Want more than words? Mix up your digital PR campaign with these different types of visual content!
Blog posts are a feature on nearly all websites nowadays. It’s a great way for customers to find a business and allows the business to show off their knowledge and creativity. After all, people like reading blogs. It allows them to find out information and listen to different opinions on topics they enjoy.
However, adding visuals to your blog can transform it from good to awesome. Jeff Bullas claims the increase in visual content is due to the fact that people are now using the internet on their smartphones and tablets. The explosion of sites like Instagram and Pinterest have also had an impact. What’s more, research suggests that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than words!
If you’re not doing so already, now is the time to hop onto the visual content bandwagon. Shake up your digital PR with a variety of different visual content. Whether it’s for blogs, social media, outreach or part of an eCommerce website, see what you can create and what attracts customers.
1. Infographics
When we create infographics, the share statistics tend to skyrocket – even boosting shares by 300% over a standard blog post! Infographics have the power to grab the attention of more people than you ever thought was possible. Contently discovered that infographics have a higher chance of being read until the end of the post — a goal we want for all of our content.
One of the reasons myself and the rest of the Digital PR Ninjas love infographics is that you can be so creative. We’ve created some amazing infographics for a variety of clients — from accountants to garden furniture eCommerce websites. Infographics are bright and give you the information in bitesize amounts. They are memorable and super easy to understand.
2. Photos
Photos seem like an obvious visual to place into an article. Yet, I’m often surprised by how many articles I read without photos. Articles with images receive 94% more views (this data is presented in an infographic because they know what works!) A photo doesn’t even need to be fancy or arty. Even a stock image can grab somebody’s attention or break up a particularly long piece of text. There are lots of free image websites such as Pixaby which have a variety of quality images to use.
This image above was free, yet it’s still mesmerizing and enticing!
3. Videos
All eCommerce digital marketing strategies need to think about how they can use videos. Although Google is the most visited site in the world, YouTube comes a close second. People are watching more videos now than ever before.
For eCommerce in particular, videos have a huge impact on user experience. 50% of customers have more confidence in a product after watching a video and 31% of people bought the product after watching the video. The way we shop for products has changed completely. In a shop, you can pick items up, feel them and check every nook and cranny. Bring this experience to the user in a video.
Simply Beach does this really well. It includes very short videos (under 15 seconds) of models turning around in the swimwear so you can see what it looks like from the back. Simple, easy to make, but very effective.
4. Graphical Data
IT lessons in school were always more fun when you got to make a pie chart. Why? Because it was visual and colourful. The same is true when you’re an adult. We like things that are visual and colourful.
Graphical data works for the same reason that infographics do. People like visual things. If you have some dry data or something which has been reported on time and time again, make it interesting by putting it into graphics.
There is a lot of data out there about climate change. But, Bloomberg turned the data into a captive graph which develops as you scroll further down the page. The bounce rate for this page will be very low, as it encourages you to keep scrolling and gain more information.
5. Call to Action
A call to action (CTA) is a crucial part of every website and there are always ways to write an awesome CTA. But, as well as making your CTA enticing, emotive and beneficial to your audience, you can make it visual. Use colour, make it bold and make it impossible for users to overlook.
The Storage Equipment Experts website has a great CTA on the homepage. Placed in a blue box, it simply tells users that they can get a free checklist by adding their email address.
6. Memes
There are so many memes on the internet and people love them. Back in August 2016, the term ‘meme’ was searched more on Google than ‘Jesus,’ who usually dominates Google searches.
Kermit the Frog has taken particular fame in memes because he’s cheeky, funny and relatable. People enjoy a good laugh in an article, so don’t be afraid to use a meme in a blog post or digital PR campaign. You can even make your own. For example, I created this one and shared it on social media when I lived in China. It got a lot of attention and engagement.
7. Step by Step Visual Instructions
When you buy a bed from Ikea, it probably won’t come in one piece. I’ve spent far too many hours of my life trying to put together an Ikea bed. However, the step-by-step instructions make it much easier and the visuals help immensely. Without the visual instructions, I’d be lost.
The same logic applies to certain blog posts. Yet surprisingly, a lot of websites with instructions don’t have photos. Some have replaced photo instructions with videos. But, if you don’t have the capacity to make videos, step-by-step photos are essential. If you’re making a step-by-step nail art article, add photos. If you’re writing a post about how to setup a WordPress account, include screenshots. The visuals not only help the user get to their end goal, but it makes the page more interesting, too.
