Content Marketing – Kimberling | (BUSA40880) – UCSD Extension Jennifer McArtor (Student Blog Post) | 7/18/16

   

Content Marketing – Kimberling | (BUSA40880) – UCSD Extension Jennifer McArtor (Student Blog Post) | 7/18/16

   

Using visual content is nothing new but these days it is the thing you must do. Whether you're a blogger, marketer, brand, entrepreneur or business who needs pretty pictures for their blog, website, social media posts or infographics, you need visual content to enhance your message.

Visual content is very powerful and helps communicate information in a way that the consumer can understand and will help your information stick in the brain of the end user.

http://thenextweb.com/dd/2014/05/21/importance-visual-content-deliver-effectively/#gref

Content Marketing – Kimberling | (BUSA40880) – UCSD Extension Jennifer McArtor (Student Blog Post) | 7/18/16

   

What is visual content?Visual content is the images, video and/or graphics that your end user views, interacts with, takes in and consumes in the following formats: photography, videos, motion, and interactive graphics, slide shows, infographics, charts, graphs, memes, cartoons, digital publishing and e-books.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/86/52/16/8652166d4fab1f4ccb54c5238705c35c.jpg

Content Marketing – Kimberling | (BUSA40880) – UCSD Extension Jennifer McArtor (Student Blog Post) | 7/18/16

   

http://www.pammarketingnut.com/wp-content/uploads/iStock_000026751594Small1.jpg

How and why does visual content work for you and/or your brand?In the past brands published traditional content marketing by using print ads, created press releases and sales materials. With the new platforms, visual content is more important than ever and can deliver content over various channels that reaches far beyond print content marketing or press releases of the past.

Consumers are looking for: • An authentic relationship with a brand. • Great products and services• Excellent customer service• Dynamic company culture• Good company values• Brand personality • Engaging visual content• Brand they can trust

Content Marketing – Kimberling | (BUSA40880) – UCSD Extension Jennifer McArtor (Student Blog Post) | 7/18/16

   

What makes visual content successful and effective when communicating with your audience. Attraction: Is the content attractive, stimulating, and engaging? Does it grab the audience attention?

Comprehension: Is the consumer able to interpret the visual information instantly with little to no effort and understand and engage with it?

Recall: Is the visual content memorable and will the consumer be able to recall it in a few days after initial interaction.

Visual content cancome in many forms.

The question you have to askyourself when choosing what

type of visual content, you wantto use is, what is the message and

what are the goals andobjectives for the content?Then you need to choose the

type of visual content thatbest serves the purpose.

Content Marketing – Kimberling | (BUSA40880) – UCSD Extension Jennifer McArtor (Student Blog Post) | 7/18/16

   

How does visual content support your marketing efforts?It is important that your visual content supports your marketing effort in each stage of the customer journey. The visual content reaches specific audiences and customers and helps them move along the path from awareness to engagement to purchase to advocate.

Awareness stage of the customer journey: Visual content needs to be informative and/or entertaining and must have mass appeal. It captures the attention of your target audience and helps them move into the consideration stage of the journey.

Consideration, build your brand's credibility and trust: Once you have the trust of the consumer the next step is to engage and educate the consumer on the benefits of your product or service.

Call to action: Take your customer from engagement to purchase.

Advocate: Once you have the loyal customer the next step is to make them your advocate and encourage them to spread the word about your brand and product or service by sharing your visual content.

Content Marketing – Kimberling | (BUSA40880) – UCSD Extension Jennifer McArtor (Student Blog Post) | 7/18/16

   

Depending on your brand or service you will have many choices of visual platforms to use.Not all platforms are right for every brand so study your target market carefully before choosing the best platforms to engage with your audience.

https://blog.crazyegg.com/2016/06/21/a-better-way-to-track-roi/

Content Marketing – Kimberling | (BUSA40880) – UCSD Extension Jennifer McArtor (Student Blog Post) | 7/18/16

   

Track ROI and what is your reach? How do you track your ROI on your visual content marketing and what metrics do you use? There is no simple answer to this question. Likes, shares, clicks are all great things, but how engaged are the end users really?

https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/singular-blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/18102711/ROI-01-1280x800.png

Likes are engagement with a specific post or page but it is not guaranteed that the end users will connect with the content beyond clicking the like button.

Shares are powerful because an end user has endorsed the page or post but it still doesn't guarantee that the shared content will be viewed or reach new end users.

Reach: the number of people who see your visual content, even if it is only for a second or two. This means very little to the real ROI.

Conversions: visual content that had a call to action that the consumer engaged with or took action, like signing up or purchasing. Conversions are the best way to track ROI

Content Marketing – Kimberling | (BUSA40880) – UCSD Extension Jennifer McArtor (Student Blog Post) | 7/18/16

   

Source

Visual content statisticsContent that is colorful increases viewer's willingness to read by 80% Source

46% of marketing professionals say photography is critical to their marketing and storytelling efforts >

60% of marketers predict the use of infographics will increase in 2016 compared to 2015.

Source

Source

Content Marketing – Kimberling | (BUSA40880) – UCSD Extension Jennifer McArtor (Student Blog Post) | 7/18/16

   

Source

Visual content statistics (cont.)

73% of content creators plan to create more engaging visual content in 2016 and 55% plan to make it a priority to create engaging visual content 2016 Source

Content Marketing – Kimberling | (BUSA40880) – UCSD Extension Jennifer McArtor (Student Blog Post) | 7/18/16

   

ConclusionIn today's marketing environment visual content is not a fad, it is critical. Visual content is the most powerful way to get your message in front of your target audience. By using engaging visual content you can share your brand's voice in a way that is more interactive and meaningful than ever before.

If content is King, visual content is the CROWN!