Secret to marketing success in visual social media

Videos are shared 12 times more than links and text posts combined; photos are liked two times more than text updates. And according to a piece of research by ROI Research 44% of people are more likely to engage with brands when they post pictures online. The rise and rise of digital engagement through the smartphone and tablet devices – both of which are natural easels for displaying images and video, and inherently encouraging social sharing – visuals will increasingly become the centrepiece of online marketing.

Two questions arise for marketing teams, agencies and the brands they look after:

1. How to make the creation of visual content achievable and cost-effective for most marketers?

2. What tips and techniques are worth considering when it comes to making visual content that will be noticed, engaged and get shared?

When I was a child I remember being given an etch-a-sketch drawing toy. For someone whose design and drawing skills were limited this toy was a revelation. It enabled me to create simple little line drawings by twiddling a couple of knobs. Technology gave me an outlet to express creativity with little artistic skills.

In a similar way we now have ever increasing ease of access to online tools to help us create images and video fast and with ease. Instagram, Pinterest, Vine, Tumblr, You Tube, Google Hangouts, Webinars all give us platforms to create and share content. And the traffic numbers demonstrate the potential….photo and video posts on Pinterest are referring more traffic than Stumbleupon, Linkedin, Google+ and Twitter combined; Vine currently has 40 million users and Instagram over 130 million; and 100 million users on YouTube are taking a social action each week. (You can find all the above stats here.)

Slick brand expression in TV style ad format is clearly a powerful means to deliver engagement, sharing and behaviour change. However, cheaper fast turnaround pieces of content can often deliver a greater sense of credibility and ‘realness’. Ben & Jerry’s does a great job of this on Instagram using simple ‘home spun’ video format to reinforce the artisanal qualities of the brand.

Video creation can also benefit from simplicity through the use of animation to tell a story versus over-conceived pieces of live footage which can suffer from over complication and potential ‘cheesiness’ come the end piece of production. Animation is also great for simple explanation of complex brand stories…see this example from Dropbox where the use of animation enables a simple brand presentation.

And the Public Transport Authority in Melbourne, Australia made brilliant and award-winning success of their animated video to reduce death on the metro railway lines.

When it comes to static imagery infographics have been all the rage for a while now but, while they still have a strong role to play in communicating complex facts, there is an argument for pulling out key sound bite facts and delivering these as striking simpler forms of visual expression in the form of memes.

Will it be shareable? Not always the objective but certainly an important consideration when investing in visual content. Predicting the positive emotions that will result in content being readily shared is an increasingly debated topic and Unruly Media has gone to some lengths to develop a prediction model which was illustrated with some success at this year’s Superbowl. Whether science and modelling can ever wholly predict a video’s sharing potential remains to be seen.

The following five-point plan best summarises the secret of success when it comes to effective visual content:

1. Be authentic – real life delivers so much more than contrived fiction.

2. Get the tone right – fun, edgy and unusual content shares best.

3. Encourage participation – simple engagement in the content is a great way to encourage sharing.

4. Be distinctive – in terms of style and content of creation.

5. And of course make sure you tell a good story – yep it does always come back to good old fashioned storytelling.

By DMA guest blogger Robert Goldsmith, Founding Partner, Spinnaker

Get a complete overview of the digital marketing landscape at Fast track digital marketing training, an intensive two-day course that the DMA is offering in association with Econsultancy.