The visual artwork that appears as the Google Doodle is some of the most viewed visual material in the world. This is because there are an estimated 8.5 billion searches performed on the website every day! The team at Google understands that their website is primarily viewed as a utility by most users.
However, they also know that providing a little fun to what they provide is an important objective for the company. If a company as large and influential as Google understands the immense value behind all-visual content, then it is pretty clear that the rest of us should stand up and take notice as well.
It is more important now than ever before to start using all-visual content to attract potential customers to your content, and that is why you need to act now.
Social Media Posts with Photos Garner More Engagement
People use social media websites for all kinds of different purposes. However, there is little doubt that everyone who gets on a social media website wants the attention of the people who follow their accounts. That is clearly one of the most fun and rewarding parts of being on social media in the first place.
It turns out that one quick way to get a boost of attention for your social media posts is to include a visual component. This is based on some of these eye-popping statistics about how much wider the reach is for posts that have a visual component:
- LinkedIn posts with a photo attached receive 98% more comments than those that don’t have a photo.
- Twitter posts that feature a photo or video have a 300% higher engagement rate.
- Stanford found that Facebook posts with photos also receive more likes and comments than those that don’t feature this element.
The short and simple explanation for this is that human beings are visual creatures. We like to see images that provide us with some kind of feeling about the content that we just viewed. That makes it feel more real and more alive to us, and that is what keeps us coming back for more.
What Kind of All-Visual Content Can You Create?
To begin the process of creating all-visual content, you must first know about some of the options that are available to you. There are different forms that all-visual content takes. Each one may be useful to you under a variety of circumstances.
Infographics
These are the rising stars of all-visual content. They combine quick-hitting facts and figures with visuals that provide context for what one is reading. Infographics may be designed to be lengthy and informative. They can also feature very bite-sized statistics and facts that one might benefit from knowing.
Videos
Countless video-hosting platforms exist where you may upload your content, or you can post it directly to your own website. Posting it to some of the most popular video-hosting platforms such as YouTube and TikTok may help get the word out about your video much quicker.
Memes
The Internet loves fun little pictures with short captions on them. Another word for this is a meme. When the image and the caption are something relatable to a large portion of the public, then the meme is likely to strike a chord with many people and may get passed around. The goal is to hopefully have a meme become so popular that it becomes viral.
If you strike gold with that, then you can expect a nice bump in the attention you receive for other content that you produce.
Data Visualization
Showing data in a visual format that is enjoyable to look at is another way to play around with all-visual content.
Comics
Do you remember what it was like to view comic strips in the newspaper? Classic comic strips such as Peanuts are still bringing a smile to the faces of people to this day. Thus, comics are yet another way that you can produce visual content that resonates with people.
How Can You Create All-Visual Content?
In order to create a piece of all-visual content that people love, you need to know the basics about what you are doing. You cannot simply throw out any random piece of content and expect it to be a hit with people. Instead, you need to hone your skills in such a way that you can rest assured that your content will likely hit the mark that you are aiming for. Start with some of this basic guidance:
Choose a Clear Focal Point for the Eyes to Rest on
Your image ought to have a singular focal point that viewers can focus on. You need to make sure that this is clear and evident from the moment someone looks at your image. Try emphasizing a specific element of your image. This helps viewers focus their attention on something that you want them to pay attention to.
Make Wise Lighting Choices
It doesn’t matter if you have a computer-generated image or an image that you took with your own camera. You need to make wise lighting choices to make it stand out. If possible, use as much natural lighting as you can. This will help your image stand out more and be easier on the eyes.
Don’t Over Edit
It is easy to fall into the trap of editing your images too much. Many people get it into their minds that their image will only look perfect if they spend hours upon hours working out the specific edits that will make it look just right. However, that is not really true. In fact, you may end up with images that look unnatural if you put too much editing into the process.
These are just the basics of getting started. If you are a graphic designer working on an online marketing project, you need to have these simple instructions committed to memory. You also need to be sure that you don’t drift too far off course or else you will risk putting your hard work in jeopardy.
Free Tools are Available to Assist You
The best price to pay for something is no price at all. Free tools exist to help create all-visual content that you can use for marketing campaigns. For example, you will probably want to take advantage of some of the royalty-free photo websites.
These websites make it possible for you to use amazing photos that have already been taken (or created) by others for your own purposes. If the photos are hosted on royalty-free websites, this means that the owner of that photograph has released it to the public to use for any purpose that they deem fit. Always make sure to double-check that a royalty-free photo has also been approved for commercial use.
There are some exceptions that may apply depending on what the original photographer gave permission for. You certainly don’t want to violate their copyright, so always check again to be certain.
There are also free tools for things such as Facebook cover photos. You might want to try out some free photo templates for something like this. This way, you can make sure the cover photo for your business looks exactly how you want it to look. Getting a helping hand from these free tools is a great way to put yourself in a position where you can feel confident in the material that you put out into the world.
Where to Publish Your Content
It is always nice when you spread your visual content out to as large of an audience as you possibly can. This can help you reach the kind of people who might not otherwise have seen your material. Thus, you should certainly include your visual materials on all of the major social media pages that you possibly can. However, you may also consider uploading it onto some niche websites. These are websites where the target audience you are aiming for likes to spend their time.
Projects that truly speak to the nature of your brand and its image may belong on the homepage of your website. When customers come to your website to learn more about the brand, they can be greeted by your visual content and learn more about you in that way. Only include content that presents your brand in the best possible light.
Would you like some extra advice and tips on how to create appealing visual content? Reach out to us at Romain Berg. We help brands work out exactly the kind of imagery and messaging that they wish to put out to the world. Our depth of experience and talented experts will help you create the marketing campaign of your dreams.
If you would like more information on how to start, please contact us. Let us set something up with you to create a plan that works for you!