Today’s society tends to be visually oriented. People’s eyes are drawn to images before text. Think about when you are viewing a webpage, and you’ll realize your eyes instantly go to the image on the page before reading the text. Technology has made it commonplace for images, videos etc. to be placed on websites and mobile apps. Multimedia content consumption is eclipsing text-based content at a rapid rate. Therefore, a business can enhance business development efforts and enrich its brand by using images on all online platforms, from websites, to mobile, to paid advertising, and particularly, for social media marketing efforts.
Here are a few interesting facts that were published on MDG Advertising’s website about how using images can be beneficial:
- 94% more views are attracted by content containing compelling images than content without images.
- 67% of consumers consider clear, detailed images to be very important and carry even more weight than product information, full description, and customer ratings.
- 60% of consumers are more likely to consider or to contact a business whose images appear in local search results.
- 37% increase in engagement is experienced when Facebook posts include photographs.
For better customer engagement and greater marketing results, businesses need to start incorporating more image-based content. Using images and multimedia is an effective way to show off your products and your business.
You can use a variety of different types of images including infographics, webcasting and videos. An infographic is an image that visually depicts information or complex data in a quick and clear manner. Webcasting is broadcasting over the internet so a lot of viewers can watch it simultaneously. Webinars are also an effective method to educate, sell or demonstrate how your product can help your clients. Videos can be in a variety of formats including Slideshare (sharing of PowerPoint type presentations), short video clips and full recorded videos.
Keep in mind that many of these visually-rich, multimedia image options may require storage and bandwidth considerations. There are two main options – store the files locally on your website or store them offsite. You can store the images locally but you will need a large amount of available storage space and bandwidth. The advantage to storing locally is that it gives you complete control over the files. The other option is to store your images offsite on a service such as Youtube or Slideshare. This will allow you to conserve on both space and bandwidth. It also allows a wider exposure to your images. However you do give up some amount of control over your files.
Examples of how to utilize images might include using a video of your product (showing how it is used) on your search marketing destination page. More people will view a short video of a product or look through a series of photos, and you should test which works best for your audience. Another idea is to include an infographic on your social media posts, perhaps one that shows how people can benefit from your product or how your product is helping people.
Companies need to start using more image based content on all platforms. Images catch people’s attention more quickly and are more interesting than pure text-based content. Remember that an image will stay with someone longer than just text. You can use images to help build your brand more effectively than just words, stats and quotes. And, an added bonus is that Google has started to rank sites with video and images higher in their search results. So, use images freely to start the virtuous cycle of more engaging content, better results and higher search engine rankings! It can’t get better than that.
https://www.mdgadvertising.com/blog/its-all-about-the-images-infographic/
