In a speech this week at the F8 developer conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined Facebook’s 10-year plan to impact the way people interact with each other and brands. Running through the many lofty ideas — including enabling customers to chat with AI bots and interact virtually with representations of people, places and things — a common thread emerged: the focus on engaging people with outstanding visual content.
Zuck isn’t the only one touting visual communications.
I recently attended a social media conference held by Ragan Communications focusing on new features and emerging platforms as well as best practices for building brand recognition and storytelling. As I listened to Ragan CEO Mark Ragan during his “content marketing boot camp”, I was immediately struck by a seemingly simple idea: Good storytelling is the key to engaging your audiences, no matter what medium you use to communicate. But as every communications professional knows, that’s easier said than done. With ever-growing (and changing) platforms and 24-hour information overload, it’s tougher than ever to break through the clutter and stay consistently relevant.
The answer for Ragan and many of the experts? Visual storytelling. Today’s fast-paced, digitized media world demands that communicators convey information with images and videos that grab people’s attention where they are.
Cathy Hackl, broadcaster turned PR pro/social media strategist, said that people process videos 60K times faster than text and the average internet user watches 206 videos a month. According to Nielsen, 64 percent of marketers expect video to be the dominant force in future strategies and by 2017, 69 percent of all traffic on the internet will be video-based.
Here are four of the best tips for creating good visual content I heard during the Ragan conference:
- Create editorial guidelines: Be sure your team agrees on what makes good photography/video and how to use data and statistics to create compelling infographics. Put the rules in writing for everyone to follow
- Build a news site: Move from corporate communications to brand journalism by establishing your own (or your client’s) newsroom with great visual assets and videos. Providing and promoting such dynamic content on a consistent basis will compel media to come to you for the story
- Tell the hero’s journey: Think of the plot of every popular movie, whether it’s the Star Wars saga, the Harry Potter series or any other epic tale — the story arc always follows the hero/heroine’s journey. Use videos of influencers – fans, employees, experts (no CEO talking heads) – to convey those stories in an emotional, human way. This American Cancer Society video is a great example:
- Master the 4Cs: Be sure visual content is concise, conversational, compelling and creative. Use micro videos that convey your message without sound (use captions if necessary). Remember to keep it short: If the video doesn’t engage your audience after the first 30 seconds, you’ve likely lost 33 percent of viewers; and after a minute, 45 percent of viewers have stopped watching. About 30-45 seconds is best.
How do you make your brand stories come alive?