It’s All About the Images
There has been a big shift in the social media landscape thanks to images. There us an increasing emphasis put on using high quality images in online content. Images are making everything much better online. But do you know how much adding good quality photos to your content matters?
A Visual Shift
Pinterest has had a huge hand in the changes happening in the social media world. As the third most popular social network, it has truly cemented the need for high quality images that are sharable. The Pinterest effect really ignited this image revolution.
Recent changes in Facebook have also put more focus on images. The Timeline interface makes use of larger photo sizes and the cover photo lets you show off an even larger photo.
The photo sharing startup Instagram was snapped up by Facebook in a massive billion dollar acquisition. If you weren’t convinced about the great need for high quality images and the need for a streamlined sharing experience, this acquisition will surely get rid of any remaining doubts.
Images in Articles
Using images in an article can hugely boost the number of page views. An article that contains relevant images will on average receive almost twice as many views than an article with no images. To get even more from relevant images, optimise the metadata and captions for search engines.
However, the effectiveness of images is more beneficial in some categories, more so than other types of content. According to Skyword, sports, news and political content gain the greatest boost in performance when images are used.
Images in the Press
According to data from PR Newswire, the more multimedia content used in press materials, the more number of view you will get. Adding images to a text press material will increase view by 14% on average. Including a video increased view by 20%. Adding both photos and videos improved views by around 48%. Finally, adding photos, videos, and other media like files, charts and sound-bites increased views by 77%.
Images in Local Search
Having any image will improve the visibility of a business in local search results. Consumers are more likely to contact businesses that have an image that shows up in search. A high quality photo of the business, product or service will get a better response than the company logo.
Images in Ecommerce
There is certainly no doubt that high quality product shots are the key to selling items online. The quality of the image can be more important to customers than the product description and the rating and reviews. Don’t just use one image to highlight a product. Use multiple images to provide alternative views and levels of detail to the customer. Since they can’t pick up the item like in a physical shop, your photos need to convey the same important information.
Images in Social media
Social engagement gets a big boost when images are added. Facebook posts that include photos have the highest user engagement when compared to other posts. Your photos should be so good that people will want to share them.
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