With so many images, artily written words, clever infographics, short videos filling up your social media stream – it is a real challenge to know how you can stand out from all the other competing posts on social media. Capturing the attention of any new potential customer is essential for any business – but the secret is, to know how to get noticed on social media and use high quality media which attracts new customers and also affordable.
Creating social media marketing posts which capture people’s attention and stops them in their tracks, often requires a lot more effort than you might think. Hiring a professional photographer to take photos for your website and on your social media networks can often be expensive and having a catchy slogan or employing a graphic designer to create a bright colorful high-end designed logo or clever infographic is simply not good enough when trying to capture people’s attention.
The importance of images in social media
There is a lot of value and importance using quality images on your social media networks, which cannot be underrated. Let’s take a look at a few key statistics which demonstrates the need for using quality images on social media:
- On Facebook – posts which are published with photos, receive 53% more likes and 84% more click-through links than posts which don’t have an image
- 65% of adults are visual learners. Knowing this, makes for a better learning experience as this learning style is the commonest form of any of the other learning preferences
- the readership level of the articles which included an image as part of their post, had a 14% higher success rate of being read than other articles which were purely text.
Often when we go online, we want to find information quickly and don’t want to waste a lot of time tracking it down and hunting for it. A well-chosen image, short-video or infographic has the ability to quickly convey a message more so than reading through a well-written but descriptive amount of text. The cliched saying; ‘a picture is worth 1000 words’ is still relevant.
Showing someone something is offer easier than trying to explain something. It doesn’t require as much effort to absorb and is often easier to understand and remember. Capturing the attention of any new potential customer is essential for any business – but the secret everyone wants to know is; how to get noticed on social media using high quality images which will attract new customers and isn’t too expensive.
So, what’s the secret to deciding what is the right image to use on social media?
Use Quality Imagery
Your choice of imagery on your social media networks and your website represents more than just your business and conveys a bigger message than simply writing a blog post or web page describing who you are and what you do. The images you choose to publish need to be authentic and genuinely represent what you do in your business rather than using generic stock images.
The key to using quality images is in the message they represent. For example: when people first see an image, they need to identify what they are looking at in a split second. So therefore, your image should be sharp, in focus, so it makes sense to the naked eye and quickly evokes an emotion.
Secondly, as your image represents your business, people automatically will make a subconscious assessment of your business so you need to ensure your images are professional and accurately reflects your business practices.
Target the right audience
Think carefully about your existing customers and create visual media which speaks and appeals directly to them. Choosing the right image is just as important as creating captivating imagery which will stop people from scrolling in their tracks and draw them in for a closer look.
Stay current with image trends
You already know how important it is to constantly innovate and explore creative ways of marketing your business, and looking at image trends and styles is no different. Have you noticed any of these image trends, recently:
- deliberate geometric placement of product style images designed to capture the eye?
- zoomed in close images of objects with a hazy, blurred out background?
- very bright and colorful images which have a prominent object in the foreground?
- a birds’ eye perspective that captures the entire scene?
If it’s not shareable – simply don’t share it
Don’t share or publish an image on your social media network that you think your followers wouldn’t love enough to want to share with their friends and family. At the end of the day, likes are not enough. You want your posts to be seen by as many people as possible, this requires your followers to promote your content by sharing it with their peers on their preferred social media network. So, use images which appeal and attract others who will interact with your content.
Creating and carefully choosing images which best represents your business is essential. Write an engaging article on your blog that will capture their minds, convert them into loyal customers. Only publish an image that is relevant to your article and evoke a strongly positive emotional response. Capture the attention of potential new customers and keep your existing ones coming back time and again for more!
