[Updated on 8/18/14]

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: visual content gets much more engagement on social media platforms than text alone. In the days where a 140-character tweet can barely hold someone’s attention for longer than 10 seconds, it only makes sense that pictures and videos are widely more popular than just text.

Click on the image above for a great Infographic from HubSpot about visual content

Businesses will benefit greatly from utilizing visual resources on their social media platforms. Not only will people be more willing to view this content, they will also be more likely to share it. According to HubSpot, photos are “Liked” twice as much as just text updates and videos are shared twelve times more than links and text posts on Facebook. When a user “likes” or shares a photo or video from a business’ page, their friends will see this as an update in their newsfeed. For example, if your friend “likes” American Express’ photo, there is a good chance you will see this on your news feed, even if you have not “Liked” the American Express business page.

How Visual Content Can Help Your Business Online

With mobile apps such as Instagram and Pinterest, it’s easier than ever for users to upload visually appealing pictures online. Pinning pictures to the widely popular Pinterest website is a fantastic way to drive users to your business’ website. Not only is this an ideal place to post your merchandise in a creative way (think Instagrammed photos of your store’s clothing apparel or restaurant’s famed dishes), it’s ideal for letting customers see the human side of your business and employees. Traffic from Pinterest has outgrown that from Google+, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon and even Twitter, driving thousands of Pinterest users to various sites across the web.

In this day and age, smartphones are seen as a standard in the technology world, making it easier than ever to upload high quality images to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and more. And people are not shy to do so. Check out this funny video below for a parody of the highly anticipated iPhone5, back before it was released.

How do you make the most of visual content on your social media sites? Let us know.

About the Author

PCG Digital Marketing is an award winning digital agency headquartered in Eatontown, NJ. We help our clients get found online through innovative search, social and online advertising campaigns.