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Whether you're reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar or a blog post, the lesson remains the same. For one, visual content increases memory recall. What's more, articles with images every 75-100 words tended to get double the social media shares of articles with fewer images in a BuzzSumo analysis. So needless to say, visuals such as infographics, videos, or images should be integrated into your content marketing strategy. There are a few hurdles to creating and promoting visual content, but there are big payoffs, too. Venngage surveyed 300 marketers to learn about their visual content marketing strategies in 2016 to predict trends for 2017. Overall, the marketers surveyed recognize the immense value of creating visuals to increase content quality and engagement but struggle with finding the time and resources to do it well. Read more marketing statistics and trends for the year ahead in the infographic below....
Daunting is the blank canvas. Even more daunting is a newer content format that has so much versatility and possibility. Though this is a very reasonable reaction to have, that doesn’t mean you should fully stand by it.Imagine seeing a bicycle for the first time. What is that thing? I’m suppose to ride it? Ride it, and not succumb to gravitational pull, slamming my body flat into the hard, indifferent earth? Ideally, you’d have a little help. Someone to say, put your right foot here, push down the pedal, and, with forward momentum, lift your left foot and place it on the left pedal – then continue! Look, you’re riding! And that’s exactly what I hope this post will do....
These days, it’s no secret that high-quality images are important for any marketing strategy, particularly when it comes to social media. Images not only help brands stand out in busy social news feeds, but they also boost engagement and build brand awareness—and their importance is growing.
According to a WebDAM infographic, 84% of all communication will be visual by 2018. So, there’s no better time than the present to ensure you’re creating and sharing top-notch imagery. And that starts with following sizing best practices for each channel.
To help you do just that, below is a quick cheat sheet for sizing your images for optimal impact, complete with dimensions and some examples. In addition, you’ll also find some helpful tools that can help your resize, edit or create images....
I’m sure I won’t blow your mind by saying that visuals are essential to creating content that will help your business stand out and draw in an audience. Not only do images help make text-centric content more readable, digestible, and memorable, but they can also be used to craft compelling messages that speak volumes without using a single word — just ask anyone who has posted a photo on Instagram or created a “Snap” to share a memorable moment with friends.
Nearly a year ago, I compiled a collection of best-practice tips from some of the industry’s most creative and design-minded content experts, along with helpful imaging tools and examples. But, considering how rapidly visual trends come and go, we at CMI felt it was time to take another look at how to let your brand’s photos, videos, and graphics do the talking.
Of course, we wouldn’t want a retrospective on such an image-conscious topic to show visible signs of aging; we’ve freshened up the discussion with a few new tips, tricks, and takeaways....
“Humans are complex and unpredictable, and there’s no reason why brand visuals can’t be, too.” – Lauren Catten, Art Director at Getty Images
Imagination is one of the four factors that make for a powerful image, and nothing stirs it more than Surreality – one of iStock & Getty Images’ 2016’s top visual trends.
The reason is simple: these original and sometimes peculiar compositions trigger a feeling of pleasure in experiencing the unpredictable. The aesthetic can transform an ordinary topic into something new and exciting. It can help distinguish a brand in a sea of similarity, making for memorable content that leaves a lasting impression. And, thanks to its hyper-immersive, psychedelic visuals, it has very broad appeal.
Nature-related images work as a particularly potent metaphor in this realm, leaving room for interpretation and creating meaningful connections with your content....
So, what do you think? Let’s end that cycle today.
First, you need to tidy up your Twitter timeline. (stop tweeting crap no one wants to read)
And second, you're going to start using visuals on Twitter the right way.
Deal?
Here’s 21 ways you can use visual marketing to brand your business and captivate your Twitter audience.
Basically, you could have the best, most interesting and engaging written content, and it could still get lost and ignored because it looks the exact same as every other piece of content. Visual content prevents this, though. Visual content gives you free reign to customise your message, use different techniques and mediums to get your message across, it’s really an infinitely useful tool.
So, as a part of our endeavour to make the whole design process smoother, simpler and easier for you, let’s discuss 10 types of visual content you can create right now to get that attention you and your brand deserve....
Having your post go viral on social media – getting hundreds of Likes, Shares or Retweets as a response to your efforts – is the one thing that excites every social media administrator. But in order to get one step closer to achieving that, you have to understand what triggers people to share in the first place.
The New York Times Customer Insight Group published a fascinating study called the Psychology of Sharing, and defined 5 top reasons that motivate people to share content with others online:
- To Inform and Influence - 49% say sharing allows them to inform others of products they care about and potentially change opinions or encourage action
- To Show Your Identity - 68% share to give people a better sense of who they are and what they care about and to reinforce the image they would like to present
- To Connect with Others - 78% share information online because it lets them stay connected to people they may not otherwise stay in touch with, and 73% share information because it helps them connect with others who share their interests
- To Feel Valuable - 69% share information because it allows them to feel more involved in the world
- To Show Support - 84% share because it is a way to support causes or issues they care about...
If you’ve been looking to supercharge your social media strategy, you probably know a lot about the benefits of using images.
But, how much do you know about actually creating scientifically shareable images?
Turns out, there’s tons of actionable, research-backed advice on how to create social media images that get shared—the ideal colors, fonts, text, and more, all leveraging what we know about design, psychology and the Internet to get more shares and engagement.
By the end of this article you’re going to be fully aware of how to make images that your readers can’t help but share. All backed by science....
Archetypes can be immensely valuable in the development of visuals, the visual identity of your brand and the story you aim to tell. Handled adeptly, archetypes will evoke certain feelings and become integral to the customer experience.
An amazing study from Allegory Studios reveals the characteristics of 12 archetypes often used to guide brands and their marketing strategies: - Consider applying archetypes in your images to connect with your audience. - Understand your brand’s persona and let it inform the people you use in your visual marketing. - Look to your target personas to understand what and who to show. - Seek to be more interesting than a stereotype character....
As visual content on social networks has grown, so too has the emphasis on storytelling with pictures. Indelible, craveable, relatable images have become a high currency in the world of content marketing, and the push for visual content seems to only be getting stronger.
So what are you to do with this new focus on visuals? I’m happy to share with you some of our favorite ideas, tips, and tools....
Have you noticed that I publish a lot of visually appealing content on Quick Sprout? From videos to infographics, I’m constantly leveraging visual media.
Can you guess why?
It’s because these visual content pieces are generating more backlinks than any other form of content I publish, which—in the long run—helps increase my search engine rankings and overall readership numbers.
So, how do you create these visual masterpieces? Well, this infographic should help you....
Do you want to create posts that generate higher user engagement?
Are your visuals driving social media traffic?
People engage better with visual content because it’s easier to understand, can tell a story and evoke emotions more easily than written posts.
In this article I’ll show you 11 ways to increase social sharing and fan engagement with images....
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What about e-commerce brands or other companies that drive engagement and sales through their social channels with visual content?
A 10x content post doesn’t really help there, but if visuals are more your style, then there are plenty of ways to 10x your social graphics to boost your content strategy and capture your audience’s attention in the middle of their browsing....
In a study published by the Content Marketing Institute last month, 70% of B2B marketers stated they will produce more original content in 2017 than they did in 2016, and 39% plan to increase their content marketing spending over the next year.
Meanwhile, user-generated content is also expected to explode. The global Internet population grew 62%, from 2.1 billion to 3.4 billion, in just the last four years.
All this means that the amount of content online, including visual content, will only increase exponentially with time–not decrease.
So, with so much noise out there, how can can you still create unique visual content that stands out?....
It’s no secret that visual content is powerful. Numerous studies show that our ability to recall information increases significantly when it’s presented as an image rather than plain text.
That’s why infographics, despite the fact that they are everywhere, are still effective when done well.
Infographics are still effective when done well says @sujanpatel. #contentmarketing CLICK TO TWEET
What that means, as summarized by Jeff Bullas, is that an infographic (and visual content as a whole) should:
- Blend seamlessly into the user experience
- Fit the platform used to share it
- Offer genuine value — never an aggressive attempt to sell
- Be bite-sized — quick and easy to consume
- Relate to the things your audience cares about
- Be consistent in style and tone
While GE has consumer-facing boards on Pinterest, it’s the company’s B2B boards that get the lion’s share of attention—especially its Badass Machines page. It features the “biggest and baddest technologies produced by GE.”
What’s sparking this major attraction? In a word, visuals. GE creates epic behind-the-scenes photos of everything from jet engines to gas and wind turbines. While GE’s products may not seem to be inherently visual, like food or fashion, close-up images of powerful machines are awe-inspiring. Which is why people can’t get enough of them. So much so that GE also posts the images on its popular Instagram page.
A powerful picture is an incredibly efficient tool: The human brain can process an image in just a few milliseconds, so the right picture can spark someone's interest and convince a viewer it's worth exploring a new show in a single glance. Which is why, in 2014, Netflix began gathering consumer research specifically about the images on its service.
The research indicated that looking at images not only prompted users to watch content, but accounted for a whopping 82% of their time spent browsing (as opposed to, say, reading movie titles or descriptions). In other words, the images mattered almost four times more than the text describing the storyline. Members also spent only 1.8 seconds considering each title. "We know that if you don't capture a member's attention within 90 seconds, he or she will likely lose interest and move on to another activity," says Nick Nelson, Netflix's global manager for creative services. "Images become the most efficient and compelling way to help them discover the perfect title as quickly as possible."
Recently, Netflix—which is famously tight-lipped about its own data—has been doing experiments to better understand which images capture our attention and why, and shared some of its findings with Fast Company as well as in a post on its blog. The effort was both science and art: Data scientists analyzed user statistics, while creative teams considered the colors, emotions, and words that appear on pictures. The company tests several images for a single show or movie to try to discover what makes members click. Its first lesson was that images had to be high quality in order to draw viewers in. "We saw one clear thing," Nelson says. "Using better images to represent content significantly increased overall streaming hours and engagement."...
This past year, we've seen the importance of visual content emphasized by the changes that occurred across almost every major social network, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. At the same time, both video and infographics have become powerful tools for brands looking to communicate more easily with their readers.
To help you keep pace with these trends, let's take a look at some statistics that demonstrate the impact visual content has on reach, engagement, and sales....
The full infographic we designed to highlight the many reasons why you should rely on visuals to create impactful design, no matter the project.
Although there isn’t much talk about Pinterest these days, it doesn’t mean you should ignore it. It’s actually one of the highest converting social sites on the web… especially for e-commerce related products.
But how do you get started on Pinterest? Well, to get you off and running, I’ve decided to create an infographic that breaks down how to get your first 1,000 followers on Pinterest...
Ignore Instagram at your own peril.
Since Facebook’s acquisition of the channel in 2012, Instagram growth has exploded, with 300 million active users, 30 billion photos shared, and an average of 70 million photos posted per day.
People are engaging with Instagram posts on levels unparalleled by any other social network. According to Forrester research, Instagram user interactions with brands is 400% higher than on Facebook and Twitter, delivering 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook and 120 times more engagement per follower than Twitter.
So how can brands start building an Instagram presence? And how do you start engaging with followers to drive sales?
Here are five tips to get you started:...
Do you create your own images for social media?
Are you happy with their performance?
With a few simple tweaks, you can optimize images for greater visibility on social media and in search engine results.
In this article you’ll find three tips to optimize your social media images for better online performance.
Let’s be honest, is there anything better than free stuff? Not much. As an inbound marketer, there is nothing I like more than useful tools that are simple, easy to use, and help me reach my end goal.
There are many different aspects of campaigns that we need to check and re-check to make sure we’re hitting our marks, creating great content, and achieving goals for our clients. Since we are tech-savvy, internet lovers, what better way to do this than free online tools? It would be silly of you not to take advantage of these 10 free marketing tools to boost your inbound marketing campaigns....
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Plan your editorial strategy for the coming year with key statistics and surprising trends in content marketing.