Over the last 12 months, content has become the cool, hip kid on the block.
Comprising of everything from blogs and e-books, through to social media posts and viral videos, marketers can’t get enough of it… and for good reason. It produces results!
But an often overlooked aspect of great content is visual graphics. These branded images, short videos, infographics and more also fall under the content banner, and should be a permanent addition to any content marketing strategy.
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and people are more likely to absorb visual content. Particularly with the copious amount of information we are exposed to on a daily basis, it becomes hard to absorb everything, so the simpler and more concise the information, the better for the targeted audience.
Only 10% of people remember what they hear, 20% remember what they read and 80% of people remember what they see. (Source)
This means content teams must ensure they are creatively presenting information with more visual appeal, and coming up with campaigns that lend themselves to pictorial and graphical ideas.
Infographics are one of the more popular pieces of visual content around. They’re not only easy on the eye, but also educate the audience in a simple and effective manner. A good infographic has a consistent and sequential flow of information that is presented in easy to absorb facts. Take a look at some snippets of my favourites below:
What makes them so good? They tell a story quickly in an entertaining way, with useful facts to draw from.
Here are a few quick tips to get your visual content in tip top shape.
- Less is more
The biggest flaw is trying to fit in way too much information; it very quickly stops being effective. The idea of visual content is to be clever with how the information is presented, otherwise you might just as well write an article or blog.
You want your readers to remember what you are presenting to them, and keeping it simple and to the point means they are more likely to absorb and retain the information.
- Get factual
Decide on a timeline of events or a process for how you want your audience to read the information. Then, pull out only the key facts and present only this through a series of illustrations, graphics or videos.
You might have a ton of data, but only use what’s relevant and easy to comprehend.
- Colours and content
Colours matter a lot when it comes to visual content. Ensure your graphics are suited to the type of information you are presenting.
Brighter red, blue and green shades are more likely to stand out and get noticed, but darker colours such as black or navy can be just as effective in representing sophistication or something concerning.
Hopefully now you have a bit more of an understanding about presenting visual content. Try and incorporate these tips into your content marketing strategy, and to help you come up with cool and creative ways to present information to educate and inspire.
If you need help with your visual content please get in touch with me at [email protected]