By Dean Opriasa
It can’t be denied that people are visual creatures. We like things that are colourful and images that attract our eyes.
To simplify, pictures get attention and keep it. It takes only a split second to look at an image, versus a few to read a summary. Pictures are more likely to get “liked” quicker.
Social media has always been visually inclined, but as technology and techniques have advanced, the role of images in the social space has thus shifted. A picture is worth a thousand words (and recently, $1 billion when it involves being able to share photos quickly and easily, evident by Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram).
Pinterest continues to grow as people and more and more brands are pinning, organizing, and sharing images via virtual pinboards. Even the new iPad has been designed and marketed focused on its “stunning retina display”. Social image sharing has entered a whole new world and it’s the time to rethink and focus on how to represent your brand or organization visually.
Why you ask?
You need to stand out
Taking Facebook as an example, there’s so much going on within the newsfeed such as an engagement announcement or a brand offering a 20% discount. The perfect picture will help you stand out and it’s much more viable than a link.
It grabs attention.
We process information primarily through visuals before we read the copy to get the details.
It goes beyond likes and comments
A great image can be shared easily and has the potential to spread quicker due to friends of friends being able to share the same image.
You don’t need a professionally shot or photo. Get creative . There are a lot of ways to add some imagery for your content. Here are some examples:
Image turns into content
Create your content within an image. It’s bold, it grabs people’s attention, and they’re more likely to interact with it.
Infographics are your friends
Turn lists and data into infographics that are fun! People are more likely to share the boring data stuff if they look fancy and pretty.
Does your audience like quotes?
Turn words and copy into an image. Create an image for the inspirational language to add some pizzazz to your posts.
Don’t make people think too long or hard at first. Get them in and then you can work on keeping them with content.
How do you incorporate images into your content?
The day I sat down to write this article, I received a total of 268 emails and 53 Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn messages directed to me. This was not an atypical number. But I got through all of the messages by the end of the day, with meetings and calls throughout, and a quick flight from New York to Ft. Lauderdale thrown in for good measure. How did I do it, and, in the face of email and social media overload, what systems and tools are there to help you be as productive as possible each day?
