 Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
We are a visual culture. People respond better to visual content and even process information more efficiently when presented in a visual way. With so many performance advantages, it’s clear how design can elevate written content. With the convincing out of the way, let’s talk about specific ways to introduce design and visual storytelling into your content marketing strategy. We all know that blog posts need images but are you using enough? One of the best ways to increase the reach of your content is with the right amount of images. BuzzSumo did the math for us, and found that the right amount of images is one every 75-100 words: “In a study of over one million articles, BuzzSumo looked at how many blog posts with images were shared. Then they looked at how many images, per how many words, got the best results. What they found was articles with an image once every 75-100 words got double the amount of shares of articles with fewer images.”...
Whether you promote content that is fresh or seasonal, evergreen or topical, your endeavor will be meaningless if it doesn’t make your readers sizzle and pop with excitement. How do you capture the attention of your audience without crafting content from scratch?
Perhaps all you need is a high-quality photo. Not a bland, lifeless image, but an attention-grabbing picture — one with a story behind it. Maybe you need a series of compelling images if you’re marketing a lengthy content piece.
Research shows that:
- Color visuals increase a person’s willingness to go through a content piece by 80%.
- Posts or articles with images receive 94% more views than posts or articles without images.
- Understanding of content jumps from 70% to 95% with the integration of images....
You’ve probably seen Flat Lay designs, even if you haven’t heard the term. Flat Lay design refers to a shot of items lying flat on a table, floor or other surface, shot from above. You see these kinds of images on eCommerce sites and other websites frequently. The Flat Lay design trend is up 160 percent according to the just-released Creative Trends 2016 report by Shutterstock.
This fascinating report outlines a number of other visual and creative trends that Shutterstock predicts will be popular during 2016.
If you’re looking for design ideas for your website, social media headers, advertisements or other graphics — this is one report you need to check out....
Creating high-quality blog graphics is an integral part to producing a catchy, highly shareable post.
According to media theorist John Berger, in his book Ways of Seeing, "Seeing comes before words." This statement supports the assertion that high-quality blog graphics can attract (or repel) readers instantly and affect them viscerally, without them having to read anything first. After all, from an evolutionary perspective, humans are genetically wired to respond to visuals faster, as text is a relatively newer invention....
This past year, we've seen the importance of visual content emphasized by the changes that occurred across almost every major social network, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. At the same time, both video and infographics have become powerful tools for brands looking to communicate more easily with their readers.
To help you keep pace with these trends, let's take a look at some statistics that demonstrate the impact visual content has on reach, engagement, and sales....
What if you wanted to place text or an arrow on your Facebook cover photo without it getting covered by the profile photo? And what about the shared link thumbnails on Facebook or in-stream photos on Twitter ... how big should those be?
If you're looking for a detailed guide to social media photo sizes -- including recommended dimensions, minimum and maximum dimensions, image scale, and more -- then this is it.
The infographic below from Jamie Spencer of MakeAWebsiteHub.com is a great reference to bookmark or keep close-at-hand the next time you're creating an image for your social media profile.
Just take a look at your social media feeds and you’ll see that even traditionally text-based platforms like Twitter have started to look more like image-based platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest.
Why?
Because 90% of the information we receive from the world is taken in with our eyes and is stored in our great memory bank of images. It’s not for no reason that 30% of the entire brain cortex is occupied by optic nerve fibers–much more than any of the other four senses.
To aid you in your mission to become more visually literate, we will go over the basics of visual grammar and provide some exercises to help you not only train yourself to really see the visual messages around you, but also learn the tools to create them yourself....
You’ve perhaps heard of visual content? The term seems to be everywhere these days. We come across it all the time as we’re curating content, and it seems that media strategies now consider visuals as required elements.
As visual content on social networks has grown, so too has the emphasis on storytelling with pictures. Indelible, craveable, relatable images have become a high currency in the world of content marketing, and the push for visual content seems to only be getting stronger.
So what are you to do with this new focus on visuals? I’m happy to share with you some of our favorite ideas, tips, and tools....
Our biggest aim at Buffer is to help you share content on social media in better ways. I wanted to look at ways we can help you with this entire process, from finding the content to sharing it, to analyzing your social media posts. So I’ve uncovered some cool ways to do these things that you might not already know....
Images are a vital element of social media. Set a photo with screwy dimensions as your profile pic or cover photo, and you've immediately set the tone all wrong.
But don't worry — we took a look at the optimum image sizes forFacebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn, so you can make sure your profiles and content look as good as they possibly can...
While you might have shied away from image creation in the past, new tools have emerged putting the power of visual marketing in the palm of your hands.
In this article, I’m going to share seven of the best visual marketing tools and mobile apps that offer a simpler, leaner approach to creating compelling visual content....
Have you noticed that I publish a lot of visually appealing content on Quick Sprout? From videos to infographics, I’m constantly leveraging visual media.
Can you guess why?
It’s because these visual content pieces are generating more backlinks than any other form of content I publish, which—in the long run—helps increase my search engine rankings and overall readership numbers.
So, how do you create these visual masterpieces? Well, this infographic should help you....
In 2015, many of the most beautiful websites feature gorgeous, full-screen images. Naturally, it can be frustrating as a web designer to have no images to work with. It might not be feasible for you to hire a photographer, or none of the stock photography sites seem to have the right images for you.
Designing when you have no images to work withJust because you don’t have any images right now doesn’t mean you have to design a site without images. There are plenty of resources for free or for a nominal fee to get the right image for your site....
|
Typographic characters don’t always need to come from font files. Many of today’s brilliant designs manifest typographic characters through drawing, squiggling and doodling.
Meet Shigeo Fukuda, a master of manipulating lines into playful concepts. In the example to the left, Fukuda creates the words, “The Sun”, from a playful and winding doodle of a power cord emerging from behind a minimal rendition of the sun.
How would you create playful typography from an illustration or drawing? Think about ideas like creating words like “health” from illustrations of vegetables. Or create a rendering of a word like “summer” out of illustrations of melting ice cubes.
Get playful!...
Fun fact of the day: the human brain processes imagery 60,000 times faster than text. Despite this, we’re still seeing lots of professional sites whose only image content is their header and ads.
Visual spectacles like Tumblr and Pinterest are simply taking advantage of how the human brain works, making them not only extremely popular but also significantly more engaging than your average blog.
Don’t get me wrong, people are clearly using visual elements. The larger problem is that a lot of people aren’t investing in their image content because they either think their copy is good enough or they really don’t realize they’re costing their site.
Finding the best visual content for your site starts with understanding how powerful an image is, acknowledging your mistakes and finally moving in the direction to make better image choices....
Basically, you could have the best, most interesting and engaging written content, and it could still get lost and ignored because it looks the exact same as every other piece of content. Visual content prevents this, though. Visual content gives you free reign to customise your message, use different techniques and mediums to get your message across, it’s really an infinitely useful tool.
So, as a part of our endeavour to make the whole design process smoother, simpler and easier for you, let’s discuss 10 types of visual content you can create right now to get that attention you and your brand deserve....
But while it’s true that a picture can add some pizazz to your posts, it’s not always easy to determine the best type of image to publish. They can also take a long time to create, especially when you’re not sure what you’re trying to communicate.
Thankfully, deciding which format best suits your posts can be a straightforward process. In this post, I’ll outline a few simple image variations and show you when it might be best to use them. Ready to dig in? Let’s go!...
When people arrive on your site, they will be forming their first impression within 50 milliseconds. They will then be deciding whether or not to stay on the site within 10 seconds.
This miniscule amount of time makes it hard to pull in new visitors with text or great offers. Customers are drawn in or repelled by your web page based upon appearance.
The importance of images and other visual content in website success has become even more apparent in recent years. Brands that already use custom visual content see conversion rates that are about seven times higher than other sites, according to an infographic from SocialMediaToday...
Having your post go viral on social media – getting hundreds of Likes, Shares or Retweets as a response to your efforts – is the one thing that excites every social media administrator. But in order to get one step closer to achieving that, you have to understand what triggers people to share in the first place.
The New York Times Customer Insight Group published a fascinating study called the Psychology of Sharing, and defined 5 top reasons that motivate people to share content with others online:
- To Inform and Influence - 49% say sharing allows them to inform others of products they care about and potentially change opinions or encourage action
- To Show Your Identity - 68% share to give people a better sense of who they are and what they care about and to reinforce the image they would like to present
- To Connect with Others - 78% share information online because it lets them stay connected to people they may not otherwise stay in touch with, and 73% share information because it helps them connect with others who share their interests
- To Feel Valuable - 69% share information because it allows them to feel more involved in the world
- To Show Support - 84% share because it is a way to support causes or issues they care about...
The posts on this blog are typically 2,000 words long. Would you honestly read them if they were nothing but text? Sure, some of you would (and that’s amazing, thank you), but I could never blame anyone for not wanting to read a giant block of text.
This is why articles that include images get 94% more total views than articles that don’t.
Remember though, that stat is just an average. If you use images well, your traffic could increase even more.
It’s a win-win: you get more pageviews, and your readers get to enjoy reading more digestible content.
While social media isn’t the same as your blog posts, it illustrates the power of great images.
Posts on Facebook that include an image get 53% more likes than posts without an image. Additionally, they also make up 93% of the most engaging posts....
Creating visuals for your blog and/or social media may seem like a daunting task but I’m going to break down some of the ways you can use visual marketing to leave your competition in the dust.
These tactics will use design programs and apps that are easily accessible to everyone and you’ll be able to learn how to use them.
Instead of being overwhelmed by creating visual content, I’m going to help you learn to love this part of your blog or social media tasks. Get ready to unleash your creativity and fire up your visual content!...
Where can I find free images online?” is often the widely asked question by new bloggers (or seasoned bloggers). If you are one among them, this post is exclusively for you where I’m going to share few free stock photo websites to find HIGH quality images.
And the best part is, you don’t have to give any attribution or credit to the images you use. You can pretty much do anything you want with the images using these free stock photo websites.So are you interested in finding free images? Let’s get started....
Do you create your own images for social media?
Are you happy with their performance?
With a few simple tweaks, you can optimize images for greater visibility on social media and in search engine results.
In this article you’ll find three tips to optimize your social media images for better online performance.
So whether your content is being consumed within social channels or on your website, visual content remains a powerful tool – but only if done correctly.In short, the rules of visual content have changed.
Why should you use visual content?Just take a quick look at these 3 snack size facts about the visually wired human. In a visual content format Below are 10 new rules of visual content marketing. Break them and you risk losing your customers....
Engagement-grabbing social media images might be the closest thing we have to a magic wand on social media. And to make it even easier to design these images in a snap, we’ve whipped up a new, free tool we’d love to share with you.
Meet Pablo, the easiest way to create engaging social media images....
|
![How Visually Literate Are You? [Quiz] | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it](https://img.scoop.it/9WLBYBrJnXVeNsI67UU69Dl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVvK0kTmF0xjctABnaLJIm9)
Nick Bowersox says plan your content marketing strategy, and use design and visual storytelling to differentiate your content from the competition.