The success of your inbound marketing campaign will be determined by your ability to capture and keep your audience’s attention. One of the best ways to stand out from your competition is by using more visual content. This could be anything from photos, videos and infographics to comics and memes. According to Digital Marketing Philippines, posts with visual content generate up to 94 percent more views, and could result in a 37 percent increase in engagement.
But many businesses are not getting traction from their marketing visuals. Want your visuals to get noticed and shared? Don’t make these seven mistakes.
As the name suggests, user-generated content refers to photos, graphics or videos shared directly by users. Allowing users to post content on your social media pages can significantly enhance your brand’s credibility and increase engagement.
One of the best ways of getting your fans and followers to submit content is by running contests. A good example is the PeiWeiLifeContest where users are required to post photos for a chance to win gift cards.
One way to make your content distinct is by using colors that evoke specific feelings from your audience. For instance, yellow represents joy and happiness, green represents the environment and freshness, and blue is commonly associated with integrity, loyalty and security. You can make your visuals more unique and professional by adjusting the contrast, saturation and applying a filter.
A good example is the image below from the official Mercedes-Benz Instagram channel. Black is a color commonly used to denote class and elegance.
Images will look unprofessional if you fail to format them correctly and they get cut off. Visuals should appear the same across all the social media networks. Different social media sites have different requirements when it comes to image dimensions. For instance, here are the image requirements for Facebook, Twitter and Google+:
The good news is you don’t have to resize your images manually. You can use one of the numerous image creation and editing software such as Pablo, BeFunky, Pagemodo, PicMonkey and Canva. Most of these tools come with image templates for all the major social networks.
The kind of visuals you use will reflect the quality of your brand, so your images should be unique and of high quality. Many sites will let you download high-quality stock photos for free.
Make sure the images you choose have a high resolution so they don’t look pixilated when enlarged. All the text on the image should be clear. If you can afford it, buy professional stock photos or hire a professional photographer to achieve the level of quality you expect.
In marketing, capturing the attention of your audience is not enough. You need to have a clear and clickable call-to-action that tells them what to do. This could be joining your mailing list, sharing your post, leaving a comment or buying a product. You could place the call-to-action in the description or in the image itself.
The call-to-action below by Alex Beadon urges people to sign up quickly to enjoy early bird pricing. Creating a sense of urgency is likely to result in more conversions.
Brand image is not just about the products and services being offered. It also encompasses your business values and beliefs. People follow you for different reasons. Some like what you are selling; others are attracted by what you stand for. In many instances, they like both. So your visual content should represent your desired brand image well. For example, the image below projects fun and friendship, key elements of the Coca-Cola brand image.
These are just a few of the mistakes to avoid when using visual content marketing for lead capture. When done properly, visual content can drive traffic to your site or blog, lower bounce rates, increase page views and even convert visitors into buyers. What are your favorite examples of visual content marketing? Share in the comment section below.
Charles Mburugu is a HubSpot-certified content writer/marketer for B2B, B2C and SaaS companies. He has worked with brands such as GetResponse, Neil Patel, Shopify, 99 Designs, Oberlo, Salesforce and Condor. Check out his portfolio and connect on LinkedIn.
