AMPLIFY YOUR ENGAGEMENT WITH VISUAL CONTENT
A Guest Blog Post By Pierre de Braux
(Image Source: Comedy Wildlife Photo – Julian Radd)
These days, people are more easily distracted, thanks to the advances we’ve made in media distribution.
As a matter of fact, our attention spans are shorter than that of a goldfish.
According to a study conducted by Microsoft, the human attention span fell from an average of 12 seconds in the year 2000 to 8 seconds last 2015.
This helps put things into perspective considering the fact that Goldfish have an average attention span of about 9 seconds.
If you’re making use of content marketing, you should take this into consideration.
In the past, words were enough to keep audiences engaged, but we’ve become more demanding since then.
Content marketers now need to experiment different types of media to encourage interaction.
Holding the attention of your audience in the digital world is difficult.
Most marketers struggle to keep people on their website.
Our shorter attention spans have led to increased bounce rates and decreased time spent on individual pages.
So, how do we capture the attention of our target audiences?
This is where visual content comes in pretty handy.
The Importance of Visual Content
1. Humans Are Visual Creatures
It’s should come as no surprise to learn that humans are highly visual creatures.
Our eyes can process visuals 60,000 times faster than text.
What’s more is that 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual, with only 10% used for the other four senses.
A compelling argument for businesses is that people remember 80% of what they see, 20% of what they read, and only 10% of what they hear. This means that brands can improve communications by “showing” their message to their audience.
2. Visual Content Boosts Engagement
With the battle for user engagement becoming all the more intense, brands have had to utilize more engaging content formats.
One great thing about visual content is that articles with relevant images get 94% more views than those without images.
The same goes for social media.
Visual content gets 3x more engagement than any other content on virtually every social media platform.
If you’re trying to go viral, you should also know that videos are shared 12x more than links and texts combined.
3. Visual Content Drives Sales
Return on marketing spend seems to be quite the telling metric these days.
If you’re looking to improve that metric, I’d suggest using videos.
They were named by 51.9% of marketing professionals worldwide to have the best ROI of all the content types.
Visual also work to increase your sales conversion rates, especially in the realm of eCommerce.
93% of people see images as the #1 deciding factor for online shopping.
So your online store better have some pretty compelling pictures of your products.
5 Types of Visual Content to use for Marketing Campaigns
Eye-catching Images
(Source: Comedy Wildlife Photo - By Julian Radd)
Photos are the easiest form of visual content to produce in digital marketing.
These are a great way to humanize brands by putting faces to names.
Images can help your audience relate to what you’re saying.
People are more inclined to read an article when there are visual cues to aid in the comprehension process.
Purely textual content is rather dull and can become stale after a few paragraphs.
You too can spice up your content with photos, both branded and unbranded.
Images can evoke an emotional response from your audience, making your message more likely to resonate with readers.
Infographics
(Source: FeelGoodContacts)
Another form of visuals used to help make content easier to digest is infographics.
They’re visual tools used to share data, explain principles, and tell stories.
They make use of charts, diagrams, and other visual illustrations to communicate their message.
Infographics can be utilized to tackle complex subjects, making them easier to read and comprehend.
Don’t you find long lists of statistics and numbers awfully dry?
You wouldn’t if they came in the format of a compelling infographic! A huge amount of information can be transmitted via an infographic.
This makes potentially overwhelming data consumable in a fraction of the time it would take to do so otherwise.
Engaging Videos
(Source: HubSpot)
If images give a face to your brand, videos give voice.
Videos are useful for brand storytelling, content tutorials, and promoting thought leadership.
According to Canva, the use of engaging videos in content marketing is high.
64% of consumers who have watched a video are more likely to buy an associated product.
On your Facebook feed, aren’t you more likely to watch a video of an inspiring story as opposed to reading an essay on the same subject?
That’s because video is the most powerful way to arouse your online audience’s emotions.
HubSpot uses video tutorials to teach their users about inbound marketing and other related concepts.
The use of videos makes it easier for newbie marketers to grasp various concepts and retain information.
Interactive Content
(Source: Thing Link)
Consider the above image of a taco. Compelling?
Maybe… But it becomes infinitely more engaging when made interactive.
Enhancing user experience through interactive content is becoming more popular.
We can see this through the rise of 360 cameras, online quizzes and games, virtual reality.
What’s great is that it allows brands to tell their story in a fun, creative way whilst gripping users with two-way interactivity.
Interactive features allow users to customize content to maximize its personalization.
It becomes more exciting for your audience when they have an opportunity to be a part of the content they’re presented with.
When people are able to interact with content, the chances of responding to a call to action are higher.
Memes
(Source: Know Your Meme)
Memes are typically images with overlayed captions, making them a fun way of sharing content on the internet.
Many memes go viral because users can easily relate to the witty captions that provoke an emotional response.
Memes have been an ongoing trend for quite a while.
The reason they’re so popular is because they can effectively deliver a message in a short span of time.
It takes just a few seconds for a user to understand what a meme is trying to convey.
They’re also ridiculously easy to make.
Sites like MemeGenerator, make it simple for anyone to drop a catchphrase over a compelling image and share it with the world.
The Takeaway
Visual content is definitely here to stay because the way our brains process information isn’t about to change anytime soon.
For this reason, brands need to embrace the visual revolution to stay competitive in
For this reason, brands need to embrace the visual revolution to stay competitive in digital age.
Different types of visual content work for various audience types.
The idea is to figure out which ones best resonate with your target audience.
A good rule of thumb is to always use a variety of different content types to keep things interesting.
Most importantly, ensure that your brand’s content is visually appealing.
The initial few seconds of seeing your content can mean the difference between converting a visitor and losing them forever.
Keep these best practices in mind and you too can unlock the true power of visual content!!
Happy Creating - Pierre
Pierre is a content strategist at Spiralytics who loves to read, write and learn about all things marketing related.
In his free time, he pines for a faster internet connection so he can watch cat videos in ultra high definition.
SOME ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
THE RISE OF VISUAL MARKETING ((Podcast))
THE IMPORTANCE OF GRAPHIC DESIGN ((Podcast))
GLOBAL SOCIAL MEDIA RADIO ((The Story So Far))
OVER 30 MORE FREE PODCASTS HERE!!
www.TinyURL.com/TwitterPodcasts
