Creating Compelling Visual Content: The Newest Digital Marketing Trend

Digital marketing is constantly evolving, and as online marketers, it’s essential to stay up to date on the latest trends. To create compelling visual content, you need to understand what consumers want and how to reach them.

By creating a social media strategy and staying ahead of the curve, you can ensure that your brand remains competitive in the digital age.

According to Social Media Examiner, 72% of online marketers describe content creation as their most effective SEO tactic.

Creating compelling visual content has become an essential part of digital marketing in the modern era.

Online marketers are constantly striving to create engaging and visually appealing media to help them get ahead, stay ahead, or take over market share from competitors.

Not only is it important for your brand to have a unique voice, but it’s also imperative to create high-quality visuals that will capture the attention of your target audience and drive conversions.

Creating compelling visual content can be difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing.

The good news is that help is on the way!

Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about creating compelling visual content.

The Importance of Visual Content

It should come as no surprise that the type of content you create is essential to consumers; we live in a tech-savvy world where users demand quick and easy access to information.

According to the Media Education Center, “visuals are processed 60,000X faster than text.”

Additionally, a study by Gitte Lindgaard, Gary Fernandes, Cathy Dudek, and Judy Brown entitled “Behaviour & Information Technology”  found that web designers have 50 milli-seconds to convince a visitor to stay on their website. 

This proves that your potential audience won’t take the time to read through a long blog post or even an extensive social media bio; they want content that is easy to digest and will keep them engaged.

This means that consumers are more likely to engage with visual media than ever before, and this is precisely why it’s become so important to use visuals in digital marketing strategies.

How to Create Compelling Visual Content

These days, home decor magazines are rich with colorful images, and you can’t go a day without seeing an eye-catching advertisement on the side of the road.

This is because advertisers have become savvy about how visuals engage consumers, so they’ve started using more images in their marketing strategies.

If you want to create compelling visual content for your online marketing strategy, there are a few things you need to keep in mind:

Understand what consumers want

According to BuzzSumo, Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without images.

This means that consumers are more interested in visual content than ever before, so it’s important to know what they want.

What do they respond to?

What is your target audience interested in?

By creating media that helps you understand the needs of your potential customers, you’ll be able to create visuals that are tailored for your audience and will keep them interested.

As previously stated, “visuals are processed 60,000X faster than text.”

This means that it’s worth your time to invest in quality visuals because they’ll be able to reach your audience right away.

Once you know what will engage consumers with compelling visual content, think about how you can reach them.

Know how to reach them

The internet is a big place, so it’s important to know the best way to reach your target audience.

To produce compelling visual content that will keep consumers interested, you’ll need an effective strategy for connecting with them.

This means that if you’re selling a product on your website, you’ll need to put together a stellar eCommerce strategy that includes compelling product images, well-written product descriptions, social media share buttons on your website, and an extensive email marketing campaign.

If you’re trying to get more views on YouTube, it’s important to know how you plan to market the videos once they are uploaded. Is your audience most likely to engage with a well-thought-out social media campaign, or would they instead see your videos on another video-sharing site? Is it worth it to upload all of your content to YouTube if you know that most of your viewers are on Facebook?

What do they see as the best way to reach them?

Once you’ve figured out what type of media consumers respond to, determine the best way for reaching them with compelling visual content.

By taking the time to understand how consumers want to be reached, you’ll be able to create a plan that will keep them engaged with your brand.

Tips for Creating a Brand’s Social Media Strategy

One of the best ways to engage consumers with compelling visual content is by creating a social media strategy. After all, according to HubSpot, 70% of companies invest in content marketing, which could include visual marketing strategies.

The following are some tips for creating a social media strategy:

Understand what your target audience wants

We touched on this earlier. Understand what types of visuals your audience responds to; once you do that, you can create visual content.

Create visuals that are tailored to your audience

Like you would for any digital marketing strategy, it’s essential to create media tailored for your target audience.

This means that if you’re trying to reach Millennials using social media, you’ll need to create visuals on Instagram, Snapchat, and Tiktok.

According to a Pew Research Center study, about 71% of 18- to 29-year-olds say they use Instagram, compared to 65% for Snapchat and about 48% who use TikTok. 

Aside from these statistics, here are a few other things to keep in mind for creating compelling visuals that are tailored to your audience.

Determine who you want to target – This is where it’s essential to understand what consumers want. If you’re selling luxury goods, it’s unlikely that influencers would be interested in sharing content about your product. However, if you’re selling something more affordable, they may be interested in spreading the word.

Figure out what type of content they respond to –  This is where creating compelling visuals that are tailored to your audience comes into play. If you’re trying to target Millennials using social media, your visuals must be relatable.

Create shareable visuals – Millennials are more likely to engage with other consumers on social media, so your content needs to be shareable. This means creating relatable visuals that communicate the value of your product without being too aggressive or sales-focused.

Hashtag wisely –  As we’ve discussed on our blog, hashtags are a great way to increase your brand’s visibility on social media. Use them wisely, and you can continue to reach potential consumers.

Create a YouTube Channel

Having a YouTube channel is crucial for engaging with an audience that’s more likely to watch video content than reading blog posts. If you’re trying to reach consumers on YouTube, it’s essential to create compelling visuals tailored to your audience.

As we discussed earlier, Millennials are more likely to watch videos on YouTube than other platforms. The following are some tips for creating a successful channel:

Include relevant keywords in your title – If you’re trying to get views from potential consumers, it’s important to include searchable terms that they would use when searching for your product or service.  Doing this will help your video SEO tremendously!

Plan out video content creation – Whether you’re creating promotional strategies or instructional videos, it’s important to plan out how you’ll share them with your audience.  By having a well-thought-out social media strategy in place, you can reach your target audience by using compelling visuals.

Use social media to create a connection with consumers –

Once you’ve figured out who your target audience is, it’s important to develop relationships with them. According to SproutSocial, 9 out of 10 consumers are more likely to trust a brand if they have some interaction on social media.

Engaging with potential customers on social media can help you improve your business relationships and convert consumers into loyal brand ambassadors.  

Spread the word about your brand with an effective email marketing campaign

While you’re likely familiar with social media marketing, it’s easy to forget about email. Email is still one of the most popular ways for businesses to reach their target audiences. A great way to use compelling visuals in your email strategy is by including images related to the content in the body of your email.

As we mentioned earlier, Millennials are more likely to engage with content through visuals, so your email marketing campaigns need to be as visual as possible. By including images in the body of emails, you’re able to grab more attention and encourage customers to take action.

Here are some additional tips:

Include an image relevant to the subject – It’s essential to have an image pertinent to the subject of your email for it to be effective. At the same time, you don’t want to create content that relies solely on visuals because consumers are flooded with images every day.

Create a call-to-action – By including compelling visuals in your emails, it becomes easier for customers to take action and engage with your brand. Once you’ve successfully grabbed their attention, it’s important to create a call-to-action that encourages them to respond to your email.

Optimize images for mobile – If you’re trying to get the most out of your email marketing campaigns, optimizing images for mobile devices is essential. According to Litmus, mobile devices accounted for 42% of all email opens in 2019.

What’s important here is that you don’t want to send many images that consumers have to download. Instead, only include the most relevant and compelling visuals in your email marketing campaigns and optimize them for mobile devices.

The Future of Digital Marketing is in the Hands of Consumers

Digital marketers are constantly evolving with the times. The future of digital marketing is in the hands of consumers, so it’s important to create strategies that they’ll respond to.

One of the best ways to engage with potential consumers is by using compelling visuals. Start by creating an effective social media marketing plan that includes video content, then use email campaigns to drive conversions and convert consumers into brand ambassadors.

Be ready to adapt to consumer preferences as they change. For example, the importance of visuals may decline if consumers are overwhelmed by too many images. Keep up to date on digital marketing trends and ensure that your brand remains competitive in the future!