One of the biggest challenges when looking for social media marketing images is finding ones that reflect the world that we’re living in.
Many images just don’t showcase the diversity of America or our values.
We’ve scoured the internet to find a mix of free and paid sites for you to find photos that can add diversity to your social media marketing strategy.
TONL
This website promises “culturally diverse stock photos that represent the true world we live in.”
TONL’s founders are Karen, a Nigerian-American, and Joshua, a Ghanain-American. They started the site after struggling to find diversity while blogging and working on branding.
“Photography and storytelling can help humanize and hopefully diminish the stereotypes and prejudice against black and brown people, especially,” they say on their website.
TONL offers custom packages, as well as set pricing starting at $29 a month.
Death to the Stock Photo
This website promises to “make the internet beautiful.” And when you visit the site, you’ll immediately see some amazing photography.
“All Death to stock media is created to be used for the greater good and never evil,” founders say on their website. “It is intended to support artists, entrepreneurs, and all people creating value in the world.”
Companies that have used this site include Spotify, Visa, Twitter and Pump.
After a 14-day free trial period, prices start at $12 a month.
Stocksy
The first stop at this website shows off some amazing diverse imagery. It’s easy to navigate with relevant topics pre-selected and a search function that displays hundreds of photos not found anywhere else.
Images start at $15. Videos are also available.
Eye for Ebony
This site jumps straight to the point on the front page: “Representation matters. Our stock photos make it easier.”
Eye for Ebony offers 27 free photos, bundles of photos starting at $15 and custom packages.
The company is headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia, just a couple of hours away from Richmond, Virginia.
Getty Images
If you’re looking for high quality diverse imagery from around the world, Getty Images has endless possibilities.
Getty Images has up-to-date photos and videos, plus a variety of music options for your creative needs.
Getty has a variety of pricing options and packages.
Shutterstock
In recent years, Shutterstock has taken the step to research diversity in advertising and marketing.
“It’s important to think about your audience, and more broadly about the visual representation of individuals, couples, and families — and what is a good representation of modern society,” the company says.
You can give Shutterstock a try with 10 free photos and then move to a paid plan.
Canva
This site – which offers both free and paid options – is a great tool to secret social media graphics and short videos.
Recently, Canva posted to social media that it was “curating a collection of free templates, stock photography and illustrations to encourage support, share information, and inspire change.”
It also created Black Lives Matter templates to make it even easier to create social graphics.
Nappy
This website has tons of “beautiful, high-res photos of black and brown people.”
And it’s FREE.
“Nappy makes it easy for companies to be purposeful about representation in their designs, presentations, and advertisements,” the company says on its website.
Pexels
If you’re looking for a free option with tons of diverse photos, Pexels is the place to be.
A quick search for “Diversity” reveals hundreds of images not found on other free photo sharing sites.
Pexels is completely free, but it does have restrictions on using images for offensive posts or reselling of any images.
Unsplash
This is another great free website with photographers constantly adding new work.
Unsplash stays relevant with changing tabs to keep up with worldwide events. For example, in recent weeks, the “Current Events” tab is full of free photos you can use from protests in the U.S.
“While we don’t know exactly where everything is headed, what we do know is creativity will be how we get there,” Unsplash says.
The image at the top of this post came from photographer Clay Banks, who has hundreds of photos on Unsplash.
If you’re looking for even more free photo options, check out this list we created last year with high-quality images!
