social media contentDid you know that, according to Business of Apps, there are over 1 billion users on Instagram worldwide? Additionally, it’s been estimated that Instagram created $20 billion worth of ad revenue in 2019, which is more than Facebook did ($70 billion). What do these statistics demonstrate? That pictures really can go a long way to boost the effectiveness of a business’s social media content.

If you’re thinking of using images in your social media marketing strategy, then you might not be sure where to start. After all, there are so many competitors out there, using different types of images to stand out. How do you make your business stand out? Not knowing which strategies are most effective can mean you feel overwhelmed or stressed.

That’s why we’ve put together this article. In it, you’ll learn everything you need to know about images as content on social media.

Finally, you can get attention from your ideal customer and make more money than ever. Read on to learn more.

Images Improve Engagement

If you’ve only been posting images on Instagram, then it’s time to start posting images on all of your business’s social media profiles. Facebook posts that include photos are far more effective at getting attention, and social media posts with images get more engagement, too. This is probably because the brain can identify an image in at least 13 milliseconds. We’re hard-wired to take in images. So why not take advantage of this and include images in as many of your posts as possible?

Images Help With Memory

Images also make the memory more powerful. While people can only remember 10% of some information they’ve learned after 72 hours have gone by, they’ll remember 65% of it over 3 days if there’s an image that accompanies the information. If you want to share some information with your audience, include images in your marketing plan. Put together a social media calendar so that you make sure you’re posting them regularly.

Showing Parts of the Body Is Powerful

When you’re putting together your social media strategy and deciding which images to post on Instagram or Facebook, it can help to know which types of images are the most powerful. One of these is showing parts of the body, such as an ankle or hand. Why is this so effective? It makes it possible for people who see the image to imagine that they themselves are in the image. For example, if you sell fashionable watches and you show the watch worn on someone’s wrist, the person looking at the image could imagine that they’re wearing it themselves.

When you use the image of a face, this alienates your audience. So focus on showing parts of the body when you post images. Keep in mind that these photographs are still more effective than posting a picture without a person at all.

Having a Social Media Content Goal Makes a Difference

When you’re creating a social media post, it will help you focus and find the right image to post by having a goal. There are four different types of goals that can be useful to you: to inspire, to provoke, to educate, or to entertain. When you’re taking a photograph or creating an image with the goal to inspire, you want to uplift your viewers, encourage them, or evoke emotion in them. As for the provocation goal, you want to surprise your viewers and prompt them to take an action. When you educate your viewers, you’re sharing information with them and establishing your authority in your industry. Finally, when you’re entertaining your viewers, you’re spreading goodwill and making bringing smiles to their faces.

By setting up a goal for each photography or design session, you’ll already be heading in the right direction when creating images. Depending on your business, industry, and customers’ personalities, you might do a mix of all of these or choose one type of content goal that you mostly aim toward when putting together your marketing strategy.

Four Qualities Are the Most Effective

In addition to having set goals for the images you take, it helps to know which qualities will get the most attention from your audience. The four qualities that are most effective when posting images are ingenuity, liveliness, clarity, and brightness. Ingenuity is probably the trickiest of these to master, as you have to be both creative and figure out a way to show off your brand. Do a brainstorming session with your team to come up with fun, original ideas that can show off your business. As for the other three qualities, it might be worth hiring a professional photographer or designer to create your images. However, you might be able to find some images that include these features on a stock images website.

Grid Lines and Symmetry Work Well

When preparing your images to post on social media, use grid lines. These will make it possible for your images to follow the precept of thirds, making your images more visually appealing and balanced. The focus of the image should be in the middle where the lines cross. Additionally, remember to use symmetry. It’s a simple trick, but people find it visually appealing, too.

Need More Information?

Now that you’ve learned everything you need to know about images as social media content, you might need additional information. Maybe you want to learn about how to put together a social media calendar. Or maybe you want to learn about creating other types of content.

Whatever information you need, we can help. At Source Group, we’re experts when it comes to digital marketing strategy. We also offer digital marketing solutions. To learn more about how we can help you, contact us now.