It’s no secret. I love visual marketing.
No matter how (or where) we’re connected, you’ll see bright, bold, and colorful visuals that define my brand.
But it wasn’t always that way. Visual marketing has evolved, and with it, so have online strategies.
As consumer appetite has increased, businesses and brands scramble to create captivating visuals.
Just take a look around at companies like Starbucks, Constant Contact, Marketo, and Nike. They all have one thing in common. Each has created massive appeal through strong visual content.
And they’re using social networks such as Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Vine, to tell a striking story.
And the good news? You can too!
Below are steps that you can quickly take to start creating content your audience loves…and wants to spread like wildfire.
PLUS, don’t forget to PIN and share the awesome Infographic at the end from QuickSprout.
Click Here to Get It Now
How to Create Social Media Graphics that Spread Like Wildfire
Why Does Visual Content Matter?
In a matter of moments, your audience is making a decision. Will they stop and read or move on? Will they engage with your business or interact with your competition?
Given the speed at which people scan from one piece of content to the next. having a knock ‘em dead visual presence is critical. Without it, you may lose an opportunity forever.
That’s where visual marketing comes in. The right graphic can share your vision, expand the life of a product, sell a service or boost a campaign.
As Andrea Beltrami of The Branded Solopreneur explains,
“Visuals have the power to evoke emotions in a visceral way. They can tell us whole stories in a fraction of the time reading text would take. Visuals are the least inhibited way we have of conveying our message, while simultaneously being the easiest for others to consume.”
And Andrea knows a thing or two about visual marketing. She’s built her brand around a streamlined look and feel. From her blog to social media, there’s no mistaking her graphics.
As you can see, visuals when done right, are an immediate connection to your brand. They capture attention, drive engagement, and encourage action.
But don’t take my word for it.
The statistics below prove the power behind visual content and why it’s shaping the future of content marketing.
- Over 63% of all social media content today is comprised of images, and approximately 66% of new posts are some form of visual content
- Nearly 54% of internet users have uploaded a video or photo they personally created, and more than 50% of users have re-posted a video or photo they came across online and liked
- Content with suitable images receive over 94% more views (which equates to nearly double the views) than content without images, and the boost is noticeable across all categories and topics
- Tweets with images get 150% more retweets than those without images, and 37% more engagement is experienced when posts on Facebook include photos
- More than 60% of consumers are likely to regard or make contact with a company whose images appear on local searches
Use Images To Optimize Your Social Media Content
Images are the single most important tool when it comes to your social media content optimization.
According to the Adobe 2014 Digital Marketing Optimization survey, more than 80% of respondents point to images as either “very important” or “important” in relation to their marketing optimization on social media.
But how can you use them to optimize your social media content and audience experience?
Here are 9 major forms of visual content you can integrate into your social media posts:
- Attention-grabbing, artistic photography – Think Instagram pictures or stock photos
- Creative video – Consider embedding sites such as YouTube, Wistia and Vimeo right into your posts or share them directly to your social media
- Screenshots – Useful if used right e.g. taking shots of helpful images of workflow or your products/services
- Infographics – Come in handy when you want to convey a meaty or super long message in an easy, bite-sized and informative manner
- Comics – Make a long story short, captivating and humorous with relevant cartoons or comic strips
- Data visualization – Present facts, figures and statistics in a simple and visually stimulating manner through standalone graphs and charts
- Memes – Use trendy memes tailored to fit the context of your updates or posts
- Miscellaneous graphics – Think of diverse images that compliment your content
- Visual note taking – Consider casually designed layouts of ideas
For me, combining each suggestion above works best. It keeps my content fresh and fun, never stagnant.
But what works best for me, may not be the case for you. For example, Chobani makes a delicious Greek yogurt. It’s one of my favorite morning treats and a great addition to any meal.
Following Chobani on Instagram gives me a ton of recipe inspiration. But one look at their social media content and it’s easy to see that Infographics might not feel on-brand.
The bottom line? Determine what type of visual content feels like the right fit for your business and then identify how you will use it.
Ask yourself:
- How does this image support my goals?
- How will it convert?
- Who will care about it?
- How will it make my audience feel?
Make it a game. With every image you create, make certain you can answer each of those questions.
How to Make Images Your Audience Will Love
Now that you know why visuals are so important, your next step is to make images your audience will love.
There are multiple ways you can use images:
- Create standout social media profiles that are easy to identify. Create branded cover photos that are consistent with your website, blog and offline marketing.
- Speak to your audience’s needs. Design social media images that have your target market in mind.
- Design an Infographic like the one below, “The Ultimate Guide to Creating Visually Appealing Content.”
- Build thought leadership by taking quotes from your past articles and repurposing them into social media graphics.
- Create a presentation and post it to Slideshare highlighting a popular blog post like the one created by Donna Moritz, founder of Socially Sorted. Oh, and in case you’re wondering if this strategy works, jsut take a look at her views!
Most importantly, once you start to create your images, don’t forget to make them yours. As Social Media Strategist Peg Fitzpatrick explains,
“When you create designs, add your logo and/or website address on your images. Adding this extra bit of flair helps people know that it’s yours, builds your brand recognition, and hopefully deters people from using it without permission.”
Use the Right Visual Marketing Tools
Now it’s time to make designing your graphics simple!
You can use various online and offline resources to create the ultimate visual content, these include:
Canva
This simple tool is perfect for non-designers to create images with ease. I use it to create simple quote graphics like this one I put together for #InfluencerChat, a weekly Twitter chat I co-host with Ann Tran and Diana Adams.
BeFunky
I love BeFunky! While it’s an online resource, it’s also an app that allows you to edit and save images to share across any of your social networks.
I use it to edit almost every picture I take.
Skitch
This has been another one of my go-to tools for years.
Skitch, a tool by Evernote, is designed for screenshot optimization and excellent for training and tutorials.
PowerPoint
As a Photoshop user, I’ve never used PowerPoint to create images, but hear many sing it’s praises.
While it’s typically thought of as an offline presentation software, it’s also become a favorite for many business owners and entrepreneurs.
If you’re interested in seeing how to get started, Jenn Herman put together a fantastic tutorial.
Want more tools? Here’s a list of the best visual marketing apps to create social media graphics!
Final Thoughts
Understanding how to incorporate visual marketing into your social media tactics can give you an edge.
While your competition might have a visual presence in some way, shape or form, most are still struggling with their interpretation
Whether it’s their inconsistency or a lack of a defined strategy, your business can successfully tackle visual marketing, creating differentiation and recognition in an ocean of online noise.
How will you get started? Or if you already have, how is visual marketing supporting your business? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
That is an awesome app indeed
What a useful post! I now use Canva for my blog. I am a design novice, and I greatly appreciate its user friendly design. Thank you!
Your title speaks “Create Social Media Graphics”, but can you please tell me what software of online tool you use to create images or graphics for your social media campaing.
Hi John – there are many tools you can use, but two of my favorites are Canva and PicMonkey. There are quite a few apps you can use too, try Wordswag or Over.
I’ll be so happy with Canva for Work is live!
Hopefully it happens soon Gisele. I know a lot of people are eagerly waiting on it!
Great article Rebekah. Your insights are really valuable.
Images and graphic play a very vital role. Social networks like Pinterest & Facebook can drive good traffic to your blog if you are using eye catching graphic and images for your blog posts.
Canva is a great tool to create amazing graphic designs without any graphic design skills.
Thanks again for taking time and sharing this information.
Thanks for putting these together, Rebekah! 🙂
Canva has always been on my list of tools, especially because it’s FREE. Although, I’m an amateur on graphics design, I feel like I’m a pro whenever I use it! Also, the results are cool. I love its ‘cloud’ feature as well, just like BeFunky.
-Alleli
Checking out Befunky now.
Im a sucker for apps Rebekah LOL.
Im currently using ShareAsImage and a few others on iOS. Testing, finding the right one that can save me the most time, with the best “roi”
I have to admit that my taste sucks so some of the images on my site aren’t “wildfire” worthy haha.
You and me both Dennis. I’m always looking for something new, but BeFunky has stuck around the longest. I think you’ll love it!
This is really wonderful post. Realy helpful to me understand more about how to create graphics. Usually I am used Canava. This is really great tool to develop. And thank u for sharing this great article. Know more about social Media Marketing visit http://www.infinix360.com/social-media-marketing-singapore/
Hi Angelo! Canva is a great tool. The more you play around with it, the better you’ll get. Have fun!
I usually use PicMonkey to create pics but maybe I’ll check Canva out too
PicMonkey is a great tool too Robin! I haven’t used it as much over the last couple of years, but it was my go-to for a long time. You can’t go wrong with it.
Visual content marketing is how I get most of my traffic, especially via images I create and share on Pinterest. I use them on not only my personal blog but for all of my sites in various niches and in my work as a coach and consultant.
Some other apps worth mentioning are Studio and Over. Love both of those. There is a new one coming out called NoteThemes that looks great.
So happy you featured Dre, I love her!
I love to hear that Elizabeth about your traffic. It’s amazing the power visuals have to draw us in and keep us coming back for more.
I’ve used Over for a very long time and still love it. I don’t use it as often and maybe it’s just because I don’t find the need for it as much. I haven’t used Studio. Will have to take a look!
And yes…Dre is awesome!
Hi Rebekah this is a great piece with new tips and techniques.
I have always used Canva for most of my images. BeFunky sounds really interesting.
I will be giving that a go.
It’s a fun app Esther. Have fun with it!
Fantastic Post Rebekah! I Have Just started Ramping up My Images and This Post Came To Me Right on time! Thank you very much.
Hi Tara! How exciting. Images have been an addiction for me. They’re so fun to create and continue to play around with. You just never know what’s going to work and what’s not.
This is an awesome and stunning post and I don’t think that anyone can elaborate this further because you have covered each and every point in details.
I have also written a post but now I think I could elaborate my post too.
Thanks for sharing and giving me an idea to write an in-depth post about any topic.
Mohinder Paul Verma
BloggingFunda – A Community of Bloggers
Hi Mohinder! I read your post and shared it. Loved the information you shared. It’s always great when you can find things for free, but more importantly – stay safe from copyright.
Hi Rebekah maam,
This is a great post. I was using powerpoint and skitch for my article and blog graphics. I have recently started using canva and now with canva the skies are the limit for imagination.
I had read about “OVER” the mobile app you use for smart designs on an expert round up at sociallysorted. I am going to use it. Thanks for this list I am going to try befunky as well.
Skitch is a great tool Swadhin. I used it a lot for training purposes. It makes capturing and marking up content very easy.
Definitely give OVER a try. It’s a really flexible app that gives you a lot of options when it comes to branding. I know you’ll enjoy it.
Visuals are the name of the game these days, it’s just not something any brand can ignore. It still blows me away how many BIG social brands are still not using visual content in their posts. Come on peeps, get with it!
You’ve given sooooo many awe-mazing tips for creating ‘spreading like wildfire’ worthy visual content here I’m off to share the shiz outta of this one!
P.S.Gargantuan high five for the love and shout out, girl…the warm & fuzzies are raging over here!! 😉
Yes they are Andrea and nobody knows that better than you. I love your branding and the consistency in all that you do. Hopefully the content you’re putting out there will help to kick them in the you know what and get them out of their own way and into the visual marketing mindset!