Social Media stopping you from eating and drinking?
It is well known how tech is taking over much of our social lives, dinner tables being a well reported on subject especially with children and their mobile phones (social media being the biggest draw).
Well as a parent, I can say the above is very precise in describing our children’s temptations at dinner times, usually it’s a Youtube video playing or it’s flicking through Pinterest photos – Just like any parent we do our best to divert their attention away from all this at meal times as it is a rare chance to have quality time all together. What about us as adults – are some of us just the same?
I recently was invited as press to a 5 day conference and tour in France where much fine wine and food was experienced. Sitting at a table full of PR, bloggers and writers I could see very easily how times had changed where taking a photo of what you were about to eat had well and truly replaced people saying ‘Thank you, Lord, for the food we are about to receive ‘.
Myself, being an avid blogger on varied web platforms, I must say that I can be equally guilty of taking out my mobile when the dinner just served looks too good to touch and I know it would make a great blog image or accompany a related editorial for a magazine.
I do not disagree that when you visit the likes of Facebook, it can be somewhat off putting when people share a photo of their half eaten fried breakfast, but I do feel that quality photos of special foods can be appealing – We have to agree that recipe / food books have been selling for years from Floyd on France to any one of Jamie Oliver’s books and they are always full of tempting photos. Delaying ourselves, by taking photos, from starting dinner at the same time as everyone else is certainly a sign that social media is interfering with some of the basic things in our lives, but some of us, because of our businesses, need to capture that perfect photo before we disturb our plates or glasses.
For anyone that is connected with me on Facebook will see my timeline mostly filled with glasses of champagne, a subject that I follow closely and also report upon – These uploads help to keep those following me posted on my whereabouts and commenting on / emailing me for more information on the tasting notes. OK, I may be one of the few people at a tasting / champagne event taking photos of my glass before drinking it, but I know that those photos, especially if shared on social media, may get 100’s if not 1,000’s of impressions and on many occassions, comments, questions, emails and even new business.
Social media is definitely getting in the way of how we live our lives, but in many ways it has it’s positives too especially when used wisely and you’ve a target audience that would be interested in the topic you are sharing. If you have a business that relies on you sharing content, especially photos/videos, then I am sure you will, like myself, never be far away from your mobile phone with your trigger happy finger just waiting to capture those special moments / images to share out to your followers – Some people do this purely for social reasons so that friends and family are upto date with what they are doing with their lives and others are looking to share content with building their business in mind.
I believe that the world we live in really expects us to own a mobile phone and be on social media – Many advertisements I see, especially when traveling on the London Underground, are designed to engage with us there and then with prompts to follow, like, Tweet a hashtag, scan, NFC tap and more.
As an estate agent, more than photos of food and drinks, there is still a wide opportunity to share quality interior design / landscaping themed photos to share? Property is a huge topic and I would say many people would have it down as a topic of interest so the opportunity is there to build a strong audience and response growth if you decide to share out property related content. You could simply chose as mentioned, interior design photos, capturing colour combinations, arrangement of furniture, house plants, lighting, tiling and much more (books on these topics have, just like Jamie Oliver with recipes, sold very well), but you can also hit upon a very specific topic such as roof structures, conservatories, barn conversions, wine cellars and anything else that you can think of to give you a unique character on social media.
Maybe if you are selling holiday homes in France or Italy, then you’ll have a much more varied and interesting timeline of property listings, but even if you are an estate agent in an urban environment here in the UK where properties are much less varied and unique, you can still make your social media channels interesting to many by concentrating on something topical and of interest to your target audience. You may find it bizarre, but you could easily gain yourself a fast growing audience simply by sharing daily posts on different styles of front doors that you see or if you are in London, maybe take photos of blue plaques outside buildings. You will no doubt then find yourself, when you are about about with family and friends, every time you walk past an interesting door or a new blue plaque, stopping to take a picture, whilst those you are with carry on walking without you to their destination… Not as bad as delaying eating your dinner by taking photos though?
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