Visual Marketing: The Role of Visual Content on Social Media
Social media marketing is a fantastic way to gain an edge on your competitors. With it, digital marketers are able to target specific audiences and share high quality content with many users at once. Social media helps brands gain visibility, credibility and ultimately new and loyal customers. However, social media can be a tough game to play. You could have the perfect landing page on your website and a well-written social post to go with it, but still receive little to no engagement from users. Even posts that generate a high number of impressions sometimes see low user engagement. Why is that?
Users want to have fun and interactive experiences online. In addition to excellent content, the user experience should be a top priority in your digital marketing strategy. A positive user experience (UX) is what makes your website and your brand memorable, and visual content is a great way to give users the exciting and interactive touch point they’re looking for. Even if your content isn’t the best part of your brand, a unique interaction can encourage users to return to your business.
Our digital marketing experts at Blue Compass aim to help businesses and marketing teams increase engagement on social media with visual content. With our insights, you will learn the different types of visual media, visual marketing tips that you can implement in your own strategy and have a full understanding of the role of visuals on social media.
What is visual content marketing?
Visual content marketing is a strategy which utilizes images, videos and infographics to share and display valuable information in an engaging way for users.
With countless amounts of new and unique content being posted on social media every single day, grabbing users’ attention can be complicated. Visual content provides digital marketers and businesses a way to stand out.
Each form of visual content on social media has its own unique benefits. Some forms of visual content are more effective on some social platforms and less effective on others. Stick with us to learn about the three main types of visual media and when to use them.
What are the 3 types of visual media?
The three types of visual media we’re going to focus on are images, videos and infographics. Each is unique in their own way, but all can help boost user engagement on social media.
- Images: This type of visual media adds value to social posts on any platform. Users almost always prefer images over text. Even so, be sure to add some enticing text to your images to encourage user engagement. It will add more context to your photos, and it’s a great opportunity to guide users to a call-to-action.
- Videos: Videos are a great way to engage with users on social media because it’s visual with the potential for audio. They can be used to your advantage in many different ways like providing information on industry-related topics or services you offer, sharing company culture experiences and much more. Just be sure to tailor your videos to the social platform on which you’ll be sharing, as well as your audience on each platform. Your video’s runtime should be as long as the content requires. And keep in mind, most social platforms prefer users to include native videos in social posts over YouTube links.
- Infographics: Not all users enjoy reading content-heavy blogs, and infographics allow you to deliver digestible information along with visual content to users. They are essentially short guides focused on a particular industry-related topic, product or service. Because they’re great sources of industry or business related information, infographics create valuable backlinking opportunities for your website and provide you with new ways to repurpose old content. Pinterest in particular is a great place to share infographics since most other platforms don’t necessarily support them.
Understanding The Role of Visuals on Social Media
Visual content on social media plays a vital role in digital marketing and is a supreme way to reach new users and boost engagement. People prefer visuals. Plain and simple. When you implement visual content in your social media marketing strategy, you will significantly increase the likelihood of posts being viewed, clicked and shared. However, as we noted above, some social platforms prefer certain types of visual media over others.
Additionally, all platforms have their own set of social media best practices you should follow when posting. Following them will help your company’s page look more consistent, ensure full captions are being shown on all devices and make viewing or engaging with your content a more pleasant experience for users.
- Facebook Image Size: 1200 x 630 px
- LinkedIn Image Size: 1200 x 630 px
- Twitter Image Size: 1100 x 630 px
- Instagram Image Size: 1080 x 1080 px
- Pinterest Image Size: 600 x 900 px
Find our video marketing best practices for each social platform here, along with the benefits of video marketing and our very own tips to create successful video content.
Social Media Marketing Professionals in Des Moines
Our skilled team can help boost followers and engagement on various platforms. To find out how we can help you and your social media efforts, simply let us know your name and method of contact, and we can discuss your social media needs.
Kevin McMurray
Kevin McMurray is a Digital Marketing Specialist at Blue Compass. He enjoys spending time with his family, cheering on Cyclones sports and leisure sports.