The old adage says, “A picture paints a thousand words” – but the question is, does this mean more to us now than before?
Pinterest and Instagram joined the social media domain in 2011 and they both have taken off faster than any other social media platform in the past. Research shows iPhone users upload nearly 4.5 million photos to Instagram each day and Pinterest has more than 12 million users and already outperforms LinkedIn, Google + and Twitter in driving referral traffic to retailers.
It seems visual content is more prevalent than ever – and as a marketing professional, I wonder – are we losing the power of words?
With this trend of image content, rarely do we stop and read an article. If the photo grabs our attention we may read a few lines underneath, but most of us just keep scrolling on to the next visually appealing article.
To engage readers and give the audience what they want, PR and marketing folks need to use this trend to their advantage and integrate photos and videos into press releases, blog posts and other marketing efforts and strategically curate the images to maximize readership.
Images make for a useful tool in supporting our content and really grabbing our reader’s attention – but there is no denying it’s in the actual wording where the argument and the core of what we are saying lives.
Pictures may mean more than ever now and Pinterest and Instagram may have changed the way we view and engage with online content, but in my opinion, it’s our words that will always be the most critical element in creating useful and relevant content.
