Nowadays, we use fewer and fewer words while letting visuals do the talking. And even though we used to express emotions through language, we now rely on emoticons, stickers or insta-anything to do the trick. The idea of sharing emotion online has been widely spread. The more emotion, the more visual, the more shares!

According to JWT’s “10 Trends for 2014 and Beyond”, “visual” is the new language that needs to be adopted. If you’re multitasking in your everyday life, it’s much easier to look at some images than at some texts, consuming the same amount of information in less time. In addition, there is a big tendency to use images when you wish to tell a story as they can convey more with less cost.

Visuals can instantly convey a message – changing the culture, the news, the entertainment and business as we know it.

APPLICATIONS OF VISUAL VOCABULARY

• Websites, e-commerce sites, even informative sites now use images, storytelling and other visual data instead of long texts (e.g. Buzzfeed).

• Social media as Instagram, Tumblr, Vine and Pinterest allow you to communicate through images. Sometimes a picture is worth a 1000 words. If you present an eye-catching image, someone will most likely share it, instantly triggering the word-of-mouth effect. It’s a fun and quick way of making content viral.

• We tend to emotionally connect more to images and videos than to audio and text. Brands can, now, communicate their strengths through visuals that can quickly sort out information in ways plain text cannot. In this way, brands can increase the emotional connection with their audience; create appealing concepts while at the same time conveying hidden messages.

• Visualizing data is, definitely, a recommended strategy for content marketing. By conveying their message visually, brands stimulate emotion, driving people to support their cause, share their content, or buy their product. For example, Sony donated a dollar to charity each time a Pinterest user re-pinned photos from the board (campaign “Pin it To Give It”) and donations went to the Michael Phelps Foundation.

WHY PEOPLE PREFER VISUAL CONTENT

According to a recent Infographic by NeoMam Studios:

• We suffer from information overload considering that we now receive five times more information than we did in 1986 and visual data makes this process much easier for us. Indeed, visual content on the internet has increased by 9,900 percent since 2007 proving that visuals are preferred by the public.

• We can make sense of a visual in less than 1/10 of a second. In addition, people are scientifically designed to prefer storytelling.

• Visuals are more memorable and can also be more engaging. According to research people remember 10% of what they hear, 20 % of what they read, but 80 % of what they see.

• Last but not least, symbols and images are universal and can be understood by diverse audiences.

5 TIPS FOR BRANDS

1.You need to understand the purpose of your data visualization and the story it tells so as to make it easy for your audience to comprehend.

2. Create a good strategy for the story you share. You need to have a visual that draws special attention to your key facts and highlight trends.

3. Your data should motivate your audience to create its own experience through it, tailoring it to its needs.

4. Keep updated with the trends for behaviors towards visual data and optimize your visuals so as to be meaningful for diverse audiences.

5. Don’t forget that the visuals should support the content and you should not exaggerate.

If you follow the above and adhere some visual vocabulary elements to your brand you make the consumption of your content easier to recall, quicker to browse and more emotionally stimulating for your audience.

TO SUM UP

People love visual content, a content that tells a story. An appropriate content marketing strategy combines data and statistics with the corresponding info graphics and succeeds to tell a simple, but captivating story.

Speaking visual is the new trend…Are you a visual expert?

References:

• www.jwt.com/blog/opinion
• www.jwt.com/blog/consumer_insights/
• www.mindfirecomm.com/
• www.businessnewsdaily.com/
• neomam.com/
• www.elf-design.com/
• www.searchenginejournal.com/

Let us tell you how we can help you be visually literate or just say “hi” at onlinemarketing@mozaik.com.