Strong visual content on social media encourages people to follow, like, comment, and engage with your brand online.

The brain processes visuals much faster than text, in fact research shows that 65% of people are visual learners and are therefore far more likely to absorb information in a visual form.

Visuals can also trigger a much stronger reaction in the viewer, visual stimuli, is much more likely to create an emotional response and it therefore makes sense that if visual content leads to an emotional response it is also much more likely to increase engagement.

In order to build stronger visual content through your social media and website, you should mix up the types of visuals you use so we’ve put together a list of the types of visuals available, use them across your social media and on your website or as a featured image on your blog.

We use Canva Pro to create our visuals but there are other out there that will be free to trial.

• Infographics, charts and graphs – an infographic uses imagery and charts with minimal text, giving an easy-to-understand overview of a topic. Use bold simple images and text with a strong contrast so visually easy to read.
• Stock images – If using stock photo images be careful about using commonly used images that a user will have seen multiple times. Can you use that image in a different way, try to think of creative ways to add a new twist, especially with stock images.  Also do read our blog on image licensing and make sure you are legally allowed to use the image: www.reddesk.co.uk/copyright-free-images-breach-licensing-rules
• Custom-made images – we’ve written in detail about the rules of graphic design when creating your own images and slides: https://www.reddesk.co.uk/graphic-design-rules-for-social-media/
• Cartoon & memes – ‘A meme is an idea, behaviour, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning’. A meme can be a video or a still image with added text or comment, but if using meme’s do make sure the reflect your brand, don’t crow bar them in just because everyone else is, do you remember the image of Bernie Saunders at the Biden inauguration, it did go viral but can fall flat if the connection between content & brand is not there.
• Videos – a great way to highlight your brand, video is by far the strongest visual medium, great to catch your viewer’s attention, but do check your video length as these differ on each platform, your Instagram video should be no more than 1 minute, but research shows that videos that are around 26 seconds receive the most engagements.
• Gifs – (a snippet of a video) can be an effective light-hearted but impactful visual, you can create a gif directly in Instagram by clicking on your profile picture then selecting ‘boomerang’ or you can easily download an app to your phone to create your gif. Play around & see what you can do: https://www.instagram.com/p/CUmv89mIvXE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Finding a variety of creative ways to mix up your visual content on your social media will boost your interaction and help your build your brand’s identity.