Did you know that 90% of the information transmitted to your brain is visual?
Or that 83% of human learning is visual?
That makes incorporating imagery into your content marketing strategy more important than ever.
Not only can visuals help send a more effective message, but they also increase the strength of your brand.
Just look around you and you’ll see. Consumers have been trained to consciously and subconsciously respond to elements within visuals.
Whether it’s an Infographic, Slideshare or photo, information absorbed visually makes a message stick.
Want to pack a punch into your social media marketing? You need to incorporate visual marketing!
Below are 4 key elements you must add to your next graphic to stand out online – and don’t forget to PIN and share the Infographic at the bottom of the post!
How to Improve Your Social Media Images in 4 Easy Steps
STEP 1: Define Your Brand Colors
Be consistent with the colors you work into your graphics. Choose two to four colors that best reflect your brand’s personality.
Colors are more than just visually appealing. It’s the psychology behind them that will help you craft better images.
Because the reality is, color interpretation remains subjective. Your response to a specific color could be different than mine.
Yet, the role it plays in purchasing and perception are significant. In a study called Impact of Color in Marketing, researchers found that
“People make up their minds within 90 seconds of an initial interaction with a product. And 62‐90% of that assessment is based on colors alone.”
So how can you use color to better inspire action, instill trust and encourage buying behavior?
First, you must get inside the mind of your target market. Next, take that information and look to the color wheel.
What colors are behind some of the most successful brands and how can you tap into that emotion?
- Black conveys a message of power and authority. It speaks to a stylish and timeless message, imparting a sleek, formal, luxurious or classic experience.
- Yellow is seen as fun, joyous and optimistic. Brands like Nikon, Subway and Best Buy bear the brand of a bold, deep yellow.
- Orange is my brand color and one that embraces every aspect of my business. It’s cheerful, inviting, encouraging, friendly and confident. Orange makes me happy!
- Red is a color that is emotionally intense. When we see red we think of “strength, adventure, energy and love.” It is extreme, exciting and vivacious with Coca Cola, Virgin and Pinterest embracing this vibrant hue.
- Blue makes us think of tranquility. It promotes a feeling of calm, and can symbolize loyalty. When we think about blue, we think of the words “unique, trust, reliable or clear.” Brands prominently displaying blue within their logo are Facebook, Dell, HP and Oreo.
- Green causes people to think about nature. It’s calming and refreshing. Green symbolizes balance, growth, and freshness and can also speak to financial stability as green is the color of money.
TIP: Know Your Hex Color Code
Once you’ve identified your perfect shade, know the specific hex color code to maintain consistency in your images.
Hex codes are six digit codes that represent universal values throughout the internet. You can easily find yours with the ColorPick Eyedropper or EyeDropper Chrome extension.
STEP 2: Identify Typography
Think that typography is just a whole bunch of text on a graphic? Think again!
The typography you incorporate into your visual content is as much a part of your brand story as your color choice. It expresses your company personality and has a direct impact on conversions.
For example, your headings and titles should be easy to read and understand.
They should also be eye-catching and attention grabbing. If you want your graphics to spread like wildfire, don’t leave anything to chance.
Test the structure, layout, color and typography of your graphics. From social media visuals to Infographics and Calls to Action – ensure that there is consistency in your design and message.
Make it easy for your audience to take in your message and take action on your content.
TIP: Understand Font Descriptions
- Serif fonts feature a line at the end of each stroke. It conveys a traditional and professional message.
- Sans Serif fonts will not have a line at the end of each stroke. It illustrates a crisp and modern image.
- Script fonts, as well as italics communicate sophistication and femininity. These can be used for formality and decoration.
- Handwriting fonts appear to be personal and casual. This shows viewers that you are friendly and approachable.
- Display fonts vary in style and design. Choose these for text only logos as they are unique and creative.
As Canva points out, using too many typefaces can be cluttered and chaotic.
STEP 3: Use Consistent Imagery
Use a consistent theme in your images and filters that complement your brand.
Using filters can add a consistent look and feel to the pictures you use. If you utilize the same filter for all or most of your pictures, you can strengthen your brand.
To pick out a photo filter, decide which effects work with your color palette and fonts. Figure out what you are trying to convey to your audience
Do you need a filter that looks colorful, fresh, cool or urban? Or is your brand dark, retro or vintage?
Use online editing tools like Canva and RelayThat to create unique images that are similar in form, follow a theme, or look alike.
TIP: Create a Themed Series
If you’re creating content you need to consider repurposing. After all, why reinvent the wheel on a daily basis when you have loads of content at your fingertips?
For example, create an image from tips or quotes found within recent blog posts. The image should have a consistent theme to make it easily recognizable.
Here’s a series we created for #InfluencerChat. Each graphic – no matter the social network – has a streamlined look and feel.
STEP 4: Design Your Perfect Style
Build a style guide that contains a template for your social media posts, including where to position your logo and what sizes and layout are appropriate for each social media channel.
Although each social network has unique guidelines and specifications concerning image dimensions and placement, try to remain consistent with your presentation on every site.
TIP: Size Images for Each Social Network
No two social networks are the same and neither are the image size requirements.
Once you’ve created your style guide and a themed template, easily re-size it for each social network with the Social Image Resizer Tool.
With this tool, you can finally stop guessing about image size requirements.
Final Thoughts
Still not convinced that visual marketing is taking the online world by storm?
Take a look at these statistics!
- Social media posts with relevant images get 94 percent more views than content without.
- 60 percent of consumers are more likely to click on a search engine result of a business who has a picture accompanying it.
- Businesses that market using infographics receive a 12 percent increase in business on average.
- 93 percent of the most engaging posts on Facebook incorporate a visual of some sort.
There’s no doubt about it. Adding visual marketing to your content strategy pays dividends that keep on giving.
With the right visuals, you have the ability to clearly articulate your message and leave a lasting impression in the mind of your audience.
Hey Rebekah,
Although many people do not take that much notice, subconsciously colors makes a big difference when it comes to your ads.
Little images and colors that I have added to each of my posts I’ve notice that I get more of a response than if I didn’t make those adjustments.
The guide you have is a great one to follow when it comes to colors and images! I’ll have to bookmark this!
Thanks for sharing Rebekah! Have a great day!
Hi Rebekah,
Main focus on the strength of your brand. Yes, it good to see here how you explain color combination and uses. That is great Idea i like it. Colors are played important role to attract and influence the customer to your site. I agree with all your concept which you used. Thanks for sharing… this information. It really helpful to all who are color lovers.
Recently visit- Social Media Marketing Companies
Branding colors is something I’ve not really considered much, but I’ve seen it work well with those like Matthew Woodward and Adam Connell.
What things helped you to decide on the colors you went with?
Thanks Rebekah for this. With a lot of info on the net, it’s good to capture the attention of the readers with professional infographics that will make you achieve the intended purpose. There is nothing that appeals to the reader than that personal touch. You’ve actually done it in this post.
I’ve learnt a lot about the colors in the design, and the visual impact, with these statistics, that’s the way to go! A second will either capture the attention of your potential customer or make them go away. Most of us go wrong by delving into content without coming up with the killer design that will blend well with your projects.
This is very useful info from you, as always.
Hi Rebekah,
I love this post – anything that can help to brighten up the web is great news.
This is great advice about creating a brand and being consistent.
Thanks for sharing it Rebekah.
I actually just finished a 90-minute workshop + Periscope series on visual marketing and I am so glad to see that I covered all of the points you bring up here Rebekah !
As always, another extremely useful post.
As ALWAYS a stellar instructional for stepping up your visual game. It really boils down to having your branding guidelines defined and using those bad boys consistently in EVERYTHING you do.
It’s amazing how far consistency and spending the time to define the visual aspects of your brand can take you. This list is exactly where to start to reap the rewards of brand recognition, so epic job helping peeps get there, Rebekah!
I have a question about this picture of a post where I’m sharing tips on how I discovered decorations in many uncommon places along with the way I use certain things to make beachy decorations and it doesn’t look great with a picture of all the items but they are small items. I don’t want to giveaway my post because its outrageous how I found and do to make them and last night the post was deleted somehow so today I’m redoing it. Blogger errors came up. So should I do a collage?
Thank you for the very thorough list. I’ve done some of these (consistent color and simple fonts), but I need to go the rest of the way and create a style guide for myself. I also like the series idea!
Great post per usual, Rebekah! Love the info on the emotions colors convey. You certainly are orange, friendly and happy, as evidenced by your posts and #InfluencerChat! 🙂
Thanks Rebekah, the use of images for blogging and social media is my favorite topic. I recently used your site as an example of using consistency, and excellent images, for branding purposes. You do it so well.
Well written and very informative post Rebekah Radice. I am not a designer but I am a professional internet marketer and trainer, and yes, I love colors, designing and UX. This piece of content and the infographic got me some creative ideas which I believe, I can implement on my site’s landing pages. Color is a very powerful thing which can influence a site visitors even on taking the desired action (C2A). Thanks for the post, tips and ideas.
Regards
Soumya Roy
Marketing & SEO Trainer
PromozSEO.com
Hi Rebekah,
Love the idea of using colours. Okay, I heard a zillion times now but I really love the way you share the information.
Personally, I love blue more than anything else. But hey, that’s just me. Oh yes, green colour too! Don’t forget about it.
Great one indeed and definitely deserve more than one share! Haha 🙂