know what I want to shoot and get the shot. (And it’s save me 35% of my photo storage that was unnecessarily lingering around!)
3. Get Familiar with Your App Updates Imagine you just took the perfect picture for your Instagram story, angle and all, and find out your app added 400+ new music, gif and filter options! Now, you’re left to the mercy of the your editing app and you can’t really help but take more than a few minutes looking at what the possibilities are as your battery drains more and more.
Instead Try If you need to update one of your “big-four” apps or just downloaded it, take some time to learn what was added! In your spare-time, mess around with the different buttons and kinds of outcomes you can get in a finished product. This way, you have a pretty good mental blueprint of what you can add to your post without losing track of time or leaving any filters unturned.
4. Post the Highlights Every part of the trip will be exciting. Posting every single picture is not good: for privacy reasons and simply because people are scrolling by and won’t have time set aside to look at 387 pictures of your adventure. Even then, your followers could click on the few they see as visually interesting and then click out.
Instead Try Picking one picture in a series of pictures. For example, if you have a row of pictures of the same food dish, chose one that is at a different angle than the rest. Ask yourself which picture in the series is most interesting to you and that’s how you’ll start narrowing it down. This method can be applied for any subjects in your picture and actually produce some of the best content on the account you find the most important. If you have photos you absolutely love and want to share, spread the love! Feel free to post different perspective shots of an event on different platforms. A little burst of content on each of those different parts of your trip will really make for a well-rounded visual of your vacation.
Reach the writer on Instagram!