How to use visuals to strengthen your social media marketing

Visuals are one of the best ways to strengthen your social media marketing efforts.

Through use of visuals, marketers can grab attention from their audience and further support and strengthen their messaging.

Imagery is an effective way to drive people to your website or another social media profile.

When it comes to social media marketing, photos perform better; in fact, people are 44% more likely to engage with posts that have a visual element. 

Visuals are also processed 60,000x faster than text.

Image Source: Quicksprout

Image Source: Quicksprout

That means that if you’re looking to get people to engage with your post through clicks, likes, or comments, you want to use a photo in the post.

Graphics are also a great way to amplify your brand look, and visually express your brand’s promise.

Through consistent use of brand colors and fonts (as guided by your style guide,) you can convey your brand’s identity through imagery.

Planning ahead:

Creating awesome aesthetics for your brand or business requires planning and strategic thinking.

Before you start producing graphics, you’ve got to decide:

  • Platforms: It’s worthwhile thinking about which platforms you’re going to create imagery for before you start making the graphics, since every social channel has different best practices in regards to image sizing. I recommend picking the platform that you spend the most time on in your marketing mix.
  • Calls to action: You want to pair each image with a desired call to action, whether that’s to like the post or visit your website. Get creative when thinking about the types of calls to action to pair with each image.
  • Consistency: Decide how often you’re going to post specific types of images. (We’ll dive into the types below.) Posting consistently leads to familiarity, which leads to loyalty.
  • Tone: Your tone of voice is what humanizes your brand. It defines your online personality, and serves to create a bond with your fans. Decide early on whether you want to be seen as creative, empathetic, friendly, casual, clever or playful. Your tone will help drive which types of imagery make sense.

Takeaway tip: Start small by creating imagery for one platform at a time. Get it right on this channel, and ensure that it’s working well, before moving on to another.

Types of images:

Once you’ve decided on your channels, frequency, tone of voice and calls to action, it’s time to think outside of the box about the different types of imagery you can utilize to convey your messages.

There are a ton of different types of images that you can create, regardless of the platform you’re posting on.

It’s important to keep in mind that people only buy from those they trust, so you want to use graphics to gain trust and credibility online.

Here are a few ideas for graphics that you can use to inspire, educate or entertain your audience: 

  1. Quotes: Whether they’re inspirational or from past customers or influencers in your industry, quotes help inspire and motivate.
  2. Tips: Sharing advice with your audience is a smart way to keep them coming back to your profile time and time again.
  3. Coupons: Inspire your audience to take action on a timely promotion by sharing coupon codes and special deals.
  4. How-to’s and checklists: Educating your audience is an effective way of establishing your authority and conveying your expertise in your industry.
  5. Infographics: Find creative ways to convey facts and figures in a graphical format in order to educate and inspire your audience.
  6. Video: Create more personal connections to your audience by posting videos and doing live broadcasts that take people behind-the-scenes and/or answer their questions in real-time.

Takeaway tip: You don’t have to use all types of images in order to leverage the power of graphics. Think about which types of images fit naturally within your industry and business goals and start with those.

Getting to work:

Now that you’ve done all of the necessary planning done, you can get to work.

By batching (creating a variety of images at once) your work and making photos for a few social channels at once, you can save time in the production process.

There are so many tools available to use to create gorgeous graphics for your business.

Takeaway tip: Be sure to tailor your content and image sizing for each social media channel.

Once you start posting, you’ll be able to see with the analytical insights on social media which images perform best in terms of reach and engagement.

You’ll want to repeat the content that resonates with your fans, and ditch what doesn’t.

Conclusion:

Visuals are a great way to capture people’s interest and attention online.

Imagery helps to elevate your brand story and drive awareness for your visual identity.

Through use of creative, branded, custom graphics, you can make your brand stand out on social media and boost your brand’s know, like and trust factor. 

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