8 Ways to Click with Your Audience through Visual Content

“Is visual content a priority in your content strategy?”

“Do you offer your customers and prospects the best information in the simplest yet most engaging way possible?”

If you’re doubting how to answer these two questions then you’ve come to the right place.

Visually-appealing content can incite and engage your audience in a way plain text simply can’t. It gives your brand more personality and helps you form healthy relationships with your audience.

Want to make a visual impact? Here are eight ways to do it.

1. Use Creative Images in Your Social Media Posts

Nothing can make a millennial cringe more than an obviously staged visual downloaded from a stock website. A sterile room with an unrealistically beautiful family screams bad social media management. Social media users prefer images that feel more natural and represent people in genuine real-life situations.

Although faces can have a strong effect on your audience, it’s better to leave out faces from your posts if you can’t find one that looks natural. Going for a minimalistic image or an image with bright colors can capture the attention of social media users with the same success.

Additionally, you want to make sure that your image conveys your message effectively.

2. Grab Attention with Animated GIFs

It sounds simple, but it’s true – things that move are more likely to intrigue people than things that don’t. Use this to your advantage and try to make it a rule to have a GIF on your social media page at least two or three times a month.

You can even think about sharing GIFs from other pages if these are in accordance with your brand image. If you have an informal, direct relationship with your audience, you can even respond to their comments with funny GIFs. That’s an excellent way to engage with your followers and keep things more fun for everyone involved.

3. Tell Your Story with Videos

If you really want to tell your story in a creative way, consider introducing videos to your page or website. If you don’t have the production capabilities, you can hire someone who offers this type of service. Even a 20 seconds video that tells a story will go a long way.

Although around 65% of people watch more than ¾ of a video, you have to keep that other 35% in mind and get your message across as early as possible. Make sure your key message and brand name are mentioned in the first 15 seconds. Additionally, try to keep your videos short, catchy, and interesting enough to make your viewers unmute the video once it starts playing on Facebook.

4. Use Effective CTAs in Your Videos

An online video is a lot more effective marketing tool than direct mail and print combined. Especially nowadays when most people are accessing and sharing information on the go. But a video is not effective if it doesn’t invite viewers to take action. Even if you incorporate just a good old “learn more”, it can do wonders for your website traffic. The same goes for social media posts and ads. A strong CTA can make a difference.

5. Use Infographics to Explain a Complicated Concept

Trying to present complex ideas clearly can be a real challenge, especially on social media. No one has the time to read a 400-word copy about air pollution or how low levels of potassium influence human health. However, if you decide to present these topics with stats and facts put together in a visually appealing infographic, you are more likely to get your message across.

Posting an infographic is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to freshen up your content and add some colors to your page. You can use Canva to put together a nice infographic. But if you don’t have the know-how or enough time to dedicate to graphic design, don’t worry – It’s what we do on a daily basis, so talk to us and we’ve got you covered.

You can also check out some useful resources here if you want to start your own infographic project:

28 Infographic Tools & Resources to Help You Create Badass Infographics

6. Bring Still Images to Life with Colorful Animations

 

Similarly to an enticing infographic, a well-thought-out animation offers you a dynamic way to present your brand, explain a process or describe a concept. Featuring a trendy animation on your homepage helps you create a stronger brand image and allows you to engage your visitors and potential customers.

Say you’re a company that makes printers and you just launched a new, ground-breaking feature. Because it’s new, no one knows how it works, so users keep contacting your customer support. A useful animated video can solve this problem and educate people on how to use this new feature. This can cut your expenses while showing your customers you care about their experience.

7. Show More Personality in Your Newsletters

Have a discount or a special offer your customers should know about? Make it stand out. Your newsletter should never be just text. A good email campaign is one of the most efficient ways to reach consumers who already engaged with your brand in some way. However, to create a newsletter people will actually read, you need visuals.

Today, all accomplished email marketing services have great design features you can use to make your newsletters more interesting and appealing to customers. Make the most of this opportunity and use these features to your advantage.

8. Don’t Forget About Branding

Last, but certainly not least, there’s branding. Having the best visual content in the world means nothing if you don’t make it yours and make it recognizable. Imagine you came up with a good viral post and was shared on profiles all over the world, but you forgot to incorporate your logo.

Nobody would know who is behind the campaign, and you would have wasted a great idea for nothing. To prevent this type of scenario, brand everything that comes out of your marketing kitchen but do so discreetly and in an unassuming way.

Keep at it with visual content

Once you know the basics of visual content marketing, coming up with a good campaign isn’t that hard. It all comes to practice, trial and error, and perfecting your visual content with time. And with reading this article, you’re already one step closer to becoming the master of visual storytelling.