How to Motivate Your Guests to Join In

Create your album ahead of your event and invite your guests to it. That way you give them a chance to get to know imiji beforehand. After all, the more guests join in, the lovelier the album becomes.

Put yourself in your guests' shoes: sharing photos is a matter of trust. These days, we're all more careful than ever about what we reveal. So lead by example and motivate your guests.

In your invitation, briefly explain why you chose imiji. Point out that imiji offers a closed circle of users, doesn't create public profiles, and why signing in is required. Planning a big celebration? Name a contact person guests can turn to with questions.

No one likes walking into an empty room. So it's best to upload a few photos to your album before inviting guests. Ideally with a caption, likes, and comments already added, so guests can see what's possible.

If it makes sense (for example for an event with several parts, or if you've planned a photo game), you can set up the desired chapter structure right away.

Today's phones no longer take bad pictures! They capture all the moments you can't be present for yourself. So motivate your guests to take photos and join in. If it helps, give them some ideas for shots – for example via a photo game, a photo wall, or photo points.

Do you have a keen amateur photographer in the family or circle of friends? imiji offers the perfect stage! Make them an admin, give them their own chapter – and you'll be rewarded with the most wonderful photos. Thanks to the media feed, all guests get to see the lovely pictures, and the many likes and comments are especially valuable feedback for the photographer.

Isn't it lovely when others like or comment on a photo you took yourself? Exactly. So show appreciation and interact with your guests! A compliment, a short personal memory of that moment, some background on a picture – all of this sparks conversation and motivates your guests to join in.

With the caption, you as the photographer or album host can say something about a photo. That alone often starts a conversation, because it gives people a reason to comment on the picture. A caption is an invitation to dialogue.

Some guests take the easy route and upload everything they've photographed – whether it's "nice" or not, and even if a shot appears two or three times over. You know what happens from your own experience: things get cluttered, and the fun of browsing gets lost.

So: have the courage to delete photos, and do it fairly quickly. The tidier an album is, the more the truly important and valuable shots stand out – and the more you'll enjoy looking through it again.

Don't upload all your photos at once. Too many photos at once overwhelm your guests just as much as a disorganised album does. Individual lovely moments get lost, and there's no longer a chance to react. But it's exactly this interaction with the photos that helps preserve emotions and strengthen memories.

If photographer's pictures are added at a later point, this is a great opportunity to bring the party back to life. The curiosity about which pictures were uploaded today, the kind comments and likes: all of this fosters a sense of togetherness and makes your imiji album a complete success.

Our tip: Upload 20 to 50 photos per day, or give yourself a week to upload all the photos.

• Inform guests in advance
• Show them imiji's structure and possibilities
• Name a contact person for large celebrations
• Create moments and subjects worth shooting
• Encourage creativity
• Involve amateur photographers
• Get conversations going
• Interact (like, comment, …)
• Captions make photos more valuable, comments refine them
• Delete photos: imiji is the place for your most valuable memories – not extra phone storage
• Make your party last longer: the photos and dialogue reinforce your memories