4 Best Content Types for Social Media
The digital marketing landscape has changed drastically over the years; although text-based content still remains an important part of content marketing, visual content like images and infographics are now considered essential for keeping consumers engaged on social media.
Consider this: 65% of people are visual learners, and 90% of the information retained by our brain is visual. These statistics highlight how visual content is an easy way to attract, inform, and engage users.
Keeping this in view, visual content is not something that modern marketers and businesses should overlook. In fact, 51% of B2B marketers believe that prioritising their visual assets is important to ensure the success of their content strategy.
Here are 4 types of visual content that brands should utilise to increase their marketing ROI:
1. Videos
Videos are now an important part of every digital and social media marketing campaign. Considering that over 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day, this is a visual tool that brands hoping to compete in today’s competitive market simply cannot overlook.
Videos can be both informative and persuasive; while brands commonly use videos to advertise their products and services, they are also an effective medium for impacting consumer behaviour.
This is backed by research, which states 64% of customers are encouraged to buy a product after watching a video about it.
Besides the fact that video content has a greater chance of increasing engagement, and customer retention, it is expected that 82% of all global internet traffic by 2022 will be video based.
2. Imagery
With the rise of image sharing social platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, etc., images have now become a key component of any successful social media strategy.
Primarily, people tend to associate brands with colours and pictures – this is one of the main reasons why images play a crucial role in building brand identity, and increasing brand awareness on social media.
In effect, tweets with images receive 150% more retweets, while Facebook posts with images see 2.3x more engagement.
Businesses also use images to boost consumer engagement – according to studies, posts with images generate 650% higher engagement online.
3. Infographics
As the name suggests, a well-designed infographic is a creative balance of information and graphics. In simple words, infographics are an excellent way to give your audience a quick rundown on something that can be hard to explain in words.
As it has been observed that infographics can increase web traffic and a company’s overall profits by up to 12%, they are now considered one of the most popular tools in the world of visual content.
Due to the use of attention-grabbing and easy-to understand visuals, infographics are liked and shared 3x more than any other type of content – hence, brands should use infographics to share statistics, and convey their message in a quick and interesting manner on social media.
4. Memes
Over the years, memes have gained wide popularity on the internet. Back in August 2016, the word ‘meme’ dominated Google Searches, officially overtaking the word ‘Jesus.’
Memes are images with a humorous context that are used to convey messages and increase engagement.
Incorporating memes in your social marketing strategy can be controversial – some memes may rub your consumers in the wrong way. However, there have been instances where renowned brands like Netflix and Disney have used memes to great effect.
Although not commonly used by brands in their marketing strategies, memes have a lot of potential to generate traffic and indirectly influence customer behaviour with the help of humor.
Visual marketing has greatly impacted the dynamics of digital marketing. If done right, visual content like images, infographics, memes, and videos can boost social following and make the brand seem more relatable – ultimately boosting online visibility.
