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We live in a visual society – from television ads, to billboards, pictures can communicate a message instantly. The popular phrase is that a picture is worth a thousand words, and while a thousand words may be a jumbled message in terms of your content marketing and business writing, visual content is worth one powerful story.
Although traditional social marketing has been in the form of written content, visual content may not only be the most engaging social marketing now, it may be the future of business writing and content overall. The data backs up its popularity – engagement increases 86% with videos on landing pages. Business writing posts with visual content receive 94% more engagement than those without proving that consumers are more likely to click on a business page with an image. The question isn’t if or why your business should have visual content. The question is how soon and what kind. After all, 89% of online marketers already use, or are planning on using visual marketing in the future.
Two great types of visual content to add to your business writing are:
Infographics
Infographics are used 19% of the time as visual content in business writing. They tell a unique, powerful story in compact visual form. With an engaging infographic, your business gets the best of both worlds – the needed visuals that are easy to share on Facebook and Twitter, and a story for your brand.
The difference between infographics and other types of static visual content is space. An infographic isn’t necessarily bound by an image size, but rather, how long it takes to appropriately convey your story. Infographics are also great at conveying complex sets of data in a form that’s easily digestible for your audience and customers. They can range from statistics, to concepts, to models, to cartoons, to timelines, only bound by the story and imagination of your business writing.
Stock images
Stock images are a double edged sword. On one hand, using a stock image to represent your business writing is better than using no image. Stock images bound aplenty, and your business can purchase them from Getty or Shutterstock. Once you purchase your image, it’s your to use how you see fit.
But that could be seen as a drawback for your business writing. Stock photos are not tailored specifically to your content and can appear more general and impersonal if you don’t choose an appropriate image. While infographics directly correlate to your content (and often is your own content), stock images must be curated to represent the topic at hand. For example, if you are business writing about real estate, then the stock image must correlate with something to do with buying or selling houses. When curated correctly, stock images flow seamlessly with its written content.
Regardless of whether your business writing is strictly written content or it incorporates visual images, the key is engagement. And most of the time, the content of your topic will choose the form. For more about how to incorporate visual content into your business writing, contact Nao Media to discuss your options.
