The primary driving force emerging in a rapidly evolving digital landscape is visual content. Gone were the days when websites were purely textual. In a social-centric online world and an HTML5-boosted mobile internet landscape, visual content is your primary channel for reaching out to targeted audiences.
Why is this so? 93% of human communication is non-verbal, according to experts like Psychologist Albert Mehrabian. People’s minds react to visual stimuli almost instantaneously, 60000 times faster than what it takes to decode blocks of text and words. With the huge amount of information flooding the virtual world, visual content emerges as the most effective means of getting your message through to your targeted audiences.
From photos to videos, memes and infographics, visual contents can create a more lasting impression on your web visitors. So, if you want to generate more traffic, drive engagement and increase sales, then harnessing the power of visual content as part of your digital marketing efforts – and your journey starts now!
The infographic (click to zoom):
1) Visual Content Drives Web Traffic
Web traffic is a vital element in your online presence, for without traffic your website or business page would be like a visual masterpiece placed in a safe where no one can see. Generating traffic is the first and primary reason for using visual content for up to 40% of online users will favor and visit pages with visual information more than those showcasing only plain text.
Websites and business pages who have started out in enhancing their digital marketing efforts with visual content is generating better results in terms of traffic. These are several types of visual content that you can use like pictures, graphics and infographics that are effective in generating up to 12% more traffic.
2) Visual Content Builds Brand Identity
Visitors remember visuals much more easily and readily, thus brand recall is better if boosted by visual content. The power of visual content in this regard is enhanced even more if the visuals associated with your brand are unique and easily identifiable from those belonging to your competitors.
The visuals associated with your brand should also tell a story. Clear and detailed visual content “shows” and not “tell” your message and brand identity, and this is preferred by up to 67% of consumers online over contextual product or brand information. Visual content helps your targeted audiences understand your brand, helping build relationships with potential customers through better user experience.
3) Visual Content Boosts Social Media Engagement
Social media is one of the most important elements of any digital marketing campaign and is your primary channel for directly reaching out and interacting with targeted audiences – and you can drive engagement through visual content. Facebook for example, the foremost social network, realized up to 65% increase in engagement when it first introduced the use of visual content in brand timelines.
In another study, posts with visual content generated up to 180% more engagement compared to posts that are basically composed only by text-based content. Such visual-enhanced post will most likely receive more likes, comments and shares if posted in social networks like Facebook. The power of visual content in social media is very evident that it prompted the creation of new image-centric social networks like Pinterest, Instagram and Vine.
4) Visual Content Attracts More Inbound Links
Search Engine Optimization is still very important in the new world of social media and the semantic web. An important ranking factor for SEO is the generation of inbound links from relevant websites. Visual content has the power of generating up to three times more inbound links than content that feature only plain text.
Like your targeted audiences, owners of relevant websites will be more attracted to your visual content. If they like what they see and find your visual content relevant to their needs, there’s no stopping them from syndicating or linking back to your page.
5) Visual Content Generates More Page Views
With more inbound links coming in and better chances of appearing on search results, digital marketers should expect more views on pages that feature visual content. Studies show that pages enhanced with visual content can generate up to 94% more views than other content. Even press releases get up to 14% more views if they feature compelling photos, which you can boost even farther to 48% if relevant videos are thrown in to the mix.
6) Visual Content Generates Conversions
More traffic generates page views, and more visits and views to your pages generate higher chances for conversions. Good visual content attracts up to 67% of your targeted audiences and is much more effective in helping your audience understand what is it your brand is trying to convey. With better understanding, your targeted audiences is more susceptible for conversion once they appreciate the benefits they can get from your products and services.
7) Visual Content Breaks Down Language Barriers
There are 2.8 billion internet users in the world and up to 75% of these users live in the top 20 countries, with the remaining 25% distributed across the rest of the world. North America accounts for up to 13% of these users. Notice however that majority of internet users are located in areas where digital marketers may encounter language barriers with their text-based content.
Visual content however is effective in breaking down these barriers and help digital marketers reach out to a more global online community. Visual content can help targeted audiences understand your message faster and much more effectively compared to reaching out to them only through text – which they may completely not understand because of language issues.
Source: statista.com
8) Visual Content Conveys More Information
Reaching out and soliciting favorable responses from targeted audiences can be better achieved if they understand what your brand is trying to say or for them to appreciate the benefits your products or services will bring them. This can be achieved by conveying more information – and what better way to do this than coursing your message through visual content. Digital marketers can get up to 40% favorable responses through visual content.
Other elements and aspects of your visual content like the layout and color scheme can help influence the next course of action that your viewers will take, particularly in terms of conversion or purchasing decisions.
9) Visual Content Drives Sales and Referrals
Image-centric social network Pinterest is said to generate more traffic than what Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube generates. That is why visual content is effective in helping usher the next steps that your targeted audiences need to take, which includes but are not limited to driving sales and generating referrals. In fact, up to 21% of Pinterest users made a purchasing decision based on visual content they have seen on the site. Using video as visual content will generate even more favorable responses and up to 85% of those who have viewed it may most likely decide on making a purchase.
Which leads us to the last item where….
10) Visual Content through Video Will Dominate Web Traffic
Visual content is the future of the web and video is set to dominate most of its future traffic. At present, up to 85% of online users in the United States are watching online videos and viewers may spend up to 100% more time on pages that contain video. By the year 2017, up to 69% of all web traffic generated online will be video content.
So, there you have it. Boost your digital marketing campaign with visual content and harness the power of visuals and imagery in delivering your message to targeted audiences, solicit favorable responses from them – and ultimately convert them into loyal customers.