You have a new website, you’ve learned the ropes of social media. The last remaining question is, how do you tell a story with graphics that will pique viewer curiosity?
Telling a story with graphics that links a person to the story you tell in the content of your website is a great way to keep a nice flow to your website.
Anything you can do to make it easier for visitors to ease into your website content should be done. While there is an art and science to graphics on your website, this post focuses on graphics off your website meant to bring people to your website. These are primarily social media graphics and you don’t have to be a pro to create them, there is an easy way to create social media images.
Benefits of Graphics
Any help you can get capturing a visitors attention and making them curious about your content is welcome. Wouldn’t you say?
Here are a few benefits of a well-done graphic that tells your brand’s story successfully:
- Brand recognition.
- Higher conversions.
- Get them to look.
- Spark interest to view more content.
- Start off positive.
These are some of the non-data driven examples of what graphics can do for you, but we need at least one data-driven example. Fortunately, I came across a post written by Neil Patel that uncovers that Tweets with graphics get 200% more engagement than Tweets without (source).
It’s not as easy as throwing up just any image and expecting viewers to love your content, though. Some thought and purpose must go into your choice of graphic.
Telling Your Story
Your brand has its own unique story. Each piece of content you publish also has a story which makes up the larger story of your brand. There are a few things that need to be accomplished with graphics you share on social media and other websites.
When telling your story with graphics, you need to do 3 things:
- Draw a person’s attention and curiosity.
- Tell what’s inside and why someone should click (or tap).
- Connect the graphic to the content.
It’s easy to boil these three things down to a short sentence, but the execution is not so simple.
Draw Attention and Curiosity
Problem: There’s a lot of content on the Internet, and most suffer from content overload. That means your graphic is mixed in with a flood over other videos, graphics, and text. The good part to this is that graphics fend better than text, but not usually as good as the video.
Solution: Combine text into an interesting and relevant graphic that makes people curious. Tap into the emotion that graphics can deliver. Graphics can tap into our emotions and feel a connection in a shorter amount of time than text or even a video can do.
Give ‘Em a Sneak Peak
Problem: People are browsing quickly and they aren’t reading every bit of text they see on the screen. They’re never going to make it to your content if their first impression doesn’t capture their attention.
Solution: Make sure the graphic you choose is high quality and tells the story of your content. A graphic that catches viewers attention will also make it almost impossible to not read the text on the graphic.
Connect Visuals to Content
Problem: Graphics on social media don’t always have a relevant connection to the content they represent. It can be shocking for a visitor if the graphic they saw doesn’t have any meaningful connection to the content.
Solution: Before browsing around for a graphic to use, think about your content a bit and think about what type of graphic would be relevant. If you start looking for a graphic first, every graphic will look like a solution to your problem.
Your Successful Story
You’ve picked carefully and done some editing to get the perfect graphic. That’s great!
Your article follows your overall brand and now the graphic you’ve created follows your article’s content. Now there is a consistent flow for visitors from social media to your content, and hopefully eventually to the goal of your website.
Now visitors will get a proper introduction to your brand that they deserve. The story of your brand will be successfully shared and promote the unique content you create for potential clients and customers.