The importance of using visual content as part of your content marketing strategy cannot be understated.
Multiple studies have shown that visually appealing content is more likely to be read, shared, and commented on than those that make no use of visuals.
And blogging experts from all walks of life seem to agree.
Below are tips from 42 blogging experts on creating magnificent visual content:
Infographic Source: Visme
Now let’s take a look at each of these statements individually
“Creating effective visual content is a combination of using the right tools and testing the content on different networks.”
My Take:
When creating visual content use the right tools (Canva, Photoshop, ect.) and test your creation on different networks (your blog and social media).
“To cut through the noise, find out what kind of visual content your audience wants, where they want it and how.”
My Take:
Don’t spend time creating visual content until you are certain that your audience wants it. Simply put, creating visual content that your audience isn’t interested in is a waste of your time.
“Effective visual content starts with understanding your audience, their problems, wants and desires.”
My Take:
Understanding the problems, desires, and wants of your readers will give you all the ammunition you need to create visual content that they’ll love.
“Visual content that works most effectively never feels corporate, inauthentic, or like it’s a stock visual.”
My Take:
Avoid overused stock visuals when creating your own content. Your audience will appreciate your authenticity and uniqueness.
“Bring something new to the table: original research, or a brand new theory or practice.”
My Take:
If discussing a topic that’s already been talked about by others put a new spin on things.
“You don’t have to go too crazy with image creation but make an effort to find or create visuals for everything that gets published.”
My Take:
Make it a habit to use visuals in every blog post you publish.
“We go with visual content that reflects the images that we connect with our brand and the values that represent the brand.”
My Take:
Have you ever seen an image that you automatically associated with a specific brand without much thought? That’s what John is referring to… create and use visuals that connect with your brand and values.
“You can cut through the noise if you’re adding value, not more noise. You also need to stand out as a brand.”
My Take:
Make sure that your visual content is different than what’s already out there so that your brand stands out from the crowd.
“Pursue guest blogging opportunities and post on highly visible content hubs, create amazing infographics, data visualizations and presentations.”
My Take:
Guest blogging on popular blogs is a great way to bring new eyes to your magnificent visual content creations. Guest blogging is especially helpful to new bloggers because it helps speed up your blog’s growth.
“In visual content, the visual IS the headline–that’s it! This means you need to absolutely focus on quality by seeing how your fans respond to it.”
My Take:
The most important aspect of creating visual content is to grab your readers attention.
“It’s not just your headlines that should include statistics. Publish clever visual data and you will blow your audience away.”
My Take:
Sprinkle small bits of visual data all throughout your blog’s content.
“Develop a consistent visual brand to become noticeable and recognizable to your audience over time.”
My Take:
This goes along with John Rampton’s strategy of using visual content that reflects the images that connect with his brand. In other words, create unique visual content that can be associated with your brand no matter where it’s seen.
“Planning, benchmarking and attaching content initiatives to a strategy are necessary for content marketing to work effectively.”
My Take:
Don’t waste your time creating visual content unless you are willing to test it to see what works and how it can be improved.
“Tailoring content to your audience, and communicating it in the most effective way will ensure that it stands out.”
My Take:
Understanding your audience in the creation of magnificent visual content.
“Ironically, one of the keys to visual content is written content. Great visuals need headlines.”
My Take:
We know headline copy is crucial to the success of a blog post. This is also true for visual content.
“Whether it solves a problem, answers a question, or inspires thought, make sure that your visual content is always created with a purpose.”
My Take:
Know the reason you are creating graphics before doing so.
“If it doesn’t move you, it’s not going to move anyone else. Keep at it till it does.”
My Take:
Don’t publish visual content until you feel touched by it.
“Know the greatest pain points your readers are experiencing and address them as your lead.”
My Take:
When creating visuals such as infographics start out with a bang by directly addressing your readers’ pain points.
“Instead of competing with the noise from news and memes, focus on your customer evangelists.”
My Take:
As other experts noted… being unique is key to the success of your content.
“Test, re-test, evolve, and drive a truck through content that creates conversation.”
My Take:
The work doesn’t stop when you publish the content. You must test and re-test to find out what works and build on that.
“Feel free to emphasize the element which makes your product or service unique, but stay honest at all costs.”
My Take:
Emphasize what makes you different, but never to the point where you have to lie or make up stories that have nothing to do with your brand.
“Your content should feel and sound like your brand, but it doesn’t need to look the same all the time.”
My Take:
Even though you want your content to be easily identifiable with your brand, you need to make sure that it evolves.
“The key is to pair professionally designed visuals that educate, entertain, or both with a robust promotion plan.”
My Take:
Don’t just create visual content… go a step further and promote the heck out of it.
“The best way to create effective visual content that cuts through in a media-saturated world is to keep everything as simple as possible.”
My Take:
Don’t try to be too cute while generating your content. Keep it fun and simple.
“Think of it as a first impression; it needs to grasp the right kind of attention in a significant way.”
My Take:
They say “you only get to make one first impression” so make it count.
“Use the latest technologies to create visual content that others can’t yet.”
My Take:
When you can afford it… make use of the latest technologies to create your visual content in order to stay ahead of the pack.
“My ‘trick’ is to create as much of my visual content content as I can on my own.”
My Take:
By creating your own visual content you ensure that it’s unique and keep costs down.
“Great visual content should be clean, aesthetically pleasing and quick to read.”
My Take:
The best way to leave a good impression on your readers is to create graphics that are clean, aesthetically pleasing, and easy to read.
“The simple fact is having any images at all massively increases post engagement and shareability.”
My Take:
We already knew this but it doesn’t hurt to repeat it… images increase people’s willingness to share your blog posts.
“Make it searchable, repurpose and reuse it across channels, and revive it when it gets old if it’s a winner.”
My Take:
Describe your images so that they are searchable on search engines such as Google and bring old winners back to life whenever prudent.
“Try to make sure that any chart you create is clear, tells one story, and is backed up by credible research.”
My Take:
Always back up your charts with studies that prove your point.
“Not all of us are talented artists so snap photos and you won’t have to worry about copyright issues.”
My Take:
It’s easier to become a photographer than a graphic designer… snap pictures of anything you feel could be useful for your blog so that you don’t have to pay for photos and avoid copyright issues.
“You really need to talk to your customers and readers before you create any piece of content.”
My Take:
A good rule of thumb is to keep your customers and readers in mind before creating any type of content.
“Sometimes cutting through the noise means not playing in the noise.”
My Take:
Here’s another expert advising you to be unique.
“A visual reward in its simplest form is something nice to gaze at, consider and act upon.”
My Take:
Create visuals content that entices your readers to take action.
“Dig deep down to find a kernel of truth about who you are as a brand and what you want to be to your customers.”
My Take:
You must have a deep understanding of your brand’s identity in order to create visual content that connects with your customers.
“To cut through the clutter, I’ve created a live video show. I record a 5 to 10 minute video by my pool and cover a different topic each week on B2B social sales practices.”
My Take:
Visual content isn’t just about pictures, charts, graphs, and infographics… consider generating video content as well.
“While visual content tools are extremely useful, avoid the ‘included’ image assets where possible because everyone else will use them too.”
My Take:
Stay away from stock photos or images that are included with photo editing tools because many bloggers will have already used them prior to you.
“Anyone with passion, commitment and a unique point of view can build a global audience.”
My Take:
This advice is a bit off point but you should strive to put in your passion and commitment into everything you do in life.
“The key here is to make your visual content have a unique style–WITHOUT losing substance.”
My Take:
Keep your visual content on point… make sure it’s relevant to what’s being discussed.
“We have discovered that the use of a dominant visual focal point communicates the key message in your design.”
My Take:
Use visual content to amplify the message you are trying to put across.
“Utilize a balance of key phrases combined with minimalist yet bold design that grabs users’ attention and yet is subtle enough to keep them there.”
My Take:
Last but not least advice from Payman Taei, Founder of Visme (the creators of this awesome infographic)… Your visual content needs to grab your readers attention in a way that makes them stay on your blog.
That’s a wrap my friends… what was your favorite piece of advice and how do you plan on implementing it?
