Photo and video-centric applications like Instagram, Pinterest and Vine are changing the way people interact on social media. Stats from this visual story-telling guide provide striking evidence of this trend:
- By the end of 2012, 300 million pictures a day were uploaded to Facebook, 40 million to Instagram.
- Ten percent of all the photographs made in the entire history of photography were made last year.
So why are people so obsessed with posting and sharing their snapshots? Photos have the unique ability to instantly tell a story. Visuals and videos can communicate experiences and feelings in a way that's more visceral and more memorable than words alone. Facebook recently redesigned their news feed to capitalize on this by giving photos and video more real estate, making visuals the center of the world's largest social network.
In the video below, Jennifer Consalvo, Co-Founder and COO of Tech Cocktail talks about this visual revolution and what it means for companies and organizations that are delving into the world of visual content marketing. She points out that, "At our core, we are expressive, creative beings." Taking photo and video allows people to express their creativity and share it with others, which is why photo and video sharing has caught on so rapidly. For more takeaways from Jennifer's talk, visit The Vocus Blog.
Organizations of all kinds are getting into the visual media game. Which means that competition on visual sharing sites is increasing by the minute. This article from Forbes gives useful tips on how to create visual content that provides value and helps your organization get noticed. Here are the key takeaways:
- Use all kind of visuals - images, graphics, videos and animations to create emotional connections
- Make sure your content is unique so that people will want to repost and share it
- Create visuals that are useful to customers, donors or other supporters
- Invite other people to share their images on your site to encourage interaction and engagement
- Include short captions with your visuals to give context or include a call to action that asks people to take the next step
The guide from Resource Media also offers advice to help you choose the best visuals and make sure that they are consistent with the message you're trying to send.
You can easily apply these tactics to your NationBuilder website by using Featured Content Sliders. Customize these moving image displays and link them to different pages on your website to draw people in and get them engaged in your site.