In the digital age, social media marketing is unquestionably the way to go. Tricks and tactics, on the other hand, evolve with time. Things that used to work five years ago won’t work anymore, and things that are working right now won’t work in five years’ time.
What has Happened to Social Media Over The Years?
People used to discuss their views through blogs before social media became widespread. It was, however, only open to individuals with a passion for writing. Others, on the other hand, were unable to communicate.
All of that was handled by Facebook. In a far shorter amount of time than a typical blog post, they allow users to express their thoughts and ideas to others. Users’ friends and family may quickly see and share these tiny messages or Facebook updates. Aside from that, there was no compulsion to write sentences that were near-perfect. Back then, Facebook was dominated by text-based material.
As a result of its 140-character constraint, Twitter further reduced the needed number of words. Everyone became a photographer and a videographer soon after, thanks to the proliferation of low-cost cell phones. Suddenly, individuals were able to express themselves via the use of images.
New social media applications like Instagram and Snapchat were born from the explosion of mobile traffic. Facebook and Twitter have also evolved over time, and now place an emphasis on visual material.
Hence, marketers have adapted their strategies based on what’s working at a given moment in time. Want to know what we think?
When It Comes to Social Media, Why is Visual Content So Popular?
When compared to other materials, visual content provides a number of advantages. Why? The human brain is built to digest visual content more efficiently than any other kind of information.
Here are a few possible reasons for this:
Visuals Attract More Viewers.
Facebook users watch 100 million hours of video per day, whereas Snapchat users watch 10 billion videos every day. In a nutshell, people increasingly consume a lot of visual stuff online. It has been the accepted way of life in recent years. Your material will be ignored unless it meets the expectations of your target audience.
When the images are in colour, the likelihood of reading a piece of text increases by 80%. Facebook is attempting to make even textual information more visually appealing for this reason:
Engaging Visuals Increase Engagement.
Visual content, in addition to drawing more viewers, tends to pique people’s curiosity more than written information. As a result, visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared on social media than other types of content.
Tweets with images earn 150 percent more retweets than tweets without images, while Facebook posts with photos receive 230 percent more interaction than those without photos.
Who doesn’t enjoy a good engagement?
Visuals Have A Higher Recall Rate
Our brain works best when dealing with visual information. It is 60,000 times faster than text.
After seven or more encounters with a brand, a conversion occurs in content marketing. As a result of the engagement, this number might increase or decrease in value.
Visual information is kept by the brain for three days, but verbal information is only maintained for ten days. As a result, the higher the recall rate, the fewer engagements are required prior to conversion, and vice versa.
Now that you understand the importance of visual material on social media, let’s look at the most common social media mistake to avoid.
Vector Photos and Videos: The Ultimate Killer
Consistency is key for companies to succeed in social media. Because of this, several businesses have sacrificed quality in order to maintain their market share. The use of stock images and movies in an attempt to grow fast is the finest example. This might have a negative impact on your brand.
Every image you create expresses your personal values. When people see that image, they start to associate your brand with it. In other words, if you utilise stock images that have been used by numerous other businesses in the past, you become simply another one of many brands. Many consumers may associate the image with other ads that aren’t even linked to your company’s product or service. As a result, your brand’s legitimacy and image will be tarnished.
So, what’s the answer to this problem?
User-Generated and Crowdsourced Content
Content contributed by your consumers is known as user-generated content (UGC). Your social media profile becomes more relatable and humanised with this sort of content. It’s a great tool. If you want to put that into context, it has an increased probability of converting by 4.5 percent on Instagram.
In the case of user-generated material, the number and quality will be poor if you do not have a large user base. As a result, only very large brands have a chance of becoming successful.
However, many people are turning to online platforms, which provide them access to millions of creators throughout the globe. Individuals that are prepared to generate original visual content for you depending on your requests that may be created with a few clicks and detailed instructions. It will inspire many of these artists to create images based on it, and you’ll get to choose the finest ones out of them.
This type of content is referred to as crowd-sourced content. Having a wide range of benefits accrues from crowdsourced material.
There is no doubt that visuals play a significant role in the social media landscape. Most importantly, the genuineness of these images cannot be overlooked. See the magic bloom as you take control of your own authenticity.
For more information, contact us and we will be happy to discuss more opportunities & collaborations together.
About Us
Twenty8 is a multi-functional integrated marketing agency that manages all aspects of online and offline marketing. Twenty8 is established to help businesses of different sizes and individuals to achieve their marketing goals using social media, content creation, branding, event marketing and more.