Did you know that visual social media content gets more engagement and shares than text as far as social media content goes?
How true is this with your posts? Are they talking about your business and sharing your content?
Do you need to breathe new life into your content strategy and word-of-mouth tactics?
You don’t have to create elaborate campaigns to increase your follower base or drive up engagement and visibility for your business. Visual content no matter what form of media they are in can be used to catch the eye and engage people in your message. They can also be used to add context and meaning to a story, post or data.
Whether you have an important message to convey or just want to stand out from the crowd, visual social media content is the way to go.
In this article you’ll discover 10 ways you can use visual content to connect with your followers and add value to them.
I have also included an additional 4 advanced tactics which you can download at the end of the article.
1. Overlay Text On Images
One of the best ways to increase engagement for your blog content is to overlay blog post titles on images. Rebekah Radice does this consistently with her posts as you can see in the google+ post below.
2. Use Images That Illustrate
Simply Measured analysed Red Bull’s social media posts and found that photos only account for 5% of their posts. However in terms of engagement it delivered 90% of their interactions on Twitter and Facebook. Red Bull has built a brand around sponsoring and supporting extreme sports. So images that relate to this resonate with their audience like this post on their Facebook page.
3. Share Inspiring Quotes
Quotes and especially inspirational quotes have stood the test of time in terms of being sought after and shared. People love to be inspired and social media allows people to connect with and encourage each other. Engaging people with quotes can be as simple as psoting your favourite quote on Quozio, or using a simple back ground or relevant photo on which you overlay the text of your quote.
Addicted2success is a company that has built up a following by doing just this. Check out this post.
4. Highlight Your Products
Featuring your product in use by people or companies is a great way to build your social proof and engage customers as well as potential prospects. You can even take this further by adding a caption and including a website URL so people know where to go to make a purchase.
Zappos regularly features their products as this post does in relation to the labor day holiday.
Whole Foods Market makes meals easy for their customers with posts like these.
Service based business can also use this by including a portfolio of work done. Price Waterhouse Coopers features such posts on their Facebook account.
5. Make Your Content More Personable
It is very easy to get disconnected from your audience when sitting behind the logo and “business” image. It may be easier to make connections for companies with cool products like iPhones and cosmetics, but even businesses in serious industries like accounting, banking and insurance can add a human perspective to their business.
H&R Block for example does just focus on taxes and related boring content, but rather on things that matter to their audience.
Geico with their #SavingSundays, feature tips that makes money sense to households.
6. Show sneak peeks and behind the scenes
Share with your audience something they can’t get anywhere else or something that would ordinarily cost a lot of money to experience. It could be in the form of a photo, a video segment, exclusive photos, a big reveal etc. Taking them backstage or inviting them into the inner sanctum will build a bond with your customers and fans. Give them an insight into what happens behind closed doors.
Black milk clothing regularly posts behind the scenes insights like this one.
7. Share The Limelight With Office Staff
Every now and then you will want to show the magic behind the product or service you offer. In other words show off individuals in your team, so people can connect with a real person. Apps like Instagram make this easy with the ability to add a caption or greeting.
This post by LUSH cosmetics introducing their new customer care manager is just such an example with likes and comments.
8. Share Information or Data With Infographics
Infographics are essentially long form graphics that help people capture the key elements of the information or data through visual representation. In fact over 87% of visitors to a website tend to read text placed on infographics. They are quite popular on socially media platforms and provide an easy to digest perspective that people like.
9. Share weekly or daily tips
Tips can also be shared visually. People love to discover and share tips and hacks that make them more productive or make their everyday lives easier. Lifehacker is known for its tips that make living in the digital age easier. Posts like the one below tend to resonate very well with their audience.
Michael Hyatt uses a similar approach with some of his posts
10. Use Selfies Cautiously
The “selfie” as a word has made it into the dictionary and is the type of visual made famous by the likes of Ellen DeGeneres.
Thanks to celebrities like Ellen, the front facing camera on smartphones and peoples inexhaustible desire for attention, the selfie is a hot trend that you shouldn’t ignore but use cautiously.
Demian Farnworth from Copyblogger did this recently
Here’s Dustin Stout on his Selfie Movie Review
Get Creative
So there you have 10 ways to engage and grow your following with visual social media content.
No complex designs or elaborate campaigns are required to increase your follower base or drive up engagement and visibility for your business. It just needs a bit of creativity.
Are there other tactics that have worked for you if so let us know in the comments below.
As promised please find below 4 advanced tactics to grow your social media following.
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