The Importance of Image in Social Media Marketing

Introduction

The maxim 'A picture is worth a thousand words' is more true than ever. These days, under the coverage of social media all over the world, not only is it a familiar mean for people to update and gain more information, but also a powerful tool for business marketing strategies. Nevertheless, the vast amount of data contained by those networks, and the rapid pace in lifetime simultaneously lead to the fact that people want consumable content and do not have time to read lengthy articles, especially if that information is marketing based. Therefore, marketers come up with the solution - image transmission, the only effective way to convey a large amount of information. This essay renders numerous reasons ascertaining the importance of image as an indispensable factor in social media marketing.

Image in Social Media Marketing

First of all, when it comes to KFC, what is the first thing people think of? Is fried chicken, red, or the image of Colonel Sander? By what method can people recall these photos with no endeavors? The answer is based on the mechanism of action of the human brain. As per advertising industry influencer Krista Neher, the human cerebrum can process images up to 60,000 times faster than words. Thus, after contacting with a series of photos that carry a synchronized and repetitive message, the brain tends to store and easily visualize these images whenever evoked. In fact, customers do not care about the marketing strategy or the media plan, they only remember the interactions between them and brands, especially by image. For these reasons, many companies harness the power of pictures to make marketing activities more appealing and memorable.

Specific exemplifications demonstrating this point is the story of Coca-Cola. Over a decade, this brand has assembled its reputation through advertising campaigns with amazing pictures to pull in purchasers. One of the most memorable is 'Taste the feeling' in 2016. The campaign used 100 photos combining the daily routines of people with the familiar images of Coca-Cola such as the unique container and the two hues red and white. As the result, it made those pictures resemble a slice of the diversity of people around the globe as they enjoy their 'Coca-Cola' in the simplest, most usual way, leaving profound impressions and creating associations with the customers.

Secondly, the vast majority have a limited attention span. It is mentioned in Cambridge Dictionary that attention span is the length of time that people can keep their thoughts and interest fixed on something. As you may know, the average attention span for the notoriously ill-focused goldfish is nine seconds, but according to a new study from Microsoft Corp., people now generally lose concentration after eight seconds. Therefore, in an information age where data can quickly become overwhelming, they are not intended to spare extra time to read lengthy posts. If the post has nothing but text may turn off many subscribers. In this case, images can break up written content. Well-placed, they can take persuasive words that one stride further and capture the attention span of the viewers long enough to make them read what is being brought up. For brands that are attempting to introduce new items and clarify better subtleties, this is impeccable as it offers all the more captivating and broken up way to digest information.

Furthermore, images also bring the mission to pass on emotions to users. Human emotions are something very complex and difficult to depict in words. However, pictures can simplify and convey the most appreciable sentiments. It is clear to see that the emotional response - love, hate, frustration or discomfort for an ad template largely affects consumers' buying decisions instead of content. An example of this is the advertising campaign 'Thank You, Mom' welcoming Rio 2016 by P&G. Looking at the product portfolio of P&G: paper diaper Pampers and Bounty tissue, these products explicitly can not make athletes become Olympic champions. However, the common point of those items is their target client – mom. With arrangement of the most genuine pictures posted on the fanpage, P&G implied that behind the success of every Olympic athletes is the infinite love and great sacrifice of mothers. As the result, this campaign has harnessed the deepest element of consumers' minds to propel the purchase and become the most successful marketing activity in P&G's 175-year history.

One of the reasons shows that images are so important is because they make consumers feel the authenticity. An authentic picture evokes emotions that can connect the customers to it and make them feel like they are in the same space as viewing. Consequently, giving clients a realistic feel is very important in business, especially in the modern world where the rapid development of virtual networks has led to the fact that people pursue something genuine. Posting pictures about the purpose of business or a few behind-the-scene images on social media can increase the engagement of customers. For instance, Toms Shoes posted a lot of pictures of poor children with new shoes in their hands and a bright smile. Not only did they help inform the company's charitable activities but also made fans more appreciative of seeing the influence of a pair of shoes they bought on the world. By utilizing social media to show authenticity, enlightening the customers as to the true identities behind, businesses have more chances of convincing them and by that means earning benefits.

Hence, to achieve these goals, social media is a crucial tool. Due to its predominance and popularity on people around the world, there is no doubt that it is the fastest way to spread the images for marketing. It is estimated that 86% of the world's population use social media at least once per day, and those who spend time going online multiple times per day takes up 72%. Besides, most people use Facebook (82%), YouTube (75%), and Instagram (53%) at least once per week. Therefore, posting pictures of the same topic on various websites helps to increase brand awareness. When people see similar types of images, colors, and patterns on Pinterest like they do on Facebook, they'll associate those images with brands.

Moreover, consumers now have the hobby of taking photos of food and drinks and posting them online to show them to their friends and express their personal taste. The way that companies share photos posted by customers makes them excited and satisfied. This is not only the best way for you to express gratitude to customers but also a great way to create new content, inspiring, brand-related and most importantly, bringing businesses and customers close together. In particular, Starbucks always congratulates the people who are the most important to the company: its customers. Starbucks posts on Instagram fans' photos to share customer views about their products. In this way, it prompts the increase in popularity through word of mouth advertising from the fans brought by network platforms. In consequence, many companies have realized and taken advantage of social media to create huge but economical and effective advertising campaigns.

Conclusion

This paper mainly stated various reasons why pictures are so essential in social media marketing together with a lot of reliable exemplifications. Utilizing pertinent pictures via social media allows businesses to gain attention, raise awareness, communicate vital information, and increase engagement. Obviously, the brand image and the pictures of the product portfolio are extremely important, without them, companies will not be able to attract the attention of consumers and convey all characteristics as well as getting the right appreciation. In this social media booming era, image is the gold key for the business marketing strategy. This method will definitely help enterprises to connect more closely with users and attract more traffic to brand websites.