Graphics are powerful tools to attract, engage, and persuade your audience. They can help you communicate your message, showcase your brand, and stand out from the crowd. But how do you use graphics to market your content effectively? In this article, you will learn some tips and best practices to create and use graphics that boost your content marketing strategy.
Before you start designing or choosing graphics, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and who you want to reach. Your graphics should align with your content goals, such as increasing awareness, generating leads, or driving conversions. They should also match the needs, preferences, and emotions of your target audience. For example, if you are writing a blog post about how to reduce stress, you might use calming colors, soothing images, and simple fonts.
In my experience, this is one very key component that could make or break the goal of the artwork. Knowing you audience and the purpose of communication helps bridge the gap and provide exactly what the relevant information is and how best to send that message across.
Remember ro add alt text to make sure the graphic is accessible. In print braille can be used if needed. Auditory media can also break down barriers.
Your graphics should support and enhance your content, not distract or confuse your readers. They should be relevant to your topic, message, and tone. They should also be high-quality, meaning that they are clear, crisp, and professional. Avoid using blurry, pixelated, or low-resolution graphics that can damage your credibility and reputation. You can use tools like Canva, Photoshop, or Illustrator to create your own graphics or use royalty-free images from sites like Unsplash, Pixabay, or Pexels.
Graphics can also help you improve your search engine optimization (SEO) and website performance. To do that, you need to optimize your graphics for size, format, and metadata. You want to reduce the file size of your graphics as much as possible without compromising quality. This will help your web pages load faster and reduce bounce rates. You can use tools like TinyPNG, ImageOptim, or Squoosh to compress your graphics. You also want to choose the right format for your graphics, such as JPEG for photos, PNG for logos, or SVG for icons. This will help your graphics display correctly and efficiently across different devices and browsers. Finally, you want to add metadata to your graphics, such as alt text, title, and caption. This will help search engines understand and index your graphics, as well as improve accessibility and user experience.
Graphics are not limited to static images. You can also use different types and formats of graphics to make your content more dynamic and engaging. For example, you can use infographics to summarize or visualize data, charts, or facts. You can use GIFs to add humor, emotion, or movement to your content. You can use videos to demonstrate, explain, or inspire your audience. You can use memes to capture attention, relate to your audience, or create viral content. You can use screenshots to show examples, evidence, or testimonials. The possibilities are endless, but remember to always keep your goals and audience in mind.
Video is a great tool for digital marketing. Analysis of consumer behavior has shown that using video in paid ads and other marketing efforts leads to greater engagement and call-to-action success. Video quality is important, of course, but there are other things to keep in mind when creating video content, as well. Consider your audience, as well as the product or service you’re promoting, when choosing how to present the information being shared in the video. If you’re a nonprofit trying to raise awareness around homelessness, for example, humor may not be your best approach.
The last step to use graphics to market your content is to test and measure their impact and effectiveness. You want to know how your graphics are performing and how they are influencing your content metrics, such as views, clicks, shares, or conversions. You can use tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, or HubSpot to track and analyze your graphics. You can also use tools like Hotjar, Crazy Egg, or EyeQuant to see how your audience interacts with your graphics, such as where they look, click, or scroll. Based on your findings, you can optimize your graphics to improve your results and achieve your goals.
Another way to measure the effectiveness your graphics is to do a/b testing. Run two ads, social posts, etc., at the same time to determine which one performs better. Make sure to only change one thing on the graphic when running a/b tests. For example, change an image on the graphic or the verbiage, not both on one test. That will help you know what, exactly, your audience prefers about the better-performing graphic. If you want to test for both graphic and text preferences of your audience, run one a/b test for the graphic, then another for differences in the text. That will allow you to test for both without any confusion around the specific audience preferences you’re testing for.