The shared image marketing on the internet is hotter than ever and shows no signs of slowing down. Not only are shared images on Facebook hotter than ever, they are a premium way to get your page shared within the social network. But there’s an image sharing world outside of Facebook and these sites are hotter than ever. Many of you have heard about Pinterest and Instagram, and I’m sure some of you participate in these sharing sites. Why are these sites gaining such popularity?  Our staff photographer and graphic designer Alan, put it best when he explained the popularity with simplicity: “People like pictures!”.  It’s true; people do like pictures. Pictures tap into the synapsis of the human brain in a way that text cannot.  According to a 3M Corporation study, we process visual information 60,000 times faster than text. If you want to get someone’s attention with your marketing message don’t count on text to stand out from the marketing onslaught people see every day.

Do you need further motivation to key in on a visuals in your marketing?  Here’s a few:

Visuals can help simply a difficult or complex message. They have a quicker and stronger emotional connection with people than text.  They’re vastly more sharable.  Some great evidence of this is when you see a quote shared, it’s usually set against an appealing visual image. There are more channels available for quick sharing images and images are more memorable. Studies have shown that we remember images much better than words, with that effect strengthening with each viewing.

With such compelling evidence it’s clearly time to think of some creative ways to use visual images to market your business!

Nick Hagen is the founding member of the Ryonet Marketing team. He’s currently lead strategist with Ryonet’s Video Production and Social Media Marketing. Nick founded the Ryonet Youtube channel and Facebook page. He also runs a successful entertainment based YouTube channel on the side. Nick’s combined daily efforts in social media have resulted in his work being viewed over 17 million times on YouTube and have netted him over 42,000 likes on Facebook pages he administers and creates content for.

How to guidesHow to: tips/listsMarketing mondayMarketing tipsOnline marketing