It is no news that people are generally drawn to what they see over any other form of communication or advertisement. It's harder to forget the things you see over the ones you have heard as the former lingers in your memory for a longer while than the latter.

Images, once simple and understandable, have a way of grabbing people's attention faster than words. Little wonder images and videos posted on social media platforms get more reactions and engagements than just words posted. Statistics have revealed that:

• The human brain requires about one-tenth of a second to process and understand an image but would need an average of 60 seconds to read about 200 words.
• Visual contents are remembered 6 times faster than information read or heard about.
• More engagement at an 80% rate is generated from videos.

To tap into the beneficial trend of visual marketing for your brand, you need to have unlimited access to visuals as you will require quite a long stream of images. What to do? Download more than a hundred million top-quality free images and high definition films at the best of prices, check online platforms that are designed to meet all your creative needs. 

Focused Collection is one of the leading websites that have figured out that one of the ways to increase your engagement is by adding images or film footage to your content.

In recognizing this need, they have created a platform that makes it easy to access different kinds of pictures that would meet the need of your creative content at any point in time. With this tool at your fingertips, you can make your content even more appealing to your desired audience.

When it comes to any kind of marketing, it is important to have key strategies in place to guide you for great results. To boost your overall engagement with visual content, here are some strategies that will help put you on the right path. 

1. Select easy to understand images

Images and videos relate stories to your audience easier than any other medium would. It is important to choose and use images that would give your content more value and help simplify your message.

It could be a documentary, an emotional or dark photo, a meme or a picture with a quote that would tell your story in the context they are being used. Focused Collection has galleries of all these and more for your perusal. 

2. Employing the use of varieties of image types and format

Be dynamic and do not stick to a particular format or type of image. Everybody loves new and unique ideas. So, if you stick to just one style of supporting your content with visuals, you would soon be boxed into the "boring brand" category.

You also do not always have to write out your contents, you can write them on the pictures instead. That way, the picture is the only tool for communicating with your audience. 

After all, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, right? There is the right format, size, and way to upload visual content on websites without reducing its quality and you should contact a web developer to put you through on the know-how. 

3. Maintain rights owned by the author

Every image is protected by copyright laws and there are penalties for illicit use or distribution of these images. Sharing copyright images without prior permission from the author makes you subject to infringement even if it is with or without your knowledge. It is easy to know if an image is copyrighted. If it is your original work, you own the copyright for the creative visuals. 

When the image is taken from an outside source, the copyright is owned by somebody else, so you would require written permission from the original author to use the visual. However, platforms like Focused Collection have galleries of high-quality, royalty-free visuals that are made available to brands that need them. 

4. Enhance your visuals for search engine optimization

As the years roll by, there is an increase in the search for visuals on the internet over the search for texts. You should optimize your images with keywords and descriptions that would make it easier for your pictures to make the top list on search engines. Your image description should include keywords and reflect on what is in the content of the image.

5. Have a cross-promotion plan for your visuals like you would for your content

Share your featured images across all your social media platforms like you would share your texts or word posts too. Also, figure out which social media platform supports visuals more than texts and concentrate on uploading more visuals on these platforms over words.

A social media platform like Instagram supports visual content and has a higher level of engagement for visuals over words compared to Twitter and Facebook.

6. Motion pictures

If you don't have the flare for photos, it is not altogether bad. Film footage could also be used as an alternative for pictures on websites or social media platforms. You can create a video of the content you want to project and attach it to the write up to enhance engagement. It is also a very effective way to get your information across to your audience while pictures are not available.

It is very easy to include the use of visuals in boosting engagement but creating eye-catching and jaw-dropping visuals could pose a problem at times. 

Here are some quick tips for creating relevant visuals that would effectively communicate to your audience.

• Be ready to create visuals that would speak for themselves. By doing this, you wouldn't be needing to support the point you have made on the visual image with words. The message would be clear, easily understood and related to the visuals.
• Focus on one subject: In creating visuals, it is necessary to have a single focus on the image. Going around different topics on one picture without nailing any particular point would have you preparing for a communication disaster.
• Contrast makes it easier for your audience to see the image clearly.
• Go for matching colors: For the image, you don't have to use up all the colors in the color wheel. That would make the visual appear chaotic to your audience. 
• Don't filter too much, you should edit the image with caution.

In conclusion, visual content is becoming more relevant for content marketing across various industries and niches. 

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