Visuals Rule the Content Marketing World
Not many years ago, text posts and articles were the most important content for marketers, where writing lots of text was key. Today, an article or a blog post without an image doesn’t stand a chance! Preferably, the content should be packed with visuals! There is no doubt that the new digital era has changed the way people exchange information and therefore the way we communicate.
Let the Numbers Speak for Themselves
Yes, Yes, I know that the internet consists of tons of articles where marketers stress the subject of using visuals. So one might ask “how important, really, are visuals in content marketing?” Let’s just have a quick look at some simple numbers.
According to The 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Visuals are the number one commonly used piece of content for content marketers today. 73% of marketers are planning to increase the use of visuals in their communication, 72% plan on using more videos. Videos are huge among marketers. I think we can easily understand why in this social media age, Youtube has over a billion users, with 4 billion video views every day!
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Social Media
All the major social media platforms heavily incorporate visual content.eMarketers reported that on Facebook, posts with visuals earned 87% of all engagements!
Instagram was actually reported as having 10 times more engagement than any other platform! This is definitely the place to drive engagement to your brand. Pinterest is becoming one of the fastest-growing networks, while Instagram still has massive growth and high-volume of engagement.
Soply on Pinterest
So, What Visuals Should You Use in Your Content Strategy?
For one, Images. Articles with images get 94% more views than articles without. The body of your text should be divided up by images, as it provides a nice flow and engages the reader to continue reading. The Content Marketing Instituterecommends an image for every 350 words.
Videos comes next, as they are incredibly useful for showcasing your product or service, and is easy for the user to follow. A cool and interesting video about your brand also creates engagement, and might even be shared throughout the community. Examples of good content videos are how-to videos, explainer animations, customer testimonials and employee showcase-videos.
Infographics are so useful because they provide a great way to share numbers and statistics that we commonly see as dry and boring information. But this information might be crucial to share with your customers, so infographics are a great way to convey this.
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Bottom line, visual content is definitely how Content Marketers can get their messages in front of their users in a meaningful and effective way. In addition, good-quality visuals will contribute to building your brand, creating passionate followers, and grow your business.
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