In this blog, we explore some creative tips for creating visual content for your business. First, let’s discuss the importance and power of visual content.
According to recent research, the average social media user spends approximately one hour on each used platform each day. Much of this time might be spent scrolling and scrolling until something grabs our attention. In marketing, grabbing attention is the key to attracting and engaging potential customers.
Visual content is an increasingly popular means of grabbing audience attention and encouraging engagement with your business. These days, attention spans are becoming increasingly shorter. Offering visual content that is relevant and solves problems, or at least guides the viewer towards an effective solution to their problem, is an excellent way to make your audience stop in their tracks and investigate.
Visual Content for Greater Success
A recent study conducted by Social Media Examiner reported the views of the most successful 5,700 marketers in the world today. The study found that 80% of marketers use images on their social media channels. 63% shared video content, and 35% use social media live streaming.
We are naturally wired to consume visual content more effectively than the written word. This means that creating visual content for your business is an effective way of getting your message out there.
Benefits of Visual Content
Greater awareness
Around 100 million hours of video content is viewed every single day on Facebook. With the sheer volume of visual content, even just in the form of video content, being created, shared, and viewed so regularly, every type of business can afford to get involved. Video content helps you get to the forefront of your audiences’ video feed, making it a valuable tool for increased awareness.
Visuals also allow you to add colour to your shared content, making it more likely to grab attention.
Better engagement
Visual content generally sees a lot more engagement than text-based content. In fact, visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared on social media than any other type of content.
Improved recall rates
Visual content has a powerful effect on the brain, The brain processes visual content 60,000 times faster than text-based content.
According to B2B Marketing’s rule of 7, a brand’s message needs to be heard or seen seven or more times to make a lasting impact. Visual content makes it easier to get in front of your audience consistently.
Should I use Stock Images?
With thousands of images taking over our screens every day, users are becoming increasingly desensitised to generic visual marketing tactics. Businesses are trying to stand out more, grab more attention, and make a stronger impact.
When adding images to your content, try to avoid generic stock images. These can be useful if you’re stuck, but it can look like the content creator has used the first image they found in Google Images after using the blog title as a search term.
A better approach is to hire a photographer or a marketing team that employs a photographer or develop your own photography skills to take high-quality images.
Original images add a touch of authenticity to your content, and in these times of content saturation, anything that helps you stand out as an authentic player the industry is going to be beneficial for your business.
Image Placement
Where you feature your images makes an impact on how effective they will be as a marketing tool. If you include images in your blog posts, try to make sure they break up the text after every 500 or so words.
Blog posts shared on your socials from your website will appear on users feeds with a thumbnail. Make sure that this thumbnail image grabs attention and draws in the potential reader.
Aesthetic Choices
If you are creating visual content in the form of images, video or infographics, try to keep in line with the design and aesthetic of your business logo. This serves to increase awareness of your brand subconsciously. If your business logo is green and white, for example, use similar colours in the background of your videos or as a colour palette for your infographics.
If you use Instagram, make sure the images you upload are of high quality. Use filters and adhere to basic photography rules, such as the rule of thirds, to create images that are pleasing to the eye. With high-quality images, the eye lingers for longer. This increases the likelihood that a user will engage with the content they see.
Visual Content for a Better User Experience
Key to any marketing strategy is an understanding of your audience. Conduct audience research to figure which type of visual content your audience most enjoys, and create accordingly. Whether they know it or not, your audience will appreciate that you have taken the time to investigate the preferences and provide quality, relevant content.
