You’ll be pleased to know that visual content marketing is still dominating the social network scene this year.
Images are analysed and processed 60,000 faster than text, making it easier for the human brain to recognise a familiar subject in a picture. By comparison, It takes the brain longer to process a sentence and understand what subject it’s covering.
Today, pictures and videos bring more traffic to websites than written content. In this environment where visual content is dominating the share of attention, it’s necessary for businesses to adapt their strategy to ensure they're engaging with their audience visually.
In this article, we’ve gathered the most up-to date data to help you define the right social media strategy for your company and increase your business’s customer engagement. We’ll also cover social media best practices, complete with image guidelines.
Why visual content marketing is taking over
As most social media experts envisioned a couple of years ago, social media is changing, and visual content is growing considerably. In fact, MDG Advertising found that content paired with an image attracted 94% more views on average than content without any visuals.
While blogging remains one of the most popular way to share information online, visual marketing is taking over and 49% of marketers now rate it as 'Very Important' to their marketing strategy.
The rise of apps like TikTok and Instagram have led to other social platforms evolving and establishing more visual-friendly platforms. So, as visual content marketing continues to evolve, 60% of consumers consider themselves more likely to contact a company when their local search results includes an image.
Social channels by the numbers
Twitter has been constantly evolving for the past couple of years. With the ability to add visuals without taking up the 280 character limit, people are now sharing more pictures, tagging friends, taking screenshots of funny conversations, and commenting on photos. With a 280 characters limit, it can sometimes be difficult to convey a message. But with images, users have more flexibility in their clarity of messaging. Today, tweets with images receive 94% more retweets.
Whether you’re a Twitter user or not, it’s hard to deny that visual content is the easiest way to captivate your audience’s attention.
In fact, Instagram and TikTok are proof that visual content is truly taking over.
TikTok users spend more than 850 minutes per month on the app, and there are 167 Million TikTok videos watched every minute.
Instagram is the second most-downloaded app in the world after TikTok, and the 7th most visited website, with 2.9 billion total visits per month.
Visual content can be more successful than any other form of communication. Including it in your social strategy is no longer an option, it’s a necessity. If you’re looking to attract more customers via social media platforms, here are some best practices and size guides for long-term social media success.
1. Image sizes
Looking to include more images in your marketing? Worried you might not know enough about visual content?
Worry no more!
We’ve put together some image size guidelines to help you nail your social media strategy on every single platform.
Twitter’s cover photo: 1500 x 500
Twitter landscape dimensions: 1024 x 512
Facebook profile photo dimensions: 170 x 170
Facebook cover photo dimensions: 851 x 315
Facebook Stories dimensions: 1080 x 1920
Facebook landscape dimensions: 1200 x 630
Facebook portrait dimensions: 630 x 1200
Facebook square dimensions: 1200 x 1200
Instagram profile photo dimensions: 320 x 320
Instagram Stories dimensions: 1080 x 1920
Instagram landscape dimensions: 1080 x 566
Instagram portrait dimensions: 1080 x 1350
Instagram square dimensions: 1080 x 1080
Instagram Reels dimensions: 1080 x 1920
LinkedIn profile photo dimensions: 400 x 400
LinkedIn cover photo dimensions: 1128 x 191
LinkedIn landscape dimensions: 1200 x 627
LinkedIn portrait dimensions: 627 x 1200
LinkedIn square dimensions: 1080 x 1080
Pinterest profile photo dimensions: 165 x 165
Pinterest cover photo dimensions: 800 x 450
Pinterest pin dimensions: 1000 x 1500
Pinterest square dimensions: 1000 x 1000
YouTube
YouTube profile photo dimensions: 800 x 800
YouTube banner dimensions: 2048 x 1152
YouTube video dimensions: 1280 x 720
TikTok
TikTok profile photo dimensions: 20 x 20
TikTok video dimensions: 1080 x 1920
2. User-generated content
Did you know that 51% of consumers check social media to evaluate a product or service before buying?
User-generated content (UGC) can help encourage consumers to learn more about your business, your products and your service, and understand how your customers feel about you in a trusted way.
For example, instead of stock photos, choose authentic pictures like photos of your customers using your own products. GoPro's social media channels are a great example in this case.
Using user-generated content as part of your social media strategy can significantly improve consumer engagement and conversion rate.
3. Reviews
At Trustpilot, we understand how important it is for customers to interact with businesses on social channels during the different stages of the buying journey. But we also know that online reviews could also help you attract more customers via social platforms.
Sharing online reviews on social media can help your content stay personal and up to date, while helping you stand out from the competition and grow your online reputation.
Want to learn how you can take advantage of visual content and reviews in your social media marketing? Request a free demo below, and we'll show you how Trustpilot can help your business today.
