7 Benefits of Visual Content Marketing
By nature, people are visual and we’re attracted to images, especially those containing people.
Powered by the desire for visual content, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram all grew during 2012, dubbed the “the rise of the visual web” by comScore.
Increased ownership of mobile devices containing cameras means that many consumers can snap an image whenever they wish and easily share it to a broad audience via social media, email or text.
Leverage this powerful content marketing to achieve your business goals.
5 Facts prove visual content’s winning appeal
Visual content is a guaranteed winner. But don’t take my word for it, look at the data gathered by MDG Advertising.
- 94% more total views on average are attracted by content containing compelling images than content without images.
- 67% of consumers consider clear, detailed images to be very important and carry even more weight than the product information, full description, and customer ratings.
- 60% of consumers are more likely to consider or contact a business whose images appear in local search results.
- 37% increase in engagement is experienced when Facebook posts include photographs. This is consistent with research by Dan Zarrella of Hubspot.
- 14% increase in pageviews are seen when press releases contain a photograph. (They climb to 48% when both photographs and videos are included.)
7 Visual content benefits (and related actionable marketing tips)
Here are seven benefits of using visual content marketing to support your overall marketing objectives. (Here are 7 guidelines for visual content marketing using free images.)
- Visual content marketing is snackable. This is a critical factor for marketers looking to break through a cluttered content landscape. Easy and quick to consume information allows your target audience to get your message without risking being putting aside. Actionable Marketing Tip: Use short visual content to feed on-the-go consumption.
- Visual content shows your product; it doesn’t tell about it. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Images, especially photographs, let your prospects see for themselves what you’re offering. This helps build trust because potential buyers don’t have to take your word for it. Actionable Marketing Tip: Use more than one photograph of your product to entice shoppers. Where possible, show your product in use. This helps people think about how it will work for them.
- Visual content is social media friendly. Beyond the growth of visual social media platforms like Tumblr, Pinerest and Instagram, photographs attract more attention on other major networks like Facebook. Even more important is that it’s easy to use mobile apps to upload and share images. This supports your findability online. Actionable Marketing Tip: Incorporate relevant social sharing with your images to broaden your reach through earned media. Don’t overlook the email option since most purchase decisions involve more than one person. Make it easy for them to share and purchase.
- Visual content enhances your brand. Infuse your 360° brand into your images. This means taking pictures that spotlight your product, employees and physical location as well as incorporating your brand colors and related visuals. Actionable Marketing Tip: Go beyond the basic product hero shots. Think of your products as the subject of works of art. Let your audience see the beauty in them. This holds whether your product is for consumers or businesses. Instagram is a platform where product artistry flourishes.
- Visual content supports search optimization. Images require search friendly captions and related metadata. Actionable Marketing Tip: Leverage images to help you capture more search results. Also, post images on sites like Flickr and allow others to use your photographs in return for linking back to your site or blog.
- Visual content helps build audience. Images and photographs attract attention and draw potential participants into your information, whether it’s on social media venues, your website or email. Visuals act like a magnet to pull readers in. Actionable Marketing Tip: Don’t limit your photographs and images to specialized uses such as social media. Incorporate images into all of your content to maximize attractiveness. Where possible skip the stock images, viewers know that they’re stock images.
- Visual content eliminates language barriers. Most image-based content doesn’t require a lot of words for your audience to understand. The picture conveys the meaning. (Of course, this doesn’t hold true for infographics that contain a lot of small text.) Actionable Marketing Tip: Take care with your images when appealing to an international audience because what’s acceptable in one market may not be in another. Therefore, where possible use universally appropriate images.
Before you dive into creating image and video content, check out the 10 plagues of visual content marketing.
Visual content attracts attention that translates to achieving your business objectives. Use an array of images to show off your product, employees and business.
What other benefits does using visual content have for your marketing and why?
Happy Marketing,
Heidi Cohen
BTW– Please join me on Thursday, March 21st at 12.00pm ET for “Five Common Pricing Roadblocks (and How to Get Around Them)” a webinar presented by Marketing Profs
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Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandnewbrain/67610989/
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