The importance of Visual Content in on-line Marketing

We are here to tell you how important visual content is for online marketing, but of course the image above has said it. If we plainly told you that images, visuals and eye-catching artworks indeed are important for your digital content, would you believe us? We know the answer and hence, we write this post to introduce you to the huge deal ‘visual content’ is!

A research report mentions that when content is posted with visuals, the readers remember up to 65% of the information for up to three days. Now, imagine that happening for your communication and the boost it can give to conversions! At this stage, you might want to check your competitor’s site; if his site’s pages are complete with contextual and relevant images or eye-catching artwork, well, it is time to prioritize visual-rich content among other elements of your digital marketing strategy. We highlight just some of the reasons, why online marketing strategists recommend adding visual content to your site.

The Importance of Visual Content

1. Using visual content is a strategy to enable conversions

Visual content commands attention. Plus, human brains register and process visuals faster than text. If you make the image, meme or artwork relevant and appealing, it also has the potential to get higher views and higher engagement that may last longer per view. And better engagement means call-to-actions have better chances of working for conversions.

2. Using visual content for SEO

Rich and relevant content is known to be the best way to stay indexed by Google. When the quality of content is good, it helps improve search engine rankings. Better rankings, means better traffic and higher chances of conversions.

3. Getting higher number of followers

Visuals in any form – infographics, memes, videos – have a huge potential of being ‘liked’ and ‘shared’ across platforms. Audience engagement on social media platforms is especially skewed when there are visuals included.

4. Visual communication helps gain market share through social commerce

Although, Facebook is known to have a high conversion rate, a report by Shopify reveals a surprising fact about Instagram. The social platform, which is driven by visuals, has the second-highest average order value as compared to other equally popular platforms. And talking about the site being visual-centric, comScore, in its annual Digital Future in Focus report of 2015, states that Instagram users spent 12 billion minutes in 2015. That is huge as compared to Twitter users, who spent 6.6 billion minutes. Yes, the differentiating factor was ‘visual content’!
Many marketers are yet to step into the social commerce sphere and chances are that early adopters will easily reap the benefits amidst lesser clutter of brands.

It is not too late to rejig your content strategy, but if you finally do consider integrating visual content in your marketing plan, we suggest you do it right the first time.

How to create effective visual content?

A. Unique visuals

For impactful communication, ensure your content, no matter what format it is in, is like no other. The uniqueness of the visual should be in synergy with the brand’s tone, nothing disruptive that may work against the brand. Unique visuals also help with SEO, when uploaded with relevant search words.

B. Design

The design of the artwork plays a significant role in influencing the human eyes and brain. Let the design be simple, yet interesting enough to stand out. Ensure the creative is not packed with information. If you are a B2B company, make use of infographics. Irrespective of the type of creative, let the text be minimal and easily readable. Use colours that suit the brand identity and more importantly, the type and tone of information you wish to communicate.

C. Size

Keep in mind the various sizes that the platforms use for letting you upload creatives. With this knowledge, you will be able to design a creative that is made to size, doesn’t crop out any part and is optimally visible.

D. Relevant imagery

The mind easily picks up what appeals to the sight and remembers; only relevant imagery will have a chance of being looked at. This is when the reader starts engaging with the communication and perhaps, turns into a potential customer.

E. Format

You are lucky, your audience is ready to consume the message in any form – videos, emojis, memes, photos, data visuals and lots more. Choose the form that suits your marketing budget but ensure it is good enough to be shared. You don’t want to spend on creating a video that people may not like and share.

F. Customized visual content

Explore the various options of showcasing your visual content on social media platforms. Facebook’s carousel or Twitter’s 30 second videos are relatively new ways of displaying visual content, you can design your communication to fully exploit the potential these visual suites hold.

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