To some beginning marketers, words like social media marketing, social content, and content marketing are swirling around in their heads, bumping into each other along the way. We understand the challenges service professionals face when they attempt to take control of their marketing efforts, which is why we work to simplify some of these buzzwords. Here, we will dissect what social visual content is, how you should use it, and what technologies are available to get you there.
What is “social visual content”?
Simply put, social visual content is the visuals you add to content you share on social media, such as Facebook and LinkedIn. While this definition may seem simple, many different types of visual content are all used for various reasons. Here are some of the types of content that marketers use with their social posts:
- Infographics
- Videos
- Pictures
- Memes
- Presentations
Each of these pieces of visual content plays a different role in your social media marketing strategy.
How do I use social visual content?
Researchers found that colored visuals increased people’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80%. Also, when people hear information they only remember 10% of that information three days later but when they see a relevant image paired with that content, they retain 65% of the information after the same amount of time. These are just a few of the benefits of incorporating visuals into your social content.
Infographics are an excellent way to express statistics or facts to a viewer in a fun and unique way. They often include colorful images, playful text, and a layout that is easy to read. All of these things encourage viewers to read, digest, and even share your information.
We suggest using infographics on your website or blog posts. Check out Venngage or Piktochart to make your own.
Videos are a classic choice when it comes to social visual content. They tend to draw viewers in for long and have a high chance of being shared. Twitter allows users to post 30-second videos in their Tweets while Facebook and LinkedIn don’t have limits for their videos. We suggest populating your website with videos and sharing them occasionally on your social media profiles. Don’t overdo it, though, or else users won’t be excited to see a new one.
Pictures are another great go-to when it comes to social visual content because there is an endless supply of great images you can use, and they are quick and easy to incorporate into your content. We like to include an image on almost all of our social posts, which may include a thumbnail of an article that is auto-generated.
Using personal photos rather than stock images is always preferred because it gives that personal touch, but if you are interested in more stock imagery, check out iStock or Shutterstock for thousands of choices.
These are just a few of the choices available when it comes to social visual content and the technologies that produce them. Hopefully, you come away a little clearer on the importance of social visual content and how you can start adding it to your content marketing strategy.