Many studies are conducted daily on the impact various types of communication have on people and it can be quite complicated stuff. One thing that’s a no-brainer though is that pictures sell stories. Research shows that 93% of our communication is visual – images are quick to consume and easy to remember (why movies are easier to recall than the book). Writing posts for your blog is an important marketing tool for your business, so you want to get it right, right? Using images to break up text is an easy way to keep the short attention span of your average reader a bit longer, as well as making your post memorable.
If you can remember three things when creating a post, it’s more likely to be shared (because people like to be helpful and will share anything that resonates with them). These three things are: Keep your post simple; Use beautiful graphics; Provide helpful information. An important step if you want to follow these three guidelines is to create a style guide for yourself and use it whenever you post anything.
A style guide consists of a colour palette, the mood and feel of the brand, font choices and types of image. When choosing a colour palette, pick two or three colours and be consistent. Using the same colours will help people recognise and identify with your brand. The mood could be playful, serious, inviting, controversial, safe, comforting – once the mood has been identified, ensure it ties in with the rest of the style (serious brands would not use a colour palette of hot pink and lurid purple, would they?). As with colours, pick two or three fonts for your brand and keep it simple. When it comes to images, tell a story with consistent images and graphics. With sharing in mind, it’s important when using images in your blog posts to make sure they’re easy to share – use Open Graph images.
Titles are hugely important too, since they are the attention grabbers. Using keywords is valid, but write for humans, not programmes. Meta titles become the subtitles when shared on social media, so they count too.
There are a number of online design tools to help create your own templates, resize designs and add professional effects to your images, such as Canva, MonkeyPic and Adobe Creative. For those with more time, Lynda.com provides online tutorials in design and there is always a lot to watch on YouTube. Remember, people love to share and to be helpful – there’s a wealth of information on the Internet.
In addition to online tools, there are many Apps for use on your smart phone. Your mobile device images can be enhanced, labelled, edited or filtered and then shared across all devices. Some good ones are: Word Swag, Over App, PS Express, Adobe Colour and Camera Awesome.
There’s a lot you can do to improve the visual side of your marketing, but it is time consuming and takes a bit of practice.
Use the services of a digital marketing company like WSI
If your business is too small to warrant the employment of a full time social media strategist, you might want to think about outsourcing. The experienced marketers at WSI can effectively manage your social media marketing, content marketing and content creation. Why not contact them today to find out their views on visual marketing?