The human attention span is eight seconds. Images are processed by the brain 60,000 times faster than words. Visual content conveys feelings that facts don’t.
What does this all mean? Your company’s marketing and public relations efforts need to be fluent in visuals.
Not only do you need to embrace the growing power of visual content, you need to embrace how people are consuming information at lightning speeds.
Next time you’re brainstorming a new campaign or initiative, center it around visual content. This could be a video series for social media that interviews employees “off the clock” style; an infographic series to illustrate programmatic impact; or a short graphic novel to outline your predictions on upcoming industry trends.
Remember that keeping it simple is sometimes the best route. You might just want to start with developing creative graphics to accompany your website, blog or social networks.
Pick compelling visuals
Reporters are facing strict deadlines sometimes having to produce 3-5 articles a day with required visual content. Make it easy for them. Give them images that command attention, not just photos that are OK. Make sure they are high-resolution, with captivating captions that sprinkle in additional context or key takeaways.
Give life to your visual content
GIFs are short, entertaining clips that showcase in just a few seconds what words struggle to do in 200 words. Often, GIFs are associated with humor, but these moving images can also add tasteful impact.
Infographics
Take charge of data! Present it in a way that won’t put people to sleep and remember that it doesn’t have to be fancy. Often, the numbers and impact will speak louder than a beautiful illustration and it is the packaging into a graphic that will give it the extra boost.
Video is the best
Video is king. It tends to be five times more engaging than static content. Since June 2014, Facebook reported it has played at least one billion videos every single day. The good news is that video does not need to be Emmy-quality, and most phones can capture great content on the fly.