Relationship Between Visual Communication and Social Media

Meaning of Visual Communication

Visual communication, in simple words, is the use of symbols and visuals to convey a message or an information. Along with verbal communication and nonverbal communication, it is one of the three main ways of communication. According to research, since primitive times, people have relied on visual communication the most – which includes hand gestures, graphic designs, films, typography, and a variety of other ways.

Types of Visual Communication

Visual communication can be used in a variety of ways, including marketing campaigns, professional presentations, onboarding and training programmes, and teaching strategies. The following are some of the most popular ways of communicating visually:

• GIFs: Usage of GIFs has been a revolutionary way to lighten up your presentation and is a great way to instantly engage your audience. Let’s not forget how well they induce humour to a rather boring conversation.

• Animation: A still or text-only image will not hold your viewer's attention as successfully as an animated video, image, or words will. Another strength of animation is its capacity to simplify a rather twisted narration through well-defined animated imagery.

• Images: A picture is said to be worth a thousand words. If you can utilise one to help you envision your point, go ahead and use it.

•  Short format Movies (reels or tiktok videos): Short-form, vertical videos that can be 15 to 60 seconds long are all the craze right now. It all began with Tiktok and now we have instagram reels, youtube also has their youtube shorts. These small videos are fun and well-suited to share entertaining, educational, and inspiring content on the app.

• Infographics: Infographics present complex data or statistics in a visually appealing, easy-to-understand style. Charts and graphs assist the viewer in swiftly comprehending material in a way that is far easier than describing with words.

Why Is Visual Communication Important?

Words alone aren't always enough to convey your message effectively. At times, it is visual communication that aids in bridging the gap between words and thoughts, allowing those on the other side to get the genuine meaning.

By making the content eye-catching, engaging, and clear, visual communication both informs and motivates its target audience. Also, a visual message generates more response than a textual message, and let’s be honest, it’s more interactive.

How Does Visual Communication Impact People And Their Communications?

People love visuals. It is this very insight that leads us into believing that visuals are enriching, they allow an individual to express more than verbal and textual communication. Case in point, your engagement rate on Instagram, or any other social platform, will be more if you post a video or a funny gif, rather than just a plain text.

By acquiring different ways of using visual communication, you’ll also be able to recognise your characteristic voice if you employ unique approaches to communicate your ideas. Rather than imitating others and their methods, you'll make an effort to develop your own. This way, you'll be able to do more experimenting with new ideas for something that hasn't been done before. Your peers will be able to recognise your distinct personality more easily. So go on and try visually communicating with your friends today. Send a quirky gif instead of a text and see how differently they revert.

How Are Visual Communication & Social Media Related?

The power of visual communication is undeniable; it exists both online and offline. However, as social media has become more pervasive in our lives, visual communication has become even more important than before, owing to the popularity of social media platforms.

Social media has made communication from a boring to an interactive process and visual communication has aided to its diversification – an interactive visual post on social media gets much more traction than a radio show, a TV program, or even the Prime Minister’s speech. When these two forces collide, the result is a marvel of a marketing tool that we’ll talk about later in the story.

Importance of Visual Communication In Social Media

Visual communication allows you to communicate with your audience in a way that words alone cannot. Videos, in particular, are a powerful tool that generates substantially more viewer engagement and conversions than links, text, or still images. As a result, employing a professional visual communication platform can help elevate your message in a world where users are bombarded with too much information.

How Does It Improve Your Social Media Engagement?

As discussed before, infographics, photos, videos, and other multimedia content are used in visual communication. When you use pictures instead of language, you make things the focal point of your communication.

Using this on social media can help you capture and hold your audience's attention. This is because pictures may thrill your audience and help them connect with your product on a more tactile level, which can boost brand recall.

You're missing out on a terrific opportunity to engage your audience if you're not employing visuals yet.

1. How To Effectively Use Visual Communication As A Marketing Tool On Social Media?

In today's digital marketing, social media is crucial. Marketers use social media platforms to target specific groups while simultaneously delivering high-quality content to a broad number of people. Almost every company on the market, however, uses social media to personalise their messages and sell their products by posting material on social media networks. As per reports, around 140 million tweets are sent out and more than two million videos are published to social media.

The gamot of visual consumption is on an all-time high. Just so that you don’t slack at it, here’s how you can make the best use of visuals on social media and increase engagement.

People Prefer Visuals

People, as previously stated, are visual creatures. Consumers can only remember 10 to 20% of the information they read or hear online, but when that information is combined with visual elements, that percentage jumps to 65 percent. Furthermore, any information that can be digested more quickly will have a higher importance in attracting a person's attention.

As a result, pictures and images are better for content than plain blocks or lines of text. On social media, people are more likely to engage with visual content.

Gives A Better Call To Action

One of the most essential visual parts of content marketing today is video. However, by 2024, video traffic will account for 85% of all internet traffic. The majority of online viewers prefer to watch videos rather than read plain text. In fact, four times as many consumers would prefer to watch a product video than read about it, and 90 percent of consumers say seeing a product video is extremely useful in making a purchasing choice.

All of this information has led to almost 64% of buyers making a purchase, which concludes that visual communication surely increases your revenue.

Arouses Emotions

One of the keys to developing viral material on social media is to elicit strong emotions. Brands should develop content with engaging narratives, genuine characters, and unexpected ends.

This method, when used in visual communication, has the potential to make your material go viral. It can help improve your audience's emotional connection to your brand. Try to come up with visual messaging that will make your audience laugh, cry, cringe, or gasp. These are messages that your audience might link with a certain emotion, prompting them to share your content.

Targets All Sorts Of Audience

What is your audience's reaction to your social media content?

Is there a difference in how your audience reacts to different types of visual content?

Answer these questions with some research and focus on what your target audience responds to. It can help you improve their experience with your brand. Producing this type of material will also help you enhance your engagement and target different audiences.

Consider the various pictures you can create and see which ones seem to resonate with your target audience the most. Consider the following questions:

Is your audience more receptive to videos? What do they talk about the most?

Once you've compiled a list of your favourite images, share them consistently across all social media channels. With time and audience understanding, you can certainly champion your social media game.

Future of Visual Communication

To wrap up this topic, we can say that visual communication is the fastest way to convey information to your audience. People, too, prefer to learn through pictures, which can help you enhance engagement as  your audience does not have to read through walls of text to get your message.

The future of visual communication is booming and there’s no stopping the professionals who have honed their VC skills – there are opportunities galore. From fashion industry, marketing to even arts and entertainment, Visual Communication professionals are steadily being hired.

So, if in any way, this piece has intrigued your interests you can embrace visual communication as a professional choice in your career.