WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
The Internet is full of blog posts with bulky, text-heavy paragraphs. More often than not, internet users find it difficult to find the information they’re looking for since they have to scroll through a whole batch of data and statistics just to get to the juicy bits.
In other words, the internet is cluttered. Your content will go down the drain, absent high-quality visuals on your post to catch your audiences’ eye in the newsfeed.
Of course, text-based content is always going to be an integral part of marketing, but when we talk about standing out among the crowd, you need visual content in all of your efforts.
At this point, you might be wondering, ‘what makes visual content that important? And should I really care about it?’
Let’s find out!
Visual Content: Why Does It Matter?
Do you know that most of us are visual learners? More than 65% of the population find it much easier to absorb information through visuals. The reason is simply that our brains are designed that way.
According to the stat, at least 90% of the information sent to the brain is visual. That’s why visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than plain text.
So, why do you have to embrace more visual content in your marketing strategy? The answer is simple: because science said so.
Not to mention that reading a whole bunch of text seems more like a chore for your target audiences.
In this digital era, they don’t have time for that. As they’re only getting busier each day, they always want straightforward and quick content that answers their questions in no time.
That’s where visual content comes in handy.
Providing your target audiences engaging visual content will not only help them absorb and digest the information better but also makes your content more eye-pleasing, enticing them to click on it.
For instance, videos (one of the most popular visual content types) display a tiny preview image on your target audience’s feed, making the content more noticeable and clickable as it stands out among the text-based content.
5 High-Performing Type of Visuals for Your Marketing
Visual content offers you a light-hearted way to keep your audience focused and digest your messages much more effectively. Thus, there are tons of visual content you can create and add to your content marketing strategy.
These five types of visual content are most popular and likely to bring your marketing game to the next level.
Featured Images
This is the most basic one. You need a featured image to represent your page or text-based article. It’s excellent visual content if you want to tell your audiences what your blog post is all about using a single image.
After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, isn’t it?
It might sound too simple and a no-brainer but this type of visual content can boost your blog post’s view rates. Blog posts that include images get up to 94% more views than those without.
And in this case, the first image your target audiences will see is the featured image since it’s the one that appears on the search engine results page.
Illustrations / Vectors
Other than adding a featured image, you also need to add illustrations or small vectors to make your blog posts more compelling and easier on the eyes.
Illustrations or vectors are an ideal way to break the clunky texts to improve the blog post’s readability. By adding an illustration or vector, it’d be much easier for your target audiences to scan the content.
Have no design skills to create your own vectors and illustrations? Don’t worry. There are a bunch of sites that provide you with royalty-free vectors and illustrations that you can use to complement your articles, such as Freepik, Pixabay, Vectorstock, and more.
Videos
Videos are huge nowadays. This engaging visual content is well-known for its capability to break down complex ideas into snackable, smaller chunks. This way, the target audience will have no problem retaining crucial information in a matter of minutes.
With videos, you don’t need to write big blocks of clunky text and your target audience a hard time stomaching it. Videos combine both stunning visuals with story-driven narration to keep the target audience focused while absorbing the information.
The key here is to keep your videos short. That is what makes straightforward and concise videos popular in content marketing, like explainer videos, trailer videos, and product videos.
You can either create your own videos using video editing tools or simply hire a professional video company to make sure that you craft high-converting marketing videos.
Infographics
Including all the data, numbers, and facts at once on your blog post can strain the audience’s eyes. As a result, it wouldn’t take that long to close your website to find another one that delivers the same content in a more engaging way.
Infographics are one of the most high-performing visual content you need to create when you need to deliver a bunch of numbers and data seamlessly without overwhelming your audience. More than 84% of marketers find this engaging visual content effective in getting their data across.
It also allows you to generate more backlinks to your site. Infographics often include crucial data that other websites use as a resource. That way, they’ll link back to your piece, helping you build a stronger backlink profile.
GIFs / Memes
Do you want to inject some fun and personality into your website? Visual content like GIFs and memes can help you achieve that.
Most of us are comfortable with using GIFs and memes in our personal lives, but many businesses are still tentative to use those fun visuals in their content marketing strategy.
In fact, GIFs and memes help you to appeal more to younger generations, like GenZ and Millenials. It’s a fantastic chance to win their trust and build a more meaningful relationship with them.
Visual Content Marketing Done Right: The Examples
Many brands are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to attracting audiences’ attention and engaging them instantly. One of their main strategies is leveraging visuals in their campaigns.
So, here are some brands that nailed their visual content. You can take a look and write down some points for your next content marketing campaign.
Slack
Slack is a website with engaging designs and flashy copywriting you can get inspiration for. They display the interface of their app using splashy cover images on their homepage.
Even with a minimum copy text, their potential customers can easily set a clear expectation of the services and benefits the company offers. It’s the cover images that show it all.
Love Hair
If you have an e-Commerce store, visual content like product images and videos are more crucial than ever. They help the potential customers to understand your product so that they’re more convinced to buy.
Love Hair just nails its visual content with sharp product images and videos. While they briefly describe the product using text, they provide visuals to actually show what it looks like in real life and how their customers can benefit from it.
Toggl
Just like any other professional website, Toggl always includes a featured image for each article they post on their blog.
With their own-made illustrated featured image, their readers will not only understand what the post is going to talk about in a glance but also recognize the style of illustration and remember their brand.
Awesome Tools to Create Engaging Visual Content
Creating attention-grabbing visuals is a stretch. You’re going to need some help. But, thanks to the internet, you can now create your own visual content hassle-free without breaking the bank.
These popular tools below will help you produce visuals from scratch so that your business can get all the limelight it deserves.
Canva
If you’re a savvy marketer yourself, you must have heard of this popular tool: Canva. This graphic design tool makes it easy for you to create illustrations, charts, graphics, even simple infographics.
Its drag and drop interface helps you to create stunning visuals in minutes. No design skills are required. And above all, you can use it for free.
iMovie
If you’re using iOS devices, iMovie is a simple, free, and robust tool you can leverage to create videos. This tool helps you to create professional-looking videos that could be a perfect complement for your blog, e-commerce store, or even social media profiles.
All you need is the footage you shot from your cameras, and you can edit them using its advanced features.
Visme
If you’re looking for a simple tool that allows you to create intriguing infographics, Visme is worth considering.
This tool offers you pre-made templates that you can customize to your own liking. It also provides charts and widgets to help you convey your message better.
Giphy
Giphy lets you create animated GIFs from YouTube, videos, or your own images. The user experience is fantastic, making even the beginners adapt to its features really fast.
You can add captions or colorful texts to the GIFs. Also, this tool is available on mobile devices. So, it’s now much easier for you to create fun GIFs on the go.
Final Thoughts on Visual Content
In this digital era, we’ve reached a point where it’s more favorable to communicate a feeling or idea without typing a single letter.
That is the reason why today’s audience prefers to consume information through eye-catching visuals than reading long paragraphs of plain text.
However, you need to remember that visual content is created to complement your text-based content. So, make sure not to overdo it.
Both visuals and text-based content need to be balanced so that your target audience can understand your messages better.
