The Visual Influence for Engaging Content
Following last week’s insightful post on ‘The Language Influence for Engaging Content’ here at: https://outsideinlens.substack.com/p/the-language-influence-for-engaging; Outside In decided to delve some into another important influence for Engaging Content: The Visual Influence i.e. Imagery of the content presented and consumed
With this post, we dig deeper into the elements of visual influence that help build focused engagement for content of all types… Together then, both these posts would be a neat set of guidelines that content creators can keep in mind while creating content that grabs attention and sustains it… Let’s go!
Context – Human Perception is (dominantly) Visual
Over 90% of the daily processed information comes from visual receptors. The written language started and probably will end with pictures: drawings, hieroglyphs, icons, symbols. There are several factors that have made visual content so important in present days:
It is easier to understand, often beyond the cultural and linguistic barriers
It is shorter – and 95% recipients prefer short, visual, mobile-optimized content
Users have now the shortest attention span of all times – Recall the statistic from our previous post: 8.25 seconds (average human attention span)
Most people remember 80% of what they see and only 20% of what they read
Visual content is more likely to be shared across the respective platform, between friends, family and business partners. It is eye-catching and has a direct effect on human emotions
Last, but not least, the affordability of the needed hardware (by technological progress) and proliferation of the necessary software (very easy to use nowadays, even by the newcomers of the field) have made the production of visual content much easier and a lot cheaper
Through visual content, the brand is “humanized” and easier to relate with
There are three major types of Visual Content:
1) Illustrations, as any message conveyed by a static visual composition. This can consist of drawings, photos and, as a newer development, memes. In all of these the main part is the picture, accompanied by one or more pieces of text, all with great responsibilities in terms of marketing
2) Graphics, as collections of images and text, structured in a certain order and with a clear storyline. A modern kind consists of “Infographics”, which present large amounts of information in a graphical structure, sometimes with a visual “story” from the beginning to the end.
3) Videos, moving images in form of clips or short films which can tell a story or convey a certain message, preferably both. Important subtypes are vines (looping videos up to 6 seconds long) and gifs (looping slideshows of images, packed in a single file)
The Importance of Visual Content
Visual Content has become the most popular way to engage users online. With more content being generated every minute, marketers need to be creative to attract customers. That’s where visual communication comes in. Incorporating a visual in our content can cut through the noise online and make our content more memorable. The goal isn’t just to attract users to our content—we also want them to engage with it and with our brand. Visuals add interactivity to content and improve brand retention. According to a Hotjar’s heatmap analysis of their own post, users spent more time focused on the image on their page than on anything else
On average, users read only 20-28% of the text on a webpage. But they retain 65% of the visual information they encounter. When consumers are confronted with huge blocks of text, they immediately clock it as a labor-intensive process. On the other hand, adding visuals gives the eyes a break and adds context to the information. So in the long run, visual content marketing improves engagement and conversion rates while reducing bounce rates
Popular Types/Illustrations of Visual Content
1) Data Visuals: On its own, data can be confusing and overwhelming, but data visuals can condense large amounts of information to share patterns and connections with users. This is why storytelling through data has become a mainstay in visual content marketing – Visuals are processed 60000X faster than text. The most popular TED Talks found that stories made up at least 65% of the content. Visuals make data more accessible for everyone
2) Flipbooks: Visual content creation is about dynamism—this means turning static media into something interactive and engaging. That’s what flipbooks can do! Online flipbooks are a great way to turn static PDF documents into dynamic and interactive content. They are easy to create, and they improve the viewing experience for users
Another convenience of flipbooks lies in how easy it is to share them online and on multiple platforms: we can send them via direct links, embed into a website, or share on social media in a few clicks
3) Infographics: Infographics have gained popularity because they share varied types of information in extremely visual ways
They do this by combining text, images, data visuals, icons, and fonts…
I personally think that they are going out of style!? A question to my readers – What are your views on the utility or demise of Infographics? It would be great to hear your views and experiences…
4) Video Live Streams: The world has moved online due to the global pandemic. This has made live streams more necessary than ever before, according to latest video marketing trends. Nothing captures the success of Livestreaming content better than Alibaba’s Singles Day (11.11) Sales every year. Shoppers watched over 38 million hours of livestreams on Douyin during Singles' Day 2022. Check more compelling statistics here at: https://queue-it.com/blog/singles-day-statistics/
5) Memes: Memes have become an online language of their own. Memes help to lighten the mood, which is why people enjoy them so much. Businesses have often believed that they should appear aloof and serious but this no longer works. It’s more important now for businesses to create personal connections with their customers, and memes can help them do that. Since memes are already recognizable and tell a story without explanation, brands can leverage them to attract customers and build relationships
The Case for Visual Content Influence – Building Brand Trust on Social Media Community Groups
In a study published by MDPI and Research Gate focused on Social Media Community Groups (SMCGs), it was noted that they operate as a forum facilitating building a dialogue with potential consumers and attracting interest in the brand. While developing the technical features of the groups, such as segmentation and filtering of the information at the same time, especially focusing the information flow to the subject most relevant to consumers, such groups continue to remain important communication channels for brands, specifically focused on personalization. Focusing on specific subject matters brings together consumers of similar interests that are interested in and willing to engage with the content
SMCGs also expose particular behavioral qualities, such as satisfaction-driven engagement with the content created by the community, and boosting one’s self-confidence through belonging to an SMCG. Image-based content is popular due to its ability to attract consumer attention and to facilitate engagement; as many as 94% of consumers prefer image-based (read: visual-based) content to text-based content
Sources in the research literature claim that the (visual) content posted in the groups has a potential to change consumer attitude towards the brand and prompt them to buy producers goods
The model above shows the effect and impact of the video content characteristics (read: as visual influence) on the drivers of confidence and the impact of confidence drivers on the engagement
The photos in the video content examples below are taken from the free photo site unsplash.com. The author of the picture used in the first example is Markus Winkler, and the second picture was created by Tom the Photographer. The graphic element used in the logo was taken from the graphic element website flaticon.com; its author is Pixel perfect
The parameters for the video content were examined for the Survey –
This video content was then surveyed with customers on 3 blocks of observations:
Assessment in terms of 4 triggers of trust in the brand: video content quality and informativeness, fun of the video content, attractiveness of the video content and identity of the video content
Assessment of the consumer’s desire to be engaged in the brand-created video content on the SMCG, which reflects the triggers of confidence in the brand through 3 engagement variables: cognitive engagement, emotional engagement and engagement by behavior
Statements designed to clarify whether or not the variables of engagement in the brand-created content in the social media community groups actually reflect confidence in the brand
The statements used in all units were rated according to a 5-point Likert Scale
After a series of Hypothesis & Data Analysis Methods, the findings were as follows:
The findings of the multidimensional linear regression analysis confirmed three principal and eleven partial hypotheses. Three principal hypotheses were partly confirmed, while five partial hypotheses were rejected. The outcomes confirmed the importance of video content in building trust in brand and consumer engagement in SMCGs. The findings of the survey also confirmed a strong relationship between the engagement of the consumer and the confidence in the brand in SMCGs
In Conclusion
Engaging visual is a must in the modern marketing world. Wide access to mass communication devices, with extended visuals enhancements, have made visual content an important point of interest for any publisher, on all media channels. The decreasing costs and huge variety of types are premises for an easy and effective marketing investment, with strong benefits for any company and its brands. Loyal customers are achieved and kept through visual content; the lack of it in the general marketing strategy of any producer is a question mark that can lead to a diminishing market share
References and Sources
1) Research Gate Paper – The Influence of a Brand's Visual Content on Consumer Trust in Social Media
Community Groups: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354653327_The_Influence_of_a_Brand's_Visual_Content_on_Consumer_Trust_in_Social_Media_Community_Groups
2) Research Gate Paper – Marketing Engagement Through Visual Content: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290084483_Marketing_Engagement_Through_Visual_Content
3) PWC Paper – The Power of Visual Communication: https://www.pwc.com.au/the-difference/the-power-of-visual-communication-apr17.pdf
4) 7 Types of Visual Content to attract Customers: https://flippingbook.com/blog/marketing-tips/best-visual-content-to-attract-customers
5) Infographic on Infographics:
https://digitalchalk.uk/?IN&redirect
, http://www.ivan.cash/infographic-of-infographics
6) Alibaba Singles Day Livestreaming Statistics: https://queue-it.com/blog/singles-day-statistics/
7) Memes Corporate Examples: https://casereads.com/meme-marketing-memes-and-brands-a-marriage-story/