Compelling visuals are why people engage with a page on social media. The factor heavily influences customers’ interest in products, their opinion of a brand, and intent to purchase.
Take a look at these statistics:
- Visual content is 40X more likely to be shared on social.
- HubSpot confirms that of the Instagram story formats people prefer most, 35% indicate that they engage with the ones containing visuals.
- Social posts with compelling images generate 2.3X more engagement.
- On Instagram, carousel posts with multiple images draw the highest engagement of all post types.
- LinkedIn posts with visuals have a 98% higher comment rate.
- The same goes for X, as tweets with visuals are 3 times more likely to draw engagement.
There’s a ton of data supporting the fact that the human sense of sight is the first thing that engages with content on social media. And with a sea of content out there, brands cannot afford to ignore the significance of standing out visually.
In this post, we will guide you in creating social images with strong brand narratives that will win more conversions for you.
Let’s look at 6 types of social visuals you can put to use when promoting your brand online.
In this article
1. Product Images
Product images are central when building a strong positive first impression of your brand. High-quality images (in the case of an ecommerce brand) and screenshots (in the case of SaaS products) give the customer a fair assessment of the product’s features and quality.
Besides, product images often tip the scales between a buyer starting a conversation with your sales team and leaving your social profile to check out the competitors’ product listings.
Product images are especially important for SaaS brands because:
- These brands offer intangible services accessible online, making visual representations of the product’s value all the more helpful
- Software products usually have a long list of features, integrations, and workflows, and visuals can convey these concisely
- Building instant trust and credibility is crucial
Sharing screenshots and demo videos of a SaaS platform can give people a clear understanding of the UI, how the tool functions, and the features it holds. Teasing them on social media and then drilling down in further detail on a SaaS landing page can grab visitor attention, effectively communicate the value proposition, and build a memorable user experience.
Check out how Datapad effectively leverages product screenshots that communicate its feature-backed benefits. These screenshots share the platform’s unique selling proposition, making it easy for customers to make a decision.
Similarly, Photoshop has a dedicated profile on Instagram for tutorials to educate users on how to use the platform. These short explainer videos and animated posts effectively showcase the features and benefits of the tool, thereby encouraging users to try the product.
Pebblely is a tool that allows you to create stunning product photos within seconds. All you have to do is select a product image or screenshot and describe the background you want, and the tool will generate unlimited Instagram-worthy image variations.
2. AI Art
Beyond product visuals, AI-based image generation allows marketers to create startling visual artwork with virtually no effort at all. Artificial intelligence can be used to create dynamic visuals that evoke emotions on social media. The technology uses algorithms and data sets to customize the image to various settings.
These images are unique and attractive, so they effectively enhance brand visibility on social channels. Since they are easy to create and do not need manual effort, they save a lot of time and money.
Absolut recently pushed its creative boundaries by investing in creating visual cocktail art using AI.
Similarly, Nutella made its packaging stand out with 7 million unique versions of AI-designed jar labels.
Riding on the AI art wave, brands like Coca-Cola are inviting digital artists to use AI to generate original artwork with iconic creative assets from their archives. The campaign is part of Coca‑Cola’s “Real Magic” global campaign, which has made waves on social media.
So, how can you leverage AI art to differentiate your brand from the competition?
With AI image generators.
These tools function like a magic wand, enabling marketers to create breathtaking visuals. Photoleap AI Photo Enhancer by Lightricks, for instance, feels like having an artist by your side who never sleeps. The freemium all-in-one photo editor offers endless possibilities to make your images stand out.
The tool takes your visuals up a notch with its extraordinary blending and animation capabilities. Powered by AI, this tool can transform your images into works of art.
Further, Photoleap’s AI image generator has a text-to-image feature that converts text to images within seconds. All you need to do is, imagine a scene, describe it as text, and watch its AI artwork generator instantly craft striking imagery.
3. Quotes
Quote visuals can transform bland content into a creative story with emotions and perspective. Vibrant images with quotes increase the perceived value of the brand, encouraging people to be associated with it.
Plus, quote posts are super short and snappy, making them popular on social channels like Instagram. Most brands use quote visuals to share an inspirational message, some hard-hitting fact, or a snippet or soundbite. Usually, these posts are followed by a CTA to increase engagement that prompts users to interact with the content.
Nike has always been at the forefront of leveraging inspirational quote visuals to motivate their fans. They also use empowering Instagram hashtags, such as #NeverNotRunning and #MakeitCount coupled with image quotes depicting everyday moments in sports.
This simple tactic has helped Nike celebrate their fans and reach out to them while sharing their enthusiasm.
Another example of a brand that leverages quote visuals is Nude, a financial services company. Notice how it highlights key statistics in their Instagram post.
How to make these impressive quote images?
Snappa Quote Maker is a quick and easy-to-use online quote maker for creating any type of image for your blog, social page, or ads. With its advanced features, the tool allows you to create beautiful picture quotes in 60 seconds. Snappa saves the time spent in creating image quotes with its preset dimensions, professionally designed quote templates, and customizable graphics, shapes, and text.
4. Infographics
Infographics are perfect for social content, as they can convey brand messaging in a visually appealing manner. They blend compelling graphics with succinct information, making them one of the most effective content forms.
The success of social content is based on bite-sized and simple information put across engagingly. That’s precisely what an infographic does. It attracts and retains attention while encouraging the viewer to go for a speedy additional investigation.
No wonder, Content Marketing Institute’s B2B Content Marketing Report 2022 reveals that 57% of marketers use infographics, although few have mastered the art of using it well.
Course Hero is one brand that expertly uses infographics as an extension of both their service and their brand promise. The crowdsourced learning platform has created a variety of infographics that provide useful education to their audience. Their visual content brings learning to life, making it easy for learners to connect with the material.
Similarly, LinkedIn leverages infographic marketing to offer knowledge and insights to business networkers.
With Piktochart, you can create high-quality infographics, posters, newsletters, and charts with little to no experience in designing. The all-in-one visual communication tool offers themed templates, icons, images, fonts, and other design tools that can create impressive infographics.
5. Memes
People always enjoy a good laugh, especially on social media. Laughter works like a social glue, communicating to others that they have a similar worldview. That’s the reason memes and GIFs are so popular on social – and the second most shared type of social content.
Memes can be a light-hearted and subtle (yet effective) way to engage audiences and build relationships with them. Leading brands – namely Netflix, Flipkart, Disney, Baskin Robbins, Doritos, Amazon, Apple, and more – use memes due to their high shareability, minimal effort, and cost-effectiveness.
Notice how Audible used the “spooky skeleton” popular meme to promote its offerings. They edited the text to suit their branding.
Similarly, Starbucks did a great job with the “Me, Also Me” meme that teases the feelings of the person we all want to be while making fun of the person we currently are.
Check this out.
The “Me, Also Me” meme is being used by various brands to get people thinking and talking in their favor.
Thus, memes are a powerful tool to fulfill marketing goals and spread awareness about a brand in a lighthearted way. And since this content is highly shareable the meme marketing transforms into a viral social campaign.
Kapwing Meme Generator is one of the most powerful meme generators on the internet. It offers a sea of hand-curated meme templates that allow you to create engaging memes for your social media page. Use this tool to create impressive memes within a few clicks
6. Before-and-After Images
Using before-and-after enable marketers to showcase the benefits of a product or service with maximum succinctness. These images allow customers to experience how the product will solve their problems and cater to their needs.
These images are typically a representation of the customer journey (from the pain point to the outcomes achieved due to the product), making them relatable and super-effective. Content that showcases real transformations, or demonstrates a positive impact the product had on others, is highly persuasive. Therefore, this form of visual content can instantly build an emotional connection, driving conversions.
Check out how the Tinka lottery in Peru visualized the manner in which winning can change the social and economic standing of a player. For instance, a person who hasn’t participated is a chauffeur, while the person who has won is the passenger.
The tool Snappa makes it easy to create any type of online graphic. It can add, subtract, and modify text, graphics, and shapes within seconds. Hence, it’s a great tool when it comes to creating before and after images for your social page.
Summing Up
We live in an age when every person carries a camera in their pocket. This is the dynamic era of visual content, and images are a vital element of your social media strategy.
People tend to notice visuals before any other content form. But the same people have an attention span of less than 9 seconds. Therefore, merely sharing images in their raw form doesn’t work. You need to tweak the colors, saturation, brightness, and other visual elements to make your marketing images attention-worthy.
We are sure the information shared in this post will prove to be an inspiration for your team. Use the tools shared above effectively to create stunning images for our marketing campaigns.