With last week’s it inspired me to see what the top ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏcustomer searches were back in the previous October.
I couldn’t review customer searches from 1985 as ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏwasn’t around then, plus it would require me to flick through an actual book of photo prints and boxes of transparencies which unfortunately time doesn’t allow.
There are some themes that a stock photography customer will revisit year on year, but with time some of those subjects start to look dated. If you took , they probably don’t look like life around you now (despite the 80’s fashion revivals).
There’s still a demand for the images but it’s a different market, so you might want to think about altering your keywording with less “modern fashion” and more “retro” and “historical” terms.
There are some photos of themes and locations that are timeless. There are also subjects that are recurring trends due to current affairs, fashions or some kind of event that gives a subject greater gravitas and therefore demand with stock photography customers.
Looking back can give us some insights, but when making comparisons to what’s popular now, it’s not always an obvious trend to spot. Here’s what I found out when I looked back at the top ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏcustomer searches in October 2014.
The most viewed location
ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏcustomers have a lot of demand for travel photography (for various usages) but back in October 2014 it was Hong Kong that came out on top with 28,800 images viewed.
Back then there were daily news updates on the unfolding drama of the that had gripped the city and images of the protests themselves were popular with our customers, but there was also a renewed interest in Hong Kong imagery in general.
Skip forward to October 2015
I’m not sure what insights we can gain by making a comparison, however the most viewed location this October was with 39,600 images viewed, but that isn’t the most viewed subject as that’s with 39,668 images looked at.
Anyone been to Havana recently and taken a photo of a donkey? Then get uploading to Alamy; the above postcard from 1904 is one of the few on sale on Alamy.
The most searched term
In October 2014 customers searched the most for which was rapidly increasing it’s spread through September and October.
This obviously caught the attention, some with more end of the world predictions than others which risked inciting all of which benefitted the media and ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏas customers looked at over 13,000 images on our site to illustrate their stories.
Jump forward to October 2015
We now seem to be a little more relaxed about Ebola as the comparative most searched term this month is bizarrely , followed by a then (which are ).
Most zoomed searches October 2014
The destinations customers looked at in the most detail was Turks and Caicos, with over 7,000 images viewed and 173 looked at in closer detail. came in a close second.
Whilst they don’t appear to have been in the news back then, perhaps these were the holiday destinations of choice for 2015? Or maybe people looking to escape the threat of Ebola?
was also at the top of the charts (for customers looking at him in more detail) with over 2,000 images viewed and just under 100 zoomed.
Possibly linked to a story about him , so people were trying to get a closer look at him for identity purposes. But this was a busy month for Boy George being and kicking off .
Skip forward to October this year
Customers looked at in the most detail, with over 100 zooms and when there’s less than 500 images in the collection, that’s an impressive hit rate.
It might be down to customers trying to work out exactly how you bend your leg to rest your foot on your head, whilst gliding at pace, on ice wearing ice skates and make it all look effortless and graceful… which is also very impressive!
Back to the future… what can stock photographers learn from looking at the past?
Well, short of building a time machine (outside of those predictable themes in stock photography) it’s not possible to predict exactly what customers will want in the future.
What we can predict is ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏcustomers will want all kinds of photos from wide reaching themes and locations. Just looking at the past month’s customer searches highlights just how diverse our customers needs are; basically, if you’ve got an image of it, at some point we’ll probably have a customer demand for it.
So how do you stay ahead of the game?
Whilst we’re not advocating everyone buys a ticket for a round the world trip (although… that would be nice wouldn’t it) you can make sure your ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏcollection is as wide reaching as you can possibly achieve.
- Cover as many themes as you can with literal, editorial photography
- When travel isn’t an option, shoot local and think of more creative conceptual ideas
- Look ahead to seasonal themes and/or upcoming events
- Adjusting keywords of images already in your collection could bring them back on trend
- Check the top ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏcustomer searches in ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏMeasures (both historical and current data)
Or….. just buy yourself a Delorean and see if you can get it up to 88mph. If you’re interested in finding out more on these kinds of stats on customer searches, then take a look at the ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏMeasures tool in your account.