Why should B2C companies have all the fun with visual social media? Today’s B2B businesses are discovering the power of visual storytelling on social media to drive engagement and sales.
Interesting fact: your brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text. And when it comes to recalling information, pictures trump text every time.
You may have also heard that telling your audience a story, as opposed to straight up information, makes an indelible impression. When you add it all up and factor in the increasingly short shelf life of social media posts, it makes sense to create visual marketing campaigns that tell a story.
Not to worry, there’s no lack of visual social media platforms available to do this. Instagram is one of the world’s fastest growing social networks. YouTube viewing is steadily rising. On Facebook, photos, photo albums and videos respectively get 120%, 180% and 100% more engagement than links and text-only posts, and tweets with images are twice as likely to result in engagement. Equally impressive are the engagement numbers being reported by Pinterest, as well as marketers using pictures and videos in their emails and blogs.
Yet when small B2B companies think about creating visual content, many mistakenly believe three of the biggest myths surrounding it. First, that it’s best suited for businesses selling to consumers. Second is that it’s expensive and time consuming to create high quality visual content. Third is that their products or industry aren’t compelling enough to engage their audience through visual storytelling.
The truth is that B2B companies are launching successful visual marketing campaigns every day, quickly and cost effectively. Even more important to remember is that most B2B companies aren’t trying to engage the masses. Instead, they know the importance of attracting and engaging their target audience.
If you want to stand out amongst them, here are seven great ways to successfully use visual storytelling in your social media campaigns.
1. Appeal to your audiences’ senses. When you evoke genuine emotion, from laughter to empathy to tranquillity, it creates a positive memory in your audience’s mind. Facebook is a great place to host these as it also lends itself to initiating dialogue among your customers.
2. Show your customers using your products. There are three benefits to doing this. First, it brings your business to life. Second, it spotlights your customers, which increases the likelihood of them sharing the content. Third, it could cut down on unnecessary calls to customer service. Post these images on your Pinterest boards or YouTube channel along with links back to your website.
3. Introduce your employees. When customers get to know the people who make it all happen, they form closer bonds with your business whilst enabling you to publicly recognise your team. Consider posting employee video interviews on your website and promoting them with a teaser and link in your newsletter.
4. Offer customers a sneak peek into an upcoming product or campaign and ask for their opinion. When you give an insider’s view and let them know how much you value their opinion they’re more likely to engage. You can pique their curiosity with teaser tweets and images that appear on your website and social channels.
5. Share a behind-the-scenes view of your company. When customers can see how you operate, it establishes further credibility and trust and it might shorten the sales cycle. This is especially true if you’re in an industry like food services or manufacturing, where cleanliness and safety are a top priority. Make your insider videos available on your website, Facebook page or YouTube to reach the widest possible audience of potential customers.
6. Post milestones. Audiences respond well to nostalgia, especially as part of Throwback Thursday, which remains huge on Facebook. It also allows you to show a more personal and fun side of your business and personality.
7. Promote your events. When customers can flip through previous event photos and videos to see what’s in store before they register, they’re more likely to attend.
Visual storytelling time savers and apps
Before you go live with any visual content, run a test to see that it appears in the right size and format and it’s easily downloaded, especially on a mobile device. Also, be sure you have the right to use it.
B2B companies that use visual storytelling find it’s a great way to tell their business story and showcase their personalities. When you do this, it humanises your business. It also builds trust and familiarity, which is critical to establishing long-lasting customer relationships.
Author Bio. :- Arun Som is the technical content writer of Hopinfirst that helps startups and enterprises in mobile technology and having a great experience in software development, mobile app development, website development and digital marketing.
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