Everyone would agree that visuals beat texts when it comes to getting people’s attention. Well, it’s human nature to react to and process visual data better than other data types. Today, visual contents are the life of web pages as they can easily pique the interest of all ages—from children to millennials and adults. This is where the need for multimedia design service comes in.
If you’re to present your business in a conference or launch a new product or service, you should give serious consideration to having visual contents with you. You’ll see how useful these contents could be, serving as your new set of communication tools. Yes, visual contents such as today’s types of data visualization can bring your message the clear and concise way you want it!
Interesting Data You Should Know
Still doubtful how multimedia contents can help advance your business goals? Here are some of the latest facts and data to ponder, which are essential in developing your next digital marketing strategies.
- 88% of marketers said they used visuals in over half of their published articles.
- 51% of B2B marketers create visuals as a strategy to boost content marketing.
- 80% of businesses will heavily rely on visual contents as part of content marketing techniques—good until 2020.
- 65% of people are likely to recall information paired with a relevant image—even after 3 days of learning it.
- People recall visual information 6 times better than the information they have heard or read.
- 83% of marketers think videos grow in importance in recent times.
- 53% of customers engage with a brand after watching its video on any social media platform.
- A website’s click-through-rate is about 47% higher if it contains images.
Reflecting on the current trends that these studies present, will these data influence your content marketing plan in the future? Well, strike while the iron is hot.
Why Multimedia Design Matters
Not all people read texts on web pages word for word. Most online users just scan or skim through a page and focus on what entices them. Try it yourself: Visit a web page and look for key details. You will surely have a hard time finding it, and will instead resort to scanning, with your eyes spotting visual markers with ease. Besides headlines, you’ll tend to notice bullet points, images, and diagrams, right?
Looking at the bigger picture, the impact of putting multimedia pieces is so immense, not only does it just catch people’s attention—it can also influence their buying decision.
Going back to the data above, what do they tell us?
Realizing how visuals work and why people are hooked on them gives us a better grasp of their importance. Here are a few good reasons to consider visual contents in hopes to fill your target audience with awe.
- They replace texts. Images and clips have the power to tell your message themselves—even without you explaining it. Further, it saves you both time and space. With visuals taking the place of texts, you’re minimizing their use, which is a good strategy as far as the current search engine algorithm is concerned. Just don’t forget to put the necessary on-page elements to keep the page optimized.
- They invite engagements. Since people get bored with written contents, they are less likely to engage with the website or the business in general. This gives visual contents more impact. Make sure, though, that the visual content is appropriate enough so it could go a long way in reaching your target market. Let it speak and interact with them, while compelling your audience to respond to the call to action that favors your business.
- They are shareable. As your visuals make a connection with your readers, they try to hit the right note with them on an emotional level. To succeed, you have to consider some factors that relate to emotions. Once you perfect this phase, people will respond accordingly until you see your content going viral across social media channels.
- They reflect creativity. The presence of multimedia contents in your marketing strategy doesn’t have to do with your industry and vice versa. Whether or not your venture belongs to the creative field, it’ll be better to promote it with stunning visuals. With a piece that bursts with originality and personality, people will have an impression of you (and your brand) as being creative.
- They make your brand memorable. While brand awareness may be your top aim in producing content, it may also increase brand recognition. Yes, brand recognition—one of the most critical factors that every marketer wishes to achieve—is possible. Let your advertising campaign hit the opportunities at once. Know how to create a marketing piece that stays on people’s mind and stirs brand recognition.
Types of Multimedia Contents to Use
By now, you’ve realized what you would give people asking for more—more than what written words can offer. Help strengthen the learning process while taking advantage of the chance to promote your business.
Since visual contents have since become a means to connect with your target market, create great pieces that serve their purpose. Read on to find out which of the many visuals your business can and should focus on.
Here are a few:
1. Graphics
Also known as social graphics, images of all sorts are popular ever since, thanks to short attention span that gets even shorter as the internet becomes bogged with digital contents. This popularity has paved the way for the rise of photo-sharing websites. What’s the secret to enticing your audience? Simple: Create unique, high quality images.
2. Memes and GIFs
They may be the least popular of all visual contents, but these two can help widen your reach. Though they are completely different content types by nature, memes and GIFs can be useful if you are to engage in an informal way. When paired with a witty caption, you’re sure to come up with a creative piece that subtly sells your product or service.
3. Stock Photos
While original graphics perform better than those we see very often, do not belittle the power of stock photos. They may be the most frequently used visual of all with a total of 40% usage, but stock photos will never disappoint you. Why not invest in them? Don’t use free stock images; buy them for a one-time payment. This way, you can choose photos that suit your brand, its personality, and your niche.
4. Infographic
Data visualization matters today as massive information becomes accessible across the net. And the most popular form of “data vizes” is infographic. Its purpose is to simplify the way data are presented to aid people in analyzing the content. For which data type does an infograph work best? Do it when presenting timelines, how-tos, lists, comparisons, and maps.
5. Other Visualizations
No matter how complex the data may become, people can now grasp them easily thanks to recent visual techniques. Apart from using pie charts, tables, and bar or line graphs, you have other ways to present your data. These may come in the form of bubble clouds, heat maps, radial trees, and bullet graphs to name a few.
6. Video
The most entertaining content type of all, videos are also one of the hardest to produce. In fact, 57% of marketers agree that custom videos are hard to create. Even if you are to make a 2-minute clip, you’d take too much time for the process that spans from planning to video editing. You need to work on the storyboard and script, and must have video editing tools. Also, before making one, do consider the speed of your website.
With any of these content types present in your web page, you’re sure to increase reach and post engagement, attracting more social shares.
Multimedia Contents on Social Media
Beyond networking, social pages have grown a great deal, becoming a marketing channel for all. Today, we see and use platforms largely for video sharing, meme generator, and the likes. Yet, not all social channels can help with your marketing efforts. Use only the ones that could spark meaningful interactions, drive traffic to your site, and later on meet your key goals.
Where to Market
A list of social media networks with the most active users can give you hints which ones you should use. Top social media sites that might be helpful for your brand include but are not limited to the following:
- YouTube
- Viber
Tips to Heed
- Create unique and optimized contents. Know today’s trending topics or issues that you may also tackle. Likewise, keep track of future events that can serve as good contents.
- Refer to the results of your latest analytics reports to know which content topics you need to develop and which ones you have to tweak.
- Build links to boost your traffic. Your graphics may also contain small texts that show links to your social media pages and/or online profiles.
- Prepare good captions to support your visual contents.
- Know what each social media platform allows or restricts with regard to contents. Learn the required image or video specs such as size and attributes.
- Practice social media etiquette.
- Get ready with your social media tools, such as calendar and post scheduling tools.
What Makes a Good Multimedia Content
Indeed, these contents are a good strategy to boost your digital marketing efforts. Having that said; you need to create pieces that are not just catchy, but also have the potential to keep good branding and are useful to your would-be clients.
Take note, visual content marketing isn’t all about reaching your goals. It’s also giving what your audience needs. It means taking a crucial step to grab the opportunities waiting for you. So, what makes a good piece that you need to post on your website or social media accounts?
- Relevant. While it may be easy for you to think of a concept for the target audience, it may be hard for you to connect certain topics with your business. In some cases, it’s the other way around. Hence, come up with a content you can relate to the intended market while keeping your brand. By doing so, you’re getting closer to your business goal.
- Evergreen. Like blogs and articles, some multimedia contents lose their appeal and relevance over the years. This happens when the content zones in on current trends, events, stats, and other variables. Of course, having such content type is inevitable. What you should do then is update it on a regular basis.
- Minimal Design. Nothing goes wrong with a graphic content designed minimally. Multimedia specialists would agree that it gives a calming effect to choose simple design elements, high-res photos, and flat colors, as well as using white spaces.
- Optimized. No matter how great your design is, it’s useless if not optimized for web crawlers. Though search engines may not be able to read the actual image or the content of the video, your alt-texts and tags may help boost its relevance to people’s query.
- Consistent. This is the biggest struggle to face with regard to creating visual contents. Since previous campaigns are excluded in the recent strategy, you’ll surely need to update them to align with the current business goals. Indeed, it is a challenge to present the business with consistent branding, not only to impress but also to retain its identity.
Multimedia Design Services to Outsource
Despite the large volume of multimedia contents online, traditional business marketing still calls for these contents to exist in “offline” forms. That’s why it’s safe to say that these contents will never grow old. Using them for both online and offline purposes shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.
As a business owner, I make sure every venture I manage utilizes good content strategy that matches the rest of our marketing efforts. I check on the many aspects of digital marketing to deliver first-rate services.
As all these visual contents keep growing in demand, it’s important for any business to have them as part of the strategies to stay on top of the game. We’re glad to be of service should you need to outsource any of the following tasks:
- Graphic Design
- Logo Design
- Character Design
- Business Card Design
- Postcard Design
- Brochure Design
- Flyers Design
- Email Newsletter Template Design
- PowerPoint Theme Design
- Video Editing
Are you looking for multimedia design services but have yet to find the right one? Check out useful business solutions that can give you SEO-friendly, engaging, and informative visual contents.
It may sound cliché, but you need to deliver more with less!
Sources: Inc. | HubSpot | Search Engine Journal | Digital.com | Smart Insights | IMPACT | Business 2 Community | Entrepreneur | Social Media Today | Neil Patel
Photos from Pexels