So, you’ve developed your brand identity, built an email marketing campaign, and created social media pages for your business. Now what? This is where the fun really begins. Hold on tight folks, because we’re about to get creative.
1. Visuals Are Everything
First-things-first: As humans, we’re visual creatures. When you hear something, three days later you’ll recall 10 percent of it. Buuuut… If you add a picture, you’ll remember 65 percent. You could be the best storyteller with the most amazing copy, but if your Facebook post doesn’t have an image or video…. It won’t make a lasting impression. We don’t want that for you.
Including a simple photo, graphic, or short video with your digital content increases engagement. Whether it’s your website, an email campaign or a social post - adding a visual makes all the difference.
2. Visual Creation Tips
That’s great Emerald, but how can we create visual content that doesn’t take ages to produce? What if we don’t have a video production expert on our team? How on earth do we master PhotoShop while growing our business? Great questions.
Give us a second to do our own shameless plug. Emerald’s experts create stellar content, from infographics to gifs to videos. We can absolutely take that burden away from your team so you can focus on what makes your business great.
Okay, back to the tips.
- Search a stock image website to find professional photos to use in your content
- Utilize a user-friendly design platform that offers pre-made templates to spice up stock images
- Create engaging videos with an online video maker tool - either upload your own video or choose from a library stock footage
3. Keep It Simple
Over the last two decades, the average attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to just eight seconds. Today’s marketers are constantly competing to grab a fraction of that 8 seconds. Think about it: When you’re watching TV, you’re simultaneously checking your phone. Texting friends, checking Twitter, or listening to your favorite podcast during commercials. Your sister randomly FaceTimes you to show you just how big your 3-year-old niece is getting. As a business, how do you stand out enough to take a piece of the 8-second pie? You keep it simple. This applies to copy, graphics, and videos. The simpler and shorter the better. There’s a reason Facebook has text recommendations for ads. You need to convey your message in less than 125 characters of text and a 40-character headline. Our recs:
- People like bullet points and lists. They’re easier to digest and work well for mobile. Which is key, considering the average US adult spent 3 hours and 43 minutes on mobile devices in 2019. In graphics and videos, consider centering the topic on something that can be numbered, like “Top 5 ____.” or “5 Reasons to ____.”
- In your social copy, get to the point. Since you don’t have much time to reel a user in, you don’t want to waste any of it.
- Make sure your call-to-action is clear and visible. On social, this should be included in your creative and in either your text or headline. In an email campaign, it should be front-and-center in your subject.
- Don’t use language that the general public won’t understand. Now is not the time to Google the fanciest synonyms for your words. Unless, of course, you’re targeting your content to a very niche professional audience that’ll understand your jargon.
- Think about the messaging that grabs your attention. When you’re checking your email, what subject prompted you to open it? When you’re scrolling through Instagram, what ad made you stop and stare?
- Don’t clutter up your visuals with too much copy. While adding text to images can make it stand out, it’s also a balancing act. The text needs to be legible and not blend into the background. Use bold, bright colors in your text and background to grab the user's attention.
4. Experiment with Content
While creating engaging content is important, analyzing your results takes the cake. You can create loads and loads of graphics and videos, but if you’re not evaluating how they perform on a given platform, you’re missing out on a major opportunity for growth. Here are some simple ways to experiment with content:
- Use A/B testing in emails. Experiment with different subject lines, preview texts, and email visuals. Frequently check in to see which combination performs best. Be sure to only change one thing at a time so you can pinpoint exactly what it is that’s driving open-rates.
- Use A/B testing in social ads. Facebook actually has an A/B testing option, where you can tweak an aspect of your ad and directly compare outcomes. You can change up headlines, text, and creative. This is your opportunity to see what visual actually delivers results. Is it a static image? An infographic? A short video? Use A/B testing to find out, and use the results to drive your content creation moving forward.
Experimenting with content also means taking creative risks. Don’t be afraid to really hone in on your brand voice in visuals. Use GIFs that’ll hit a homerun with your target audience. Make references to pop culture, history, or sports. Be relatable. And, most of all, bounce your ideas off of your team. Two minds are always greater than one, and we’re confident you can brainstorm some awesome content. We know we can.
5. Be Consistent
Presenting a brand consistently across all platforms can increase revenue by up to 23 percent. So, this isn’t just about aesthetics - it’s about boosting your bottom line. Ensuring your brand is cohesive across web, email, and social contributes to your brand authority. Here are some ways to stay consistent:
- Create a brand identity document that’s shared across departments. We know this is a boring bullet point, but it’s imperative to consistency. Ensuring your internal team lives and breathes your brand is the first step in making sure your external audience does, too.
- Adapt graphics and videos to fit for each platform. Created a visual that knocked it out of the park on Twitter? Adjust the specs and try it out on Facebook or in your next email campaign. People need to see things multiple times before the message sticks, so don’t worry about being repetitive.
- Where it’s appropriate, include your logo - especially if you think the piece of content will be widely shared, screenshot, or saved as an image to the user’s device. Just make sure it’s small and doesn’t distract from the messaging.
There we have it. We hope these five tips will help you tap into your inner creative genius. If you’re looking for more insight from our experts, check out (other blog posts). And, shameless plug again, if you’d rather not worry about any of this, let us take the wheel. We have decades of digital marketing experience with proven results. Let’s build something spectacular together.
