The social media visuals you share online matter, and in this post we share 5 reasons why visuals are so important to your marketing. Use these brand visualization tips and you’ll improve engagement, build trust and loyalty, and have a greater impact on your ideal customer.
GUEST CONTRIBUTION BY ANDREW & PETE | RELEASED MARCH 1, 2023
Andrew and Pete are the founders of Atomic and the Atomicon Conference, good friends of Donna’s and some of the most accomplished marketers you will ever meet! Who better to share their visual success with our readers? Take it away guys!
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Did you know? 350 million photos are uploaded to Facebook daily 🤯.
Social media is one of the best FREE ways to connect and communicate with your potential customers. But it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out in a crowded market without paying for advertising.
Visuals and images on social media are one of the ways you can do this — but generic and boring won’t do the trick.
You know when you see a picture on social media and you instantly know who owns it?
That is the goal!
One thing people keep telling us is that they really love our branding and visuals. This is how they remember us (and that’s one of the reasons why pictures are so important).
But entrepreneurs are still struggling with this. In fact, we surveyed over 1000 business owners/freelancers and only 10.3% of them said they felt “known” in their industry.
Of course, social media visuals aren’t the only thing that will make you famous, but they really do have a big impact on how memorable you are.
That’s why, in this article, we’re sharing why visuals are so important to social media success, along with some examples of how we’ve done it.
So there is no doubt that visuals need to be an important part of your social media strategy.
But let’s look at the main reasons why brand visualizations are so important for your social media presence.
- improve engagement
- Build trust and loyalty
- Get your message across faster
- Pictures make unforgettable
- Seamless link between social media and website
Let’s break these down:
1. You’ll get more engagement on your posts
Although viewed by many as vanity, engagement is critical to social media success
Why?
Put simply – because the fat cats on Facebook and Twitter (or the algorithms behind it) Say it.
Organic reach is falling across all platforms, but Facebook is taking advantage “Meaningful Commitment” as a signal that a contribution should be prioritized. In short, the more engagement your post has, the more relevant people it will be shown to and the higher the overall organic reach.
Social media engagement can look like this:
- likes
- Comments
- saves
- shares or retweets
- mentions
It might be tempting to just make a text-based post on social media, and of course, copy matters. But research out buzz sumo suggests that social posts with visual elements increase engagement by 2.3x (on Facebook) and 1.5 times (on twitter) compared to those without.
Of course it has to be relevant.
Yes, a picture of a cute dog dressed up as a pirate for Halloween could get you tons of engagement, and if you run a pet food business, it might make sense.
Who doesn’t love a cute dog picture?
But if you’re offering professional liability insurance, that might seem a bit arbitrary – so it’s all about finding and creating compelling images that make sense for your business to drive relevant engagement.
Relevant and engaging social media visuals can help increase engagement, thereby improving the reach and ultimately the overall impact of your social media.
2. Pictures of you and your team can build trust and loyalty
Authenticity may be the most overused word in the marketing world, but that’s because it is essential for connecting with your audience in 2023 and beyond.
In the early days of internet companies, stock photography was intense—seemingly obsessed with posting images of logos and “professional” staged photos. You know the one with a group of robotic looking people smiling maniacally together at a whiteboard😬.
And this trend has (unfortunately) has been pushed to the brands’ social platforms to give the appearance “professional and friendly”.
But you know what… it’s boring!
While we LOVE seeing faces, standard and staged photos are cold and unemotional, and hopefully they are not representative your brand.
News! Polished images with a corporate look are out – and pictures of real people and behind the scenes are in.
Share pictures of you and your team – to build trust and loyalty through authenticity.
Like this one from our time at Kickstart Dublin with our Atomic colleagues.
The smiling, happy faces not only grab your attention, but the image also helps convey our brand – happy, fulfilled business owners supporting each other and having fun.
That leads us to our next point…
3. You can get your message across faster with an image
“A picture says more than 1000 words!”
Because images are the most natural way for our brain to process information and to convey information much faster and easier.
Knowing how much information is posted on social media every day becomes even more important. You will receive approx 1.7 seconds to grab attention on social media, and pictures will help you.
One way to do that is by using GIFs on our social media and blog posts, just like this one.
via GIPHY
It helps to break up the text and convey what we’re trying to say in a fun and engaging way.
Win! Win!
4. Pictures make you memorable in a sea of boredom!
As the saying goes: “For the first impression there is no second chance.”
And 94% of the first impression today one orientates oneself entirely on the design of the content – so rather good.
The human brain is ruled by what is known as the primacy effect, which means that it prioritizes the first interaction we have with a brand. Our brain holds on to that first impression and uses it as a shortcut to make future decisions.
Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that our social media visuals are engaging AND relevant to our brand. That first impression will be lasting, so you better make sure it reflects your brand.
Take this image we created for our Atomicon event – a zombie maze or puppy petting station. We asked our audience what they would most like to see at our next event (Newsflash, the pets won!)
It’s fun, it’s engaging and, most importantly, it gives you a taste of just how silly and eclectic our in-person events are – so you know what you’re getting into. Our event would not be confused with a boring company event – we leave that to the archive pictures.
5. Social media visuals make the connection between your social media and website seamless
Social media might be a potential customer’s first interaction with your business, but the goal is to bring them to your website to consume more content, download a lead magnet, or make a purchase.
And what better way to create congruence between your social posts and platforms than through social media visuals?
Images are one of the best ways to create brand consistency across multiple touchpoints, including website and social media.
For example the social graphic above for our personal Atomicon event seamlessly linked to our web graphics. Interested parties know immediately from the look and brands that they have come to the right place to buy a ticket.
There is no confusion!
Types of social media visuals to share
We’ve talked about some types of visuals that you can share, but here’s a list of some social media visuals that we’ve found to be powerful in our business for all of the above reasons:
- Images relevant to your industry
- engagement pictures
- Team photos and behind-the-scenes pictures
- gifs
- Branded images on social networks and the website
The potential for social media visuals is endless – you can also try infographics, carousel posts, videos, animations and more! Get creative with how you share content across your social media channels.
Stand out on social networks
Social media is a constant stream of content, and you compete with hundreds and thousands of other companies for attention.
You need to find a way to stand out, and you have a few precious seconds to grab attention and get your message across.
Including engaging, relevant images in your posts is one of the most effective ways to do this.
Of course, social media visuals aren’t the only thing that matters—the copy and messaging are just as important. But the visual elements can help you stand out and can make the difference between your business succeeding or failing.
So, the bottom line is… use visuals!
Ranked among the top 100 digital marketers in the world, Andrew and Pete are international keynote speakers, authors and hosts of one of Europe’s largest annual business conferences, ATOMICON.
