Visual marketing is no longer just a fad — it’s a renaissance. We have apps to create and edit almost every visual format, including photos, infographics, GIFs, and short videos. That’s because visuals are essential to how we process information. In fact, 30 percent of the human brain is engaged in the task of processing visual information and 90 percent of all human communication is practically non-verbal.
Here, I’ll focus on the best platforms you can use to create and share visuals that attract and engage customers.
Here are the top four social networks where visual marketing thrives:
Instagram
According to a comScore report, the number of mobile users surpassed the number of desktop Internet users in 2014. There is no doubt that Instagram is one of the top best visual based platforms for visual content on mobile.
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This social media network started as a photo editing platform where users could apply cool filters on photos and share them with friends. This sharing of visual content is an established part of human behavior. Or, as Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram, said:
“If you look all the way back to the way people communicated initially, there were pictograms, hieroglyphics and cave paintings. Now, we all use emojis and are constantly taking and sharing pictures.”
Now, major brands use the platform to showcase photos and videos, and to connect with their audiences.
Not sure Instagram is right for your brand? Dissent all you want, but the numbers speak for themselves:
There are more than 95 million photos shared daily on Instagram.
Over 300 million people are use the platform every day.
Instagram has the highest level of brand engagement at 4.21 percent.
Because Instagram is based on mobile, it’s easier to to access and use and is particularly appealing to millennials. Brands like Mercedes, GoPro, Warby Parker, and even NASA started to use Instagram as one of the core networks to connect with their audiences. And Instagram is not only for the photo format; you can easily upload 60 seconds videos.
The Facebook-owned platform is well known for its community, where Instagrammers with influence can help your brand to reach new communities, connect with new users and create a good relationship with your prospective customers.
Snapchat
Snapchat has 100 million daily users, including 41 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds in the United States. Snapchat is changing the content quality game and is raising the bar to the next level. Being real and consistent with your content can make or break your success on Snapchat.
Or, as Gary Vaynerchuk said:
“It doesn’t have to be perfect, it has to be real!”
Snapchat launched a new kind of advertising: the geofilter feature. It is a location-based graphic that users can place over their photo snaps. In fact, Snapchat has rolled out a few new advertising options for businesses. Even without advertising, many brands are seeing huge success on Snapchat, giving them an edge in connecting with millennials.
SlideShare
Let’s say that you work for a brand that is creating and sharing a lot of valuable information for its industry. Maybe you do monthly research or you have colleagues that are speaking at several conferences every month.
With more than 70 million professional users, SlideShare may be a good platform for you to share your company’s’ presentations. SlideShare has five times more traffic from business owners than other popular websites.
When I started using SlideShare, I only had a few followers. But after I uploaded 14 presentations, I saw an increase in my number of followers, gained more than 270,000 views, and got featured on SlideShare’s homepage!
SlideShare is a great network for growing your B2B marketing strategy, using visual content such as presentations, infographics, and videos.
If you are interested in uploading content to SlideShare but don’t know what types of content create, consider a few categories, such as educational, product launches, blog post highlights, quotes, curated content from an event, reports and statistics. You can also upload content on SlideShare, share it with your community, and get an embed code to use on your website.
Pinterest
Pinterest is not just for the desktop users: 80 percent of Pinterest traffic comes from mobile devices. With more than 100 million users, Pinterest is a great way to connect with your audience on a platform that is sensitive to visual content.
Keep in mind that visuals with step-by-step guides have a better engagement and get more clicks on Pinterest. And to make it more appealing, you can write a 150 to 300 word description to help the user understand better what they should do.
Conclusion
Social Media gave the regular user the power to create his own media platform. With Twitter you can get easily to the news and share it with your community. With Instagram you can share immediately via photo or video attractive moments that are in front of you. With Snapchat you can create real content and show behind-the-scenes moments from your brand. With SlideShare you can create opportunities to show your audience valuable information from your industry, and with Pinterest you can create step-by-step guides that will help your users.
Used together or separately, each of these networks can help you take your visual marketing game to the next level.
Robert Katai is the Visual Marketer and Brand Evangelist at Bannersnack, a professional banner design app. He writes regularly on about marketing, social media, and content marketing, and he is passionate about visual marketing, Instagram, and the future of digital marketing.
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