Visual content provides marketers and PR professionals with the opportunity to communicate ideas in a much richer way. It’s easier for our brains to process visual information, and it changes the way people talk about and share information about a brand online.

In an increasingly noisy digital and media landscape, we’re using visual content more to stand out across various marketing disciplines – from social media and public relations, to content strategy and even static collateral materials such as annual reports.

When MTV posted a group of images on Facebook, for example, the result was 13x more engagement and sharing and reached 6x more fans.

According to Facebook, FB posts that include a photo album, picture or video generate about 180%, 120% and 100% more engagement, respectively. That’s a meaningful increase!

In addition, Matter Communications conducted a study and found that the best visual engagement content for social media is:  picture/image (44.5%), video (33.2%) and infographic (19%).  Below is the infographic Matter published to convey the study results.

Good visuals increase engagement

So what does all of this mean?

• Visual marketing is the current breakout trend.
• 44% are more likely to engage with brands if they post pictures. (Source: ROI Research)
• Pictures have also become a short form way of communicating lots of information quickly and succinctly.
• Brands are moving away from the written word to more visual content.

The next time you’re planning a campaign or outreach program, think about relevant and interesting visuals that you can incorporate to catapult your engagement levels. - Maria Loscerbo

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