Jun 27 2019
In 2016, nearly half of digital marketers said visual content is the most essential part of their marketing strategy—and today it’s only gotten more indispensable than ever.
The advent of ephemeral, user-generated, and visual content has forced marketers to up their game and become more creative about how they deliver content to their audiences.
Hence, this year, we can only expect to see more serious and aggressive developments in how businesses use visuals to improve their strategies.
Let’s look at some of the changes that are currently making the most impact online:
Instant and real video content. We’re seeing more and more videos on social media lately and it seems that businesses are working to leverage the live videos in their strategy.
Constant video content. It’s not merely live videos that are infiltrating the social media scene but curated videos that businesses publish consistently.
Streamlined web pages. There’s not much happening on websites lately but one thing that’s obvious is how websites are being redesigned to allow for a cleaner and streamlined interface.
While the Internet is filled to the brim with visual marketing trends, not everything is worth to practise. So, as an award-winning digital marketing agency, we listed only some of the things that we think are worth considering.
5 Visual Marketing Trends that will Shape Your Content Marketing Strategy
1. Authentic visual content
We’re way past the time when perfectly-crafted visuals are the only things that work in social media. Consumers of today want authentic visual content that not only humanises your brand but also inspires conversation with your audience.
Some examples of visual content that works for that purpose include live videos, GIFs, and behind the scenes. Letting go of the idea of perfect visual content will not merely attract your audience but will also allow you to publish content faster and more often than anybody else.
2. Ephemeral visual content
Ephemeral content defines the visuals that last for only 24 hours before they disappear permanently from your feed. Snapchat and Instagram are leveraging this feature well and Facebook Messenger has eventually caught up.
Such type of visuals can also fall on the authentic visual content category and the number of Instagram members using it strongly proves that this type of fast, effective visual storytelling will continue to be big in the years to come.
3. User-generated content
UGC has been making waves for quite some time now and for good reasons. It’s the modern form of word-of-mouth marketing that pertains to any content—text, images, videos, etc.—that have been posted by users online. Statistics show that about 84% of consumers trust user recommendations more than any other sources of advertising.
Businesses today are tapping into this opportunity by working with online influencers. This strategy is so effective because these personalities deliver what the audience expects from them: honest opinions. In fact, it’s so effective that businesses can make as much as $6.50 for every dollar invested in it.
7 Types of Visuals that You Should Add in Your Marketing Strategy
Besides the visual content marketing trends, there are also specific types of content that are trending these days. We’re enumerating some of the few you can include in your strategy to make sure that your visuals are on point and relevant.
- Customised – Generic and stock images no longer make the cut. As you target smaller consumer segments, it only makes sense to make your visuals more personal to make it more relevant to your audience.
- Provocative – Visuals that are bold and creative, on the other hand, will also help you cut through the noise and stand out from the never-ending stream of visuals proliferating the Internet.
- Nostalgic – References to the past work particularly well if you target an audience from the 90s, 80s, or from the earlier decades who can relate if you go old school.
- Interactive Images – With the way things are going, interactive content will continue to drive engagement in 2019. It’s the type of content that requires active engagement from the user that’s more than merely viewing.
- GIFs – GIFs are easy to consume and share online. They convey emotion and humanise your brand. But, you’ll want to use it sparingly it doesn’t reflect your brand’s image.
- Memes – The same goes for this type of visuals. Although it adds a light touch to your feed, it may not work well for every business.
Including visual content in your marketing strategy can be quite difficult. But, these trends only prove that it’s become an essential element for engaging your audience and guaranteeing your success.
The tips outlined in this article can help you with your visual marketing strategy but, testing how each type of visual content performs is critical so you’ll want to work with a digital marketing agency in Singapore like OOm, who can help you with monitoring your analytics and use the data to see which ones work best with your target audience.
What do you think of the visual content marketing trends for 2019? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.
