Images have always been one of the essential mediums for online marketing. Roughly 25% of the global population currently has an active Instagram account, which means around 3.8 billion people a day view images online. Facebook posts with images receive 2.3 times more engagement, and on average, Pinterest, a visual-focused platform, allows advertisers to reach over 169 million people. There is no question that static image content is still vital for growing your business online. Here are a few things to consider when planning out your business’s social media content strategy.
Prioritize High-Quality Images
The current Instagram algorithm is designed to be un-hackable; however, one thing has reigned true without a doubt — high-quality media performs better. If your business has the means to hire a professional photographer, it is almost always worth the investment. Considering that 75% of online shoppers rely on product photos when determining their purchases, strong and high-quality images can make or break it for your e-commerce business.
Seasonal Content is Still King
With Halloween around the corner, it is a perfect example of what type of images you should use to increase your online engagement. The possibilities are endless when planning out your brand’s monthly content, from pumpkins, ghosts, and graveyards, to costumes, candy, and horror movies. Seasonal content is not always vital to your online growth, but it can be a great way of creating relatable content to let your audience know you care and are aware of the world around you — not just posting to increase sales. Authenticity goes a long way in this over-saturated digital world. Here are some examples of seasonal content we created for our clients this month.
Stories Are Here to Stay
Over the past few years, we have seen stories pop up on almost every relevant social media platform. Starting with Snapchat back in 2013, stories were used as a great way to break through the clutter and showcase more personal moments in a 24-hour period with your followers. Slowly but surely, other platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and even LinkedIn have adopted the story feature. Stories should be considered a crucial part of your marketing with 58% of people surveyed saying they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it on a story.Over 4 million businesses are already using story ads every month.
In recent years, video content has become the most popular medium for going viral online, but that doesn’t mean that static content is still not necessary for your company's online growth. To ensure your business is using images strategically online, make sure to
- Prioritize high-quality images
- Utilize seasonal content
- Posts stories often
For help with your brand’s online presence, schedule a free consultation with us.
Related Posts
3 Common Commenters & How to Respond
Engagement across your social media platforms can be broken down into 3 basic categories of commenters. Speaking from professional experience, I've found that the first step to great engagement is to spot the spam bots. You'll usually notice their obviously auto-generated emoji responses. Once you take those out of the equation and focus on actual human interactions, the real marketing can begin. While every marketer will have a different approach on how best to respond to the three following categories of commenters, here's our advice:
Are You Making Yourself Digitally Available?
Are your potential clients able to reach you on the platforms they prefer to use?
Avoid Industry Jargon
On our way home from the marina a couple of days ago, I was given instructions to fend off the stern and when I asked what stern meant I was told to move aft. (Stern and aft in simpler terms mean back of the boat). This struggle to understand boating terminology is a great example of why jargon is a huge NO-NO for your social media marketing.