The Power of Images in Digital Marketing
When a consumer lands on your site or social media page, countless research studies tell us they’re deciding in mere seconds, sometimes even a fraction of a second, if your content is for them. If, in just a heartbeat, you can’t grab their attention, they’ll click away, back to their search. It doesn’t matter if you have the perfect product, solution, or content if no one sees it because you weren’t able to capture their attention instantly.
Marketing in a Google World
With Google analytics measuring everything from general clicks, to bounce and conversion rates, to the tiniest detail like if a consumer uses the back button while on your site, it probably seems like metrics are a constantly shifting target.
But really, it all boils down to a couple basic things. First, is your content and website attracting consumers to click into your site, post, or article from a search engine? Then, is your content fulfilling the promise you made in those search results—that is, are consumers finding the info they were looking for and staying engaged?
How does a company stop the click-aways?
Stage right: enter images and other dynamic content! When you’ve only got seconds to make an impression and convince a consumer you’ve got what he’s looking for, images are a great way to do it. We’ve all heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words” and in digital marketing, there’s a whole lot of truth to it. A picture or an infographic tells the consumer what your content is about before he’s even read a word.
A high-quality image that is immediately noticeable not only conveys what the rest of the content in the post is about, but it also gives a strong impression about your business in general. Grainy, low-res image? Savvy consumers will make negative assumptions about your business. Worst case? They’ll think your business is unprofessional or that your product is lower quality than a similar product on another site that features glossy, appealing images.
Get their attention and keep it
When a consumer chooses to click on your site from the search results, there were probably a few other results that also caught his eye. The moment your content stops holding his attention is the second he’ll click back to the search engine results to see if one of the other options might be more relevant. A great picture might get his attention, but follow that with a 1,000 word wall of text and see how fast he retreats.
Instead, break up articles into short paragraphs with subheadings, quote boxes, charts and graphs, and you guessed it, images! For a short blog or social media post, one image is good, but for very informative, longer articles, the more images, the better.
Not to worry, that doesn’t have to translate into hiring a professional photographer! Besides pictures of the exact product you’re talking about, other images can do the trick as well. Think funny memes, word clouds, colorful charts, and generic images that connect to your brand or message.
What not to do
Believe it or not, it is possible to go overboard with images. While some blogs and sites are built around images more than words, by and large, you want pictures to complement and emphasize your written content, not the other way around. If you have an 800-word blog post, but it scrolls on forever because you’ve added so many images, readers might not make it all the way through.
Another way to go wrong incorporating images is to use the same one all the time. Your goal with a blog or social media account is to build brand loyalty and bring your customers back over and over. But If you use the same image, the returning consumer is likely to assume they’ve read it and skip it entirely.
Probably the biggest way images hurt our content rather than help is when they’re poor quality. Low-res, blurry, grainy images will make a statement about your brand that you just don’t want said, even subconsciously. You wouldn’t take out a blurry, sad-looking billboard on the side of the interstate in your city, so don’t put one up online, either!
Need a little help?
Now that you know the power of images in digital marketing, are you a little at sea when it comes to putting them, and other online marketing power tools into action for yourself? That’s where we come in! From helping you keep a vibrant presence on social media to incorporating expert content (with impactful images, of course!) into your site, The Get Smart Group can help you achieve marketing success.
