Allowing user-generated content is an effective way of engaging your audience. Customers are able to post content and respond to matters that concern them. This also helps you to identify what customers need most. The information can even help you to improve on your products and services.
Many customers result using images as proof of issues they want to raise with the product or service. In fact, images are preferable for many customers compared to texts or podcasts. They are easy to take and no need for much explaining. Brands also prefer images in advertising, for the same reasons – they can leave more impact and quickly more than do videos or texts. They also save a lot of time for customers.
However, you need to figure out how to react to the responses once the content is submitted by users. Content moderation is the first thing you should do before publishing the content.
What is image moderation?
Many brands use graphics to relay specific messages to customers. For instance, when advertising budgets are limited, images are very effective in saving advertising space. Even on the web, they help save space while creating opportunities in a better way than texts and videos.
However, images can also be used to taint brand image. A brand logo, for instance, can be edited to promote negative messages that do not align with the brand’s core objectives. When posted online, these will depict the brand negatively and can affect business.
Some people can also post disturbing images to taint a brand’s image, on a brand’s social media page. This can directly affect business if loyal customers see it. Any image that raises doubt on your image is bad. Campaigns sponsored by unpleasant customers are not unusual nowadays. Competitors can also launch campaigns to taint your brand image. These images can find their way to your blog posts, social media pages, and other places.
Not just campaigns aimed at tarnishing your name – sometimes people can post images on your blog for the motive of promoting their own content. For instance, bots are nowadays employed to post content on thousands of websites within minutes. By the time you realize, each of the articles in your blog could be filled with promotional images as replies to the posts. Hackers also try to trick your users by sometimes posting content that looks attractive but to which a link is added. When a customer clicks on the image, they are directed to a hacker’s website or let’s say a website whose owners hope to promote it on your website.
For this reason, it helps to have the practice to review these images. Many companies do not have such a practice and do it in an ad hoc manner. For a very active blog, the case may be different. It can be very hard to moderate the website content in an ad hoc manner. You end up with some content being forgotten or left not moderated.
Image moderation is part of the larger content moderation strategy to help remove harmful, offending, unsolicited promotions, or non-helpful content before it is published. This content can be deleted or trashed. Part of the challenge in content moderation is the cost because every comment needs to be checked and either accepted or deleted.
Some websites employ auto-moderation. However, this may only be helpful in moderating texts but less helpful when it comes to image moderation. For instance, setting to eliminate posts or comments automatically on the basis of offending or promotional keywords may not succeed when it comes to deleting images automatically.
For this reason, a manual moderation technique may be more helpful.
Outsourcing image moderation
Outsourcing is a practice where the company, instead of hiring internal staff to do the moderation work, hires external sourced staff to do so. This practice is much more common these days due to its cost-effectiveness nature. First, you will not have to train or retrain any staff to do moderation. Second, the only thing that appears on your expenditure in relation to the practice is an expense on the outsourcing contract – no salaries and other remunerations like paid leaves and hefty allowances.
For most companies outsourcing image and content, moderation can be done very easily. There are no lengthy hiring procedures like advertising for posts, calling for interviews, interviews, and shortlisting. Once you identify a company or image and content moderation outsourcing provider and sign a contract with them, work starts after a few days.
Creating a moderation guideline before outsourcing
Before outsourcing an image moderation expert or provider, it helps to first lay down moderation guidelines. These guidelines will help the moderation experts or company in the exercise. Here are some factors to consider when creating image moderation guidelines.
Format – This guideline will specify the image formats and sizes to be followed by the community, and to guide the provider regarding which images they should remove. Besides, set out a size limit for the images beyond which the image won’t be allowed.
Since companies employ software and manual methods of moderation, it helps to have software that safeguards these guidelines instead of leaving the moderator to manually do it. It can be very laborious. Many image moderation providers that offer outsourced services will understand the best software to use to safeguard these guidelines.
The hardest aspect to automatically moderate is the context. A person will need to manually review the picture or image to see to it that the theme and features on the photos align with the guidelines set. For most brands, the image contents should be respectful and align with the brand’s goals and that of the community it represents.
The moderator should also check on the facts and content accuracy in the image content. Originality is also another feature. Checking and ensuring that the images posted are original helps to maintain website ranking credibility. You also do not want the website to be brawled in copyright issues. This can also negatively affect brand reputation. Moderation also ensures there is no violence, nudity, and obscenity depicted in the image posted.