Content is important but social media also reads with the eyes.
Make it a priority to publish attractive posts. Plan for photoshoots with a professional photographer, recruit image ambassadors, or employees who adore taking photos to add to your in-house stock.
Content is king in digital marketing. However, the trend toward visual marketing is not to be ignored.
The popularity of social media is exponential. Taking into consideration that visual elements like images and videos dominate these social media channels, it is not surprising that we can infer that visuals are a priority.
In visual content marketing, we can use images, videos, infographics, memes, or other types of visual content for marketing campaigns.
According to PR Daily, visual content gets viewed 94% times more than content without any visuals.
In the 2018 Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs study, B2C marketers chose pre-produced videos (45%) and illustrations or photos (29%) as among the most effective content marketing types for meeting their company’s specific goals.
In the future, visual content will dominate both B2C and B2B content marketing campaigns. Marketers plan to use more pre-recorded videos (77%), images (68%), and live videos (63%), according to a 2018 Social Media Examiner report.
What are some advantages of using visuals in your content marketing?
First and foremost, visuals support in raising brand awareness.
According to the Social Science Research Network, 65% of people are visual learners— meaning they can retain visual images better than words.
Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2018 survey found that 83% of consumers who have watched a branded video would consider sharing it with their friends. More shares mean more visibility for your brand.
Secondly, visuals support organic website traffic.
By 2021, videos will account for 82% of all consumer Internet traffic worldwide, based on the latest forecast by the Cisco Visual Networking Index. Social media managers are concentrating more and more on developing those skills that will allow for a higher integration fo video, animated, and live content into their feeds.
Thirdly, clients enjoy the emotional connection via the storytelling that visuals can convey.
Adding visuals to written content makes your content marketing campaigns more interesting and keeps your audience engaged.
According to BuzzSumo data, Facebook posts with images had 2.3 times more engagement than those without. Meanwhile, including images to Twitter updates resulted in 150% more retweets than plain text updates.
Visual content also raises the click-through rates to other parts of your website and the visitor’s engagement with your brand.
The emotional connection that is made can not be underestimated. Visuals are a powerful means to promote storytelling.
Another advantage of visuals is the greater improvement of conversion rates.
Ultimately, higher brand awareness and authority, organic site traffic, and customer engagement resulting from a highly effective visual content marketing strategy can all lead to increased lead generation and sales.
Video content, for example, is a key driver in the buyer’s journey. The 2018 Wyzowl Video Marketing Statistics Report notes that video has become “a decisive factor” that convinces consumers to purchase or download a product or piece of software.
The report found that a brand’s video influences 81% of viewers to buy a product or service. Also, 95% of people learn more about a product or service by watching an explainer video.
The main difference between visual marketing and content marketing is that visual content gets your message across faster because your brain processes the images quicker than words. This also allows for visuals to be more easily remembers. If you add a picture to words, people will recall 65% of it. If you only show the words, maybe 10 % will retain the information. According to Instagram, the first and second pages of a carousel should be eyecatching. The color blue apparently is a universally attractive color and images of animals garner high interest.
There are more and more free web sites for stock images and applications that allow for design and video editing without breaking the bank. Unsplash, Freepik, Pexels, Pixabay, Stocksnap, Canva, all offer free options for stock photos. If you are a social media manager or community manager and need support with graphics, video, editing, contact @commsanalyst. We would love to support you.
Get creative! Get inspired!
