Marketers who embrace visual content are seeing incredible returns. While there are many ways to market, promote and publicize your brand, visual marketing should be an important component of your multi-platform campaigns as well as a constant in your overall marketing strategy.
Incorporating visual concepts into your marketing, advertising and digital campaigns will cut through the clutter and make them more appealing. After all, people are visual, and the visual sense plays a major part in receiving and conveying messages. Consider that 90 percent of the information transmitted to the brain is visual (according to Zabisco) and 30 percent of people will respond better to visual information than plain text. Images provide a stronger draw than written content, resonate deeper, and reinforce your branding. And, best of all, they are shared easily everywhere online thanks to social media.
Visual content is increasingly becoming a powerful communications tool, and the most impactful way to convey your brand. It is also more popular than ever before online. Video is increasingly becoming a major percentage of online traffic, and the major social media platforms are also becoming more image-orientated. Just look at Facebook and Instagram, where the number of images generated reaches 2.5 billion per week alone.
While the need for professional, high-end images and visual design should be obvious in your print materials, advertising collateral, and on your website, here’s a look at eight ways to incorporate imagery into your digital and social platforms to promote your brand.
Blogs – A simple image in a blog post will draw readers and make it easier to pin on Pinterest and post on Facebook. Better yet, a simple video blog (vlog), photo blog, or an entire photo gallery post has a long shelf life and is great for sharing online.
Images as Infographics – Infographics are everywhere! They are a great way to draw attention since they are a combination of written and visual information. Infographics are a great marketing tool when you only have seconds to make an impact. They are sharable, trackable, and advocate for your brand.
YouTube – Not only are short videos ideal for sharing on many social media platforms, but YouTube alone is responsible for 17 percent of home internet traffic. Create a YouTube channel to share as part of your digital strategy; YouTube has 60 hours of video uploaded every minute and 1 billion active users each month.
Pinterest – The image-driven social media platform is growing everywhere, especially with any products that look good visually. Its referral traffic is more than the combined traffic of LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube. 21 percent of people with a Pinterest account have purchased something after seeing it.
Twitter – Every minute, Twitter users share nearly 700 YouTube videos, while 36 percent of all links shared on Twitter are images. Plus, there are 115 million active monthly users. What better way to get the word on your brand out?
Facebook – Photos and videos truly drive traffic on Facebook. Videos are shared 12 times more than links and text posts combined. Photos are liked twice as much as text updates.
Instagram – This is a perfect platform to connect with your audience and build brand engagement through visual storytelling. Think of it as an interactive and personal brand tour for your customers that has links to your other platforms.
Email newsletter – Your newsletter has a lot of competition in someone’s inbox, and only a few seconds to capture attention. A stunning photo, infographic, or short video can stand out to convey your message. Link to other platforms and represent your brand.