Visuals and Video in Digital Marketing

Why Use Visuals and Video in Digital Marketing?

As the Internet became more sophisticated, specifically in the area of social media marketing, there was a substantial rise in the number of visuals and videos in digital marketing. This noticeable increase in both images and video is attributed, in part, to physiological facts. The human brain is able to process visuals faster than it does text and writing. Therefore, whether your brand is telling a story or delivering facts, a visual aid is going to provide a better path to audience comprehension.

From what is known as of now, the reason there is an immense difference in the level of comprehension between images and text is that images are taken in and understood in parallel, while text has to be processed procedurally.  Text takes investment from our brains that images just don’t demand.

With so much of human life being interpreted through data our eyes bring in, it only makes sense that we would be skilled at interpreting visual information, especially those that imitate what we encounter in everyday life.

Why are these facts on comprehension important for metrics such as sales, revenue, and ROI?

Comprehending, Sharing, Sending, and Shopping

The daily life of the average American involves responding to immense amounts of visual stimuli and available content with less and less time for each individual piece. The National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. Library of Medicine tells marketers not to expect more than several seconds of attention from any individual.

Within these limited seconds, a piece of content must capture the individual, hold his or her attention for that full span of time, and then provide a reason to remain engaged. The speed at which images and video in digital marketing can do this better than copy is imperative to building a brand and developing a consumer relationship. Brand awareness and strong consumer relationships are two important factors for turning an audience into customers.

As well, those monitoring the use of image and video in digital marketing quickly realized that the digital data revealed a huge disparity in the way social media users and other audiences engaged with text and visual content. Visual content is shared more, sent more, and ultimately used to shop more. Other statistics are also higher, such as click-through rates and the amount of user-driven content and responses. Images and video in digital marketing, ultimately, are seen by more people without as much legwork and cost to an eCommerce brand.

The drawback to the rapid increase in visuals and video in digital marketing is most eCommerce businesses are too busy to create their own original content all the time. Sometimes the use of stock photos, images, and video content can work for a business because the purpose is to catch a viewer’s attention and further the text, such as in a blog post. In other circumstances, most applicable to social media, users demand a sophisticated level of original content to receive the awareness and visibility that is possible through content marketing.

Incorporating Video into Content Marketing

The use and importance of social media marketing have a residual effect on other areas of digital marketing, including what brands are putting on their own websites. This year, one of the biggest trends in marketing strategies specific to eCommerce was and continues to be the use of interesting and engaging video in the digital marketing of online stores. The reason for this proliferation of video content is that it solidly drives web traffic.

The majority of web traffic isn’t garnered from text, images, or even the most recent darling of content marketing, infographics. Instead, audiences are excitely consuming video content and simultaneously pushing it to other users. It is apparent from current trends that the vast majority of web traffic will be generated from video in upcoming years. An eCommerce company has to keep pace with this type of media, and should be incorporating video into several aspects of content marketing.

For one, video is great for showing or displaying a particular product. It can be a short clip, just three or four seconds, that highlights a feature of or the movement of an item or a longer video that provides an explanation on its use and durability. Through product specific videos, a consumer develops an idea of where and how the product would fit into his or her life, which increases purchase potential.

Another use of video in digital marketing it to tell your brand story. A popular strategy is putting a founder or CEO front and center to talk about the brand. Famously, Dollar Shave Club did this back in 2012 with a great deal of viral success, but they aren’t the only company that has creatively and personally utilized video. Businesses big and small can capitalize on the emotional and engaging effects of video.

No Death Knoll for Images in Digital Marketing

While a great deal of the attention is on video, the use of other visuals has quietly remained an important part of any digital marketing strategy. Images are still immensely effective for creating a buzz about your business or increasing consumer engagement. The difference is industry leaders are encouraging eCommerce and other businesses to only develop and utilize high-quality image content. When images are poor quality or unoriginal it signals a lack of quality and reliability. These are signals that customers and the broader audience sense immediately and avoid.

Ready to Upgrade the Visuals on Your eCommerce Site?

The standards and strategies for use of visuals and video in digital marketing are constantly changing with the wants and needs of online shoppers. To be successful, an eCommerce company must keep pace. If you are falling behind or have a need to outsource your digital marketing efforts to a professional digital agency, call 1Digital Agency in Philadelphia. We are the eCommerce experts in content, social media, pay-per-click, and email marketing.