Ever heard the phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words”? For the sake of making our point, we’re going to switch things around and say a word is worth a thousand pictures. Most humans are visual learners, which means we learn and engage more easily with visuals than text alone. So naturally, it’s appropriate—and beneficial!—for marketers to incorporate visuals into their content marketing strategy. Check out some benefits of using graphics in content marketing.
Start Incorporating Graphics in Content Marketing
Ever heard the phrase TL;DR? (Too long; didn’t read.) It’s a real thing. And it’s not necessarily because we have ADHD or because we’re lazy. It’s because our brains can more easily consume and digest visuals. Thus, visuals allow for marketers to present information in more efficient ways. Also, social posts with images and other visuals get more engagement on social media than those without.
At a loss for where to start with graphics in content marketing? Try some of these.
High-quality stock photos
Often, the first thing people notice when they read a blog—or click on a link from a social media post—is the blog image. The benefits of using images in blogs are obvious, but we’ll tell you anyway: It’s a great tool to help your audience visualize what it is they’re about to read.
When selecting blog images, choose one that is:
- Eye-catching
- Relevant to your blog topic
- High-quality
The role of images on the web varies from helping make a point to better depicting a story. But, images are also great for your website’s SEO. When you use images, and optimize their title and alt text, search engines can read a little more from your site and bring in more traffic.
If you can’t find a good stock photo source (which can’t possibly be true), it could also be a great idea to take your own pictures of your team, your work, or your product, just like we did in this blog!
Infographics
Using infographics within your content marketing strategy is also a great idea. Infographics are visuals that allow you to present information and data in a creative, visual way. They’re great at driving traffic and easy to share on social media. They also help your audience digest content and facts more easily than if you were to type it all out in words.
Graphs and charts
Like infographics, data visualization (graphs, charts, tables, scatter plots, and diagrams), help people visualize facts or statistics. However, with these graphics, you can present facts on a smaller scale than infographics, like making one or two points, instead of, say, 10.
Video
People love videos. They’re one of the most engaging types of visuals. They go great with social media posts—50% of Facebook users watch at least one video a day. They can also pair well with your blog content to help explain a process or product.
Gifs
GIF stands for graphics interchange format. These animated images are growing in popularity every year. They’re fun to look at and share, so people use them as memes on social media and to present information within blog posts. They can also be functional depending on your purpose. Show a preview of a downloadable product, overview the steps of finding something online—the options are limitless.
How Will You Use Graphics in Your Digital Content?
People love visuals; that will never change. Which means the advantages of images are endless. Contact us for a free consultation to learn how we can come up with a successful visual content marketing strategy for your business.
