Social media is the medium of the moment, the year and the coming decade. Forget how it exploded over the past 10 years – as they say: ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet’.
Above all else, social media is social – it is there to attract, engage, and start a conversation. And the most reliable, successful way to do that is using visual content.
So here for you are 10 elements to create a strong visual brand on social media.
1. Keep your content visually interesting
According to HubSpot, visual content is 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content.As we are talking about visual content, it may seem unusual to begin this list with a section that says ‘keep it visual’ but take a look at any number of posts – images or video – on social media today and you’ll see most of them are just not interesting.
Take a look for yourself and you’ll soon find them.
Your visual content will not get shared if it’s not worth sharing. Make it vibrant – make it energetic, make it interesting.
2. Keep your visual content relevant
As we have discussed elsewhere, you should have a description of your ideal customer avatar before you start your social media campaign. Everything you publish should be relevant to and aimed at that person.
You’re not trying to engage everybody on the internet – you are seeking contact with your potential customers (your avatar) and so whatever you post must be relevant to them – and their wants or their needs.
3. Keep all visual content high-quality
It is better to post no content than low (quality) content.
Your posts are a reflection of your brand – your company identity – and so posting something below par (even a single image) can have a lasting impact that you’d rather it didn’t.
As well as reflecting on your brand, if your visual content is not high-quality then, again, it will not get shared. Any comment you get from your followers is likely to be a negative one on the quality of the post, rather than on its content.
The old maxim of any publicity is good publicity is on the way out – social media can be a very unforgiving place.
4. Keep your content in line with your brand
Even high-quality visual content will not work for you if it doesn’t fit with your brand image.
Contrasting content will only confuse your followers and customers, who will begin to question what you stand for if you put out content that does not reaffirm your brand image.
If you are wanting to take your brand in a new direction, that is a different matter and should be dealt with via a brand relaunch or refresh.
Don’t just start putting out random posts that don’t fit.
5. Keep your visual content informative
People love information (again, that is relevant to them) and imparting it visually is the most popular way of doing this.
Enter the infographic. Infographics are amazing images that can present a lot of information in a compact, visual way.
As long as the information is relevant and interesting (see above) then an infographic can be a great way to start a conversation, get feedback, increase interest or even just entertain.
Present it – and then start a conversation about it. Do you agree? Let us know in the comments below.
6. Keep your visual content emotional
Some of the best-shared social posts are ones that evoke a strong emotion – whether that is compassion, concern, or comedy.
We are all emotional beings at heart, and if something creates an emotional response in us then there is almost automatic engagement.
Emotions are also for sharing, which is why these posts are almost always the most shared ones!
Informative posts are useful, often necessary, but ones that generate an emotional response will usually perform the best.
And, if you can combine the two then you know you are on to a winner.
7. Keep your visual content clear
What we mean is – don’t overload your amazing visuals with too much text.
Text is a distraction – especially when we know that it is the visual that is the attraction. (we’re not talking about the text on an infographic, if that is what your post is, but rather any text you overlay on top of your image).
Facebook guidelines suggest keeping text to below 20% of the image – but in this case, less is always more.
So keep your text and your chatter for where it is most useful – which is not on your visual posts.
8. Get animated about your visual content
Animation can be a short, animated film but it can also be a photograph or graphics with a little movement in them.
For example, Canva, an online tool for producing graphics, have recently introduced animation because they understand that getting attention is often more than just a great image.
Movement catches the eye and immediately increases interest.
9. Get interactive with your visual content
As well as animation, social media posts can now be interactive. They can be made clickable – and sometimes different click points on the image or video can lead to different destinations (depending on the platform).
The scope for creativity for this is endless.
An image can invite viewers to click on their favourite… (fill in the blank here, with a product, style, colour or anything else you want).
Clickable video can give direction control to the viewer, in a series of ‘What happens next?’ interactions.
These are amazing ways to draw your followers in and interact with them on a whole new way.
Here’s a great example which you can interact with. Go ahead and control the camera – just use your mouse to drag the view around:
Splento has put together a brand audit package that will assess where you are at now and help you understand where you want to get to.
We can then map out a route for you to follow to help you get there.
For more information on this exciting service, take a look at our brand audit information.
If you already have a successful brand image, but feel it could perhaps do with a little freshening up to help propel your business to the next level, then contact Splento today and find out how to take your own first steps to refresh.
Take a look at this page for some amazing examples of companies that have done just that.
For further assistance with this or any other aspect of branding, contact Splento today.
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