Few people don’t belong to at least one social network and this is why it’s quickly becoming one of the most effective ways to build brand. Marketing on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram has proven to be the ultimate in public relations and it is vital that any business looking to grow an ever-increasing share of the market markets on as many social networks as possible. Also, images are an important part of a social media strategy if you want to make the most of your time and resources spent on marketing for social networks. Here are some points to consider.

Some Rather Amazing Statistics

Before getting into how images impact a social media marketing (SSM) strategy, let’s look at a few statistics gathered from around the web. Have you ever wondered why so many articles feature images? It has been proven that content with an article gets at least 94% more views than those that are straight copy. When searching local businesses, if the SERP returns an image, that site will likely get 60% more clicks through than a site that returns no image. More than half of consumers polled in one survey said they would be more likely to buy from a merchant that offered a high quality image than a merchant who paid little attention to providing a good representation of their products. And, these are just a few statistics because the list could go on and on.

We Live in an Age of the Short Attention Span

No, the entire world hasn’t suddenly developed a severe case of attention deficit disorder. The real problem is that we are used to running around at the speed of light. With a mobile phone in one hand we are messaging our friends on Facebook, talking to the clerk at the local grocery store and trying to keep the kids from eating the candy on the rack at the cash register. That image popping up on a screen makes it easy to quickly assess whether or not that is something we’d like to know more about and we don’t need to read paragraphs of description to come to that understanding. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Images and SEO All Rolled into One

When you are trying to build brand on social networks, it truly helps to use high quality pictures in your posts. Followers often do little more than scan the page and as a result, miss more than 75% of what is written there. If a picture catches their attention (remember that 94% mentioned above) they will more often than not click on the picture to see what it’s all about. Successful marketing companies like Webopty will use images in their SSM strategies for this very reason. This company knows how to use social media to generate the greatest amount of interest with optimized images in the social media content they create.

Given the fact that images are the quickest way to capture a viewer’s attention, that alone should indicate just how important those images are in social media marketing. Want to get your brand to go viral quickly? Create a photo-ad that is unique and eye-catching enough to get a million shares and likes. If you want to capture the social media market, don’t say it in words. Paint a picture. It works every time.