There’s a saying that actions speak louder than words. But what you may not know is that visuals are also quite loud. And we say that because when we see a visual, we’re more likely to remember what we’ve seen rather than something we’ve heard.

Our minds are set to process visual content at an alarmingly fast rate. Don’t believe us? Well, a whopping 90% of information processed by the human brain is visual. (Brown, 2018)

Think back to ‘Show & Tell’ when you were younger. You would bring something to school, and talk about the story behind what you brought in. Using visuals on social media is similar in some aspects. You show your audience what you’re talking about and further explain it with the use of graphics.

So, why are visuals SO effective on social media? If you’re looking for a way to drive traffic and increase engagement, this one’s for you. Let’s delve in a little deeper and explain further. Get ready to immerse yourself in the world of visual content.

Speak Volume Without Words

Sometimes when we look at a piece of information in a visually appealing way, it can be a lot easier to understand. Visuals are pretty much just an engaging way of telling a story. Our brains make more sense of stories rather than a list of facts. Why? Because we’re able to take similarities between the experience we’re hearing about and compare it to our own. Using visuals gives you the ability to communicate more information across in an effective way, allowing it to linger in the reader’s mind. Without that visual component, your message may not be heard. We know it’s ironic, considering you can’t actually hear what you see. But in this instance, it works.

Attention, Please

Getting your audience’s attention is step number one when trying to level up your social media game. Although it sounds easy, it can prove to be incredibly difficult. How long do you spend trying to come up with ways to get your audience to stop scrolling and engage with your posts? Well, you can stop pondering now. Because it all lies in the visuals that you create. And all the colours and infographics you choose to use play an incredibly important role, despite what you may think. The messages you put out come across a lot faster and become a lot easier to understand. It’s the perfect way to grab your audience’s attention within a short window of time.

Like, Share & Subscribe

Images. Videos. Memes. These are all things that we’ve come to know and love. And when we see a good visual, we of course go ahead and share it with our friends and family because let’s admit it, new content is like a new hot piece of gossip. And everyone we know needs to hear about it. If your audience relates to your content, you’ll find your engagement increasing easily just from word of mouth. It’s a great way to expose yourself.

Simplicity

Who here is a culprit of staring into the oblivion that is a whiteboard or PowerPoint presentation? Come on, raise your hand. Don’t be shy. We know you’ve had a moment where you’ve blanked out into space. We’re not judging. It happens to everyone. And it’s okay. It just shows how slabs of text and complex information are sometimes difficult to grasp, and that the key to breaking these walls down is by taking those concepts and turning them into digestible pieces of content. A good way of doing that is by yes, you guessed it, turning the content into visuals.

Tug At Those Heart Strings

Think about the news anchor on your nightly news segment. Don’t you think a lot of the time they’re able to make you feel a certain way about a topic you barely even know about? How about all those dog pictures we see online? They instantly pull at our heart strings and next thing we know we’ve just watched a ten-minute compilation of dog videos. Evoking an emotional connection within your audience is pivotal in holding your audience’s attention and visuals can do just that. Your audience will associate the emotions they feel when they see your posts, with your overall brand.

There we have it. Just a few reasons we think you should be incorporating visuals into your feed regularly. Take advantage of using them on your social feeds whenever you can. Seriously. Images. Videos. GIFs. The whole lot. Visuals add a different edge to whatever you publish. It’ll only make positive changes to your social media game. And you know, if you’re needing that extra hand, we’re always up for a chat. We love any sort of hot beverage, so let’s tee up a time and lock it in.