We review our website analytics monthly. One of the areas we focus on is pageviews, including the top performing blog posts, traffic referrers, and social referrers. The numbers on most of our social media networks, including all three Facebook sites, were down in the fourth quarter of 2014. We puzzled over what had changed; what was missing? Subsequently, one of the actions we undertook was to add more images, videos and photos, to our . It worked. On one of our Facebook pages referrals improved by 78% and another was more than 200%. The numbers on our third site slightly declined, but so had the number of images posted compared to previous months.

It’s not just us

From EMarketer, “87% of Facebook shares worldwide in March of 2014 were images.” And it’s not only Facebook. The numbers are similar across the board, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Goggle+, all do better with images, and image networks such as Pinterest and Instagram continue to increase their market share.  Forbes–Skyrocket Your Consumer Engagement with the Right Social Media Images.

Media Blog shared this on Twitter Retweets. “Photos give verified users a 35% bump in retweets, compared to what they would get anyway.”

  • Photo – 35%
  • Video URL – 28%
  • Hashtag – 16%

It’s not only social media; people respond positively to images—photos, infographics, and video on websites too.  “A study by eyeviewdigital.com shows that using video on landing pages can increase conversion by 80%. — Unbounce.com. Consumers have spoken—they want images.

It’s Part of the Culture

As a child of the 1950’s I was part of the first generation to be glued in front of a TV screen. We had three stations to choose from on our black and white television set—yet we sat enthralled, munching popcorn every Sunday evening watching the Ed Sullivan Show. That was more than 50 years ago. Today, people expect images.

It’s How Our Brains Work

“MIT neuroscientists have found that the human brain can process entire images that the eye sees for as little as 13 milliseconds — the first evidence of such rapid processing speed.” —Kurzweil News. The average person reads English at 250-300 words per minute. It takes a whole lot of words and a lot more time to communicate a message by words than images. Remember the adage, “A picture’s worth a thousand words.”  In an HP (Hewlett Packard) article they share the following:

Studies show that people remember:

  • 10% of what they hear
  • 20% of what they read
  • 80% of what they see and do

It’s all in the Image

 Images connect quicker than words and are remembered longer. Without images, copy alone only sends part of the message to part of the people. Consumers react positively to images more than copy by itself, and the numbers are phenomenal. The majority of prospects vetting your product or service will make a decision based on what they see more often than what they read or hear. Don’t misunderstand; the best marketing practice is to appeal to as many senses as possible. Although not always feasible, combining words, pictures, video, and audio is the best practice. Would you like to learn more?  Let us know we’ll be happy to help you with your image.