Undoubtedly, website visuals are one of the most powerful digital assets. They help attract the audience’s attention, convey complex messages, and improve conversions. If you ask the marketing pros about the use of visuals in digital content, almost all of them will emphasize its importance. However, only a few can guide you about the right use of visuals.
These are the secrets that set apart successful websites from the ones loaded with unnecessary or poor-quality visuals.
The good news is you can discover all these tips and tactics in this article. Learning these proven techniques can help you pull the readers through your text.
Let’s get started!
Consider Your Goal and the Target Audience
You might have an impressive visual library. But before using them, make sure to consider your goal, as well as your audience. A poor understanding of the goal can detract visitors, portraying a negative brand image.
For instance, your objective is to show readers different variations of a single product and entice them to purchase. Uploading a single, static picture will not be helpful in this case. Neither will a video of the product’s manufacturing process be of value.
Instead, you can upload images of the product from all angles. This way, the audience will have a better understanding of the product’s physical features and, ultimately, result in more sales.
Likewise, understand the demographics of your target audience. Their age, culture, religious beliefs, and educational level will impact your selection criteria.
Take inspiration from Nike, an international sports apparel brand. Here is an image from its website for the Chinese audience:
Nike’s target market in China is young consumers interested in sports and fitness attire. But the brand is now focusing more on teenage girls as the ratio of young girls participating in sports is increasing in the country.
Therefore, they have shot pictures of teenage girls engaged in athletic activities while using Nike products. The target audience can resonate with the models and be more inclined to purchase.
Use Infographics for Sharing Stats
Another smart tactic is to use infographics when you want to share dry stats, long processes, or summarized information. Otherwise, your audience will find it hard to read the lengthy textual content and end up frustrated.
Infographics add interest and present information in an easily digestible manner. For instance, if you are comparing two processes, infographics can show the content in a side-by-side presentation, making it easier to understand.
Likewise, you can use a graphical representation to explain the relationship between two variables. Here is an example from Statista. See how it compares data to illustrate the most popular travel booking sites.
Upload Videos to Deliver Complex Information
When the information is complicated and explaining it in written text or through static visuals is difficult, use videos. The best part about videos is their ability to visually present information in a short period.
Not just this, but videos allow your audience to get website visual information in breaks. They can pause a video and then continue from where they left off.
Many brands use videos to explain product assembling and troubleshooting problems. For example, take a look at the video. Here, they show how to assemble its pet pro carpet cleaner, making it convenient for their consumers to follow the process.
You can also create similar videos and use video editing tools for a professional result. Additionally, don’t forget to add a sharing button to your videos. It will increase the sharing probability, resulting in more reach.
Give an Emotional Touch Through Images
Apart from making things easier to understand, you can develop an emotional bond with the audience through images. Today, many brands use visuals to evoke emotions, which eventually results in compelling the target audience to take action.
You can do the same by using pictures of human faces revealing an emotion that your brand aims to arouse.
Look at the below example where a lady is measuring the height of a girl, looking happy and pointing towards the benchmark.
A smile on their faces shows that the above instructor/parent is achieving the objective. In place of a human face, if the above image has an arrow going up on the height scale, it will never reveal the same feel.
Moreover, your target audience will find images with human faces more relatable. It will also enable them to remember the visual for a longer period. The fact is even backed by studies that show how people are more likely to remember things that are easily recognizable.
Personalize Pictures to Stand Out From the Others
Like many other brands, you might be using stock visuals. But how will you differentiate it from thousands of competitors? This is where personalization can help you out.
Try to give your visuals a personalized touch to create a distinctive brand identity. For this, you need to purchase stock images from reliable websites that allow you to edit.
Furthermore, personalizing visuals is a matter of minutes. Tons of tools are present today to help you change the color, and add text, annotations, graphics, and more with just a few clicks. You can keep a consistent color combination among all visuals to show professionalism. Likewise, you can add your logo, apply filters, and change the background.
For instance, if you are selling vintage-styled décor items, you can use filters to give your pictures a distressed look.
Optimize Website Visuals for the Platform
If you have followed all of the above tips but forgot to optimize the visuals, you made the biggest mistake. Optimizing visuals is essential to increase audience reach and engagement.
To make the most of your visuals, do in-depth research on how to optimize visuals for a specific platform, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or your website. You need to check the guidelines about image size, format, and quality.
For instance, if you are using visuals on Facebook, check the image size guidelines for the cover page image, shared images, and profile pictures. In the same way, you need to see the size requirements for a WordPress header image, images for blog posts, featured images, etc.
Wrapping It Up
Visuals can uplift your digital marketing outcomes in no time. And all of the above tips will enable you to use visuals like never before. Experience this change and notice a massive difference in engagement.
If you need assistance optimizing visuals for your upcoming campaigns, Social Ubiquity is here to guide you. Feel free to contact us so we can help you in achieving your digital goals.