5 DIY Photography Tips to Help Coworking Spaces Boost Conversions

They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, and this is especially true when it comes to Google Ads. 

Your photos showcase the attractiveness and key differentiators of your space. And, most importantly, they help prospective members connect with the space they’ll be touring–and maybe even working from. 

In fact, great imagery helps your Google Ads perform better and can even increase your conversion rates.

But there’s a caveat: in order to have the desired effect, your photos need to be high-quality, and that doesn’t just apply to their resolution. It also encompasses what you include in the photos as well as where and how you use them. 

You don’t have to be a professional photographer to take incredible, sales-driving pictures, though. Just follow this quick guide we’ve created to help you take top-tier photos of your coworking space.

4 Common Ways to Use Photos of Your Coworking Space in Google Ads

Before we dive into the “how,” let’s explore the “what” and “why” of taking great photos for your coworking space.

First, it’s important to understand the few common ways to leverage high-quality photos with your Google Ads to help drive conversions for your coworking space. 

Here are four of them.

Having high-quality images pertaining to the service you’re advertising can help increase conversions significantly. In fact, in an experiment where we tested four banner image side-by-side in an A/B test, we found that the champion beat the runner-up by 47%.

Beyond Google Ads, high-quality photos can also be used for other marketing purposes, such as:

• Your website
• Exterior signage
• Social media
• Email marketing
• Blog content
• Video content
• In apps

The Best Image Formats for Your Coworking Space

Now that you understand where to use your photos, we’ll dive into how to start taking pictures you’ll be able to use in a variety of ways.

This starts with understanding common photo formats. 

When it comes to taking photos for your coworking space, the two most common formats are square and rectangular.

But for each, it’s important to make sure you follow a few optimal image specifications:

• Rectangular images:
  Aspect ratio of 1.91:1 with a minimum of 600 x 314 pixels
• Square image:
  Aspect ratio of 1:1 with a minimum of 314 x 314 pixels

But which one is the best option for your Google Ads campaigns?

As a rule of thumb, Google generally serves square images for search ads and rectangular ones for extension ads.

However, we’ve noticed Google doing two new things more and more lately:

• Increasing its use of rectangular images
• Utilizing a new format that uses three square images formatted into one rectangular image

So, with that in mind, it’s wise to take photos that can be used in both formats and to build up an archive of image content to draw from.

5 Tips for Taking Better Photos for Your Coworking Space

With all of that in mind, it’s time to pick up your camera (or hire a photographer to pick up theirs) and start snapping shots. 

Whichever avenue you choose, here are five considerations to keep in mind that will help you take conversion-driving photos you can use for your Google Ads and beyond.

1. Don’t Forget to Take Exterior Photos

It’s common to see coworking space operators take a ton of stunning photos from inside the space, but exterior photos are all too often neglected.

This is a big missed opportunity. 

Front door pictures are great for “Book A Tour” calls to action, and exterior building shots can help people who are familiar with the area to instantly understand where you’re located.  

You can also take a few steps inside your front door and snap some photos of your front desk and reception areas to convey a sense of welcome for prospective members.

And-Co, located in Vancouver, Canada, has done a great job capturing images from the exterior of their iconic building and leveraging them in their marketing efforts.

2. Include People in Your Photos

Your space itself is incredibly important, but it’s the community within your walls that ultimately brings the space to life.

That’s why it’s so important to ensure you take some photos that include people: for one, our eyes are naturally drawn to people in photos, but, most importantly, it helps bring that key human element of your space to the forefront. 

If possible, try to leave an empty seat in view in your photos so that people can picture themselves in the space.

Venture X taps into their community in many of their photos, and it helps illustrate the energy and experience that members will enjoy when they step into one of their spaces.

3. Zoom Out

It might feel counterintuitive to take photos in which your coworking space isn’t perfectly framed front and center, but doing so actually allows for the image to be cropped and adjusted for various viewing aspect ratios and angles. 

In reality, photos will rarely be used in the exact dimensions and ratios as they’re taken by the camera (such as 4:3 or 3:2), so allowing space to crop inwards from any direction allows your image assets to be more broadly utilized. 

If you’re looking for a great example of how to do this, check out this shot from Ikigai Coworking in Kenya.

4. Capture Team Portraits (And Extend the Offer to Members)

The team that runs your coworking space can be one of the most important aspects of its culture, community, and the experience people enjoy while working there.

Taking team photos and individual portraits can help people become familiar with your space’s ownership and staff, in turn reinforcing valuable personal connections. 

Your portraits can be used on your business cards and email signatures, among many other applications.

You can even make this a member perk by offering professional headshots while you have a photographer on-site. 

The team at The Colab Space in Orange County has taken some incredible team photos that they’ve used across multiple different applications.

5. Use Photos like Adjectives

This might sound odd, but you can use your photos to reinforce the adjectives you use to describe your space.

Rather than just talking about it, try to show it: for instance, if your space features a mid-century modern design, capture shots of the furniture or elements that encapsulate this style.

For example, Terra Coworking in Denver, Colorado, perfectly captures its boutique spirit with the imagery it showcases in its Google Ads.

How You Can Learn from Your Photos’ Performance

You can learn a lot about what works and what doesn’t in terms of photos by measuring their performance in isolated environments, such as unique landing pages.

Using high-quality photos allows you to: 

• Test out what people want to see from your space and your photos
• Discover what people gravitate towards using Google Ads
• Find out what resonates with users
• Find the best photo for your coworking space

Common Photo Trends for Coworking Spaces

There are a few common trends that we’ve seen when it comes to photos for coworking spaces that you can use to optimize your shots.

For one, people are attracted to bright photos, but photos that are too bright can have their downfalls as well.

If you’d like some additional insights on this front, check out this video showing how people ranked the best smartphone cameras based solely on the photos they produced.

Another thing we’ve seen is that photos with people in them often perform better from a click-through rate perspective, with exterior building photos which help illustrate where the building is coming in as a close second. 

Finally, horizontal photos tend to be more broadly applicable than vertical ones. They’re typically easier to work with as they can simply be cropped inward to make them vertical. Also, within an office environment, the floor and ceiling aren’t the most appealing features, so this environment tends to lend well to (landscape) orientation.

Great photos are an easy way to improve the performance of your coworking space’s Google Ads campaigns, among many other marketing functions.

And with these simple tips, you can take pictures that are going to meet the mark, position your brand in a positive light, and inspire people to book tours.

If you’re looking for more insights to help bring in new members with Google Ads, speaking with a specialist can be incredibly helpful. And that’s where Spacefully can help.

Learn how we can supercharge your lead generation by signing up for our Google Ads Blueprint today.