Your Media Library is where you’ll source and store all your images and videos to add to your posts.
The difference visuals make to social media posts should not be underestimated. Engagement increases by up to 37% when a post includes a photo. This feature enables you to easily add colour to your content in seconds and make a bigger impact on all your social feeds.
Your Library includes easy-to-use, handy features to help you stay organised and search for content effectively – plus you’ll get access to endless high-quality images through our Unsplash integration.
Here’s how to get started:
#1 – Create folders to organise your content
A good place to start is to begin thinking about the different categories of visual content you’re likely to keep in your Library. This will vary a lot depending on your business and industry, so it’s important to consider what type of imagery will boost your engagement and relate to your posts.
If you’ve already got an active social media presence for your business, take a look at the media you’ve shared in the past. Think about how best to segment this content so that it’ll be easy to find and will make posting and scheduling as convenient as possible.
Planning ahead with these folders will make your life (and your team’s) much easier in the long term. If you’ve already set up your Post Groups, perhaps use those categories to guide your Media Library structure. If not, here are a few category ideas:
Organise by type of content – the most common way of categorising visual content is based on the type of content it is, e.g. what the photo is of. Here are some examples of different types of content you may have:
- Product photos
- Campaign graphics
- Promotional videos
- Seasonal shots
- Staff/office images
- Event photos
- Branding
Organise by channel – you may want to create a separate folder for each of your social profiles, since every platform has different size and ratio requirements. This will help ensure that all your images and videos are optimised for each of your channels.
Organise by topic – if your industry is broad and you cover a lot of different subjects in your posts, try arranging your media by key topics. This will be very specific to your business, so if you were a telecommunications company your folders may be:
- 5G
- Broadband
- Tariffs
- Connectivity
- Devices
If you accidentally upload an image or video to the wrong folder or decide a file would be better suited somewhere else, you can move your content using the Move to drop-down menu under the Actions section on the right-hand side of your page. You can also delete content using the bin icon.
When you’re setting up your folders, don’t forget that you can also label your images to make them easier to find when searched. Consider organising your folders by type of content, and labelling by topic – that way you’ve got the best of both worlds. More about labelling coming up!
#2 – Upload your own files
As soon as you’ve got a bit of structure to your Library, you can begin to upload your files. Go to the folder you want to add them to and select the upload icon or drag and drop your images into the area provided.
To select multiple items to upload, click and hold down the cursor as you drag it across all your chosen images or click the first image and hold down the Ctrl key as you click other images.
Uploading imagery to your Library in advance will make it far easier to create and schedule content in the long-term. It’s definitely worth investing a bit of time early on getting all your media organised so you can quickly and conveniently add it to posts without any hassle.
#3 – Access millions of premium images for free
Your Media Library not only allows you to store all your images in one tidy place, but it also gives you access to endless visual content through Unsplash.
We know that sourcing your own imagery and capturing new photos takes time and resources, so we’ve cut out the hassle by giving you access to millions of premium images, all from one dashboard. Select Free stock photos from the drop-down menu and start searching for images to add to your collection.
When you’ve found an image you like, select it, choose where you want to store it and click Save to folder.
#4 – Label your content for easy access
As well as creating your own unique filing system, you can also tag your images and videos with customised labels to make it easier to find them with a quick search.
We suggest you use a different categorisation format for your folders and labels so that you have two separate ways of locating specific files. For example, if you’ve organised your folders based on type of content, base your tags on topic, so that you have more than one way of identifying your media.
You can label each piece of content individually or bulk tag by clicking the circular tick icons at the bottom right of each file and adding the same label to them all.
Once your images and videos are tagged, you can easily find them by using the search bar at the top of the page with key terms included in your labels. Choose to search your whole Library or within a specific folder.
#5 – Pick your ideal image and post!
If you decide you want to create a post directly from you Media Library, select the image you want to share and click Use in post. In the popup that appears, your image will be preselected, ready for you to write and schedule your post.
Use the descriptions included with your image to make sure it’s the right size and ratio for the platform you’re sharing it to. If you’re unsure, read our handy guide on all the ideal social media image sizes and aspect ratios.
