The Basics to Planning a Visual Content Strategy in 2019
Quick questions – What are some integral parts of our visual content strategy that year? What can you do that’s going to be new and refreshing? What value are you going to offer to your audience? Through what means? What resources do you need? If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you shouldn’t be. We’re just here to help with all these, so let’s take it a step at a time.
These are just some of the questions many brands should ask themselves every year. A new year entails the beginning of something new, and often your visual content strategy is what deserves more attention. Primarily it’s because the majority of people are visual learners, but also because in 2019, the only way to get people to pay attention is to stop them in their tracks when scrolling through their feeds and inboxes.
For the sake of keeping it simple, we’ll focus on 10 tips and ideas that should get you thinking about how to better organize your visual strategy in 2019, where to draw ideas, and how to tie everything together without panicking about your next social media post.
Visual content strategy objectives
A visual strategy is about how you share your story. It helps you figure out what you need to share, how to share it, and why you’re sharing it. It’s an extension of your brand aesthetics. Visual content that you share online enhances your brand, regardless of the platforms you choose. It can be your social media pages, blog, or other mediums, but it’s important that there is coherence.
If you manage to tell your brand story in a coherent way, with a very particular aesthetic, you increase your chances of being memorable, acquiring new clients who believe in your vision, or simply inspiring people to follow your brand and see more of what you have to say with your visual storytelling. If you haven’t nailed your objectives, it’s probably a good idea to sit down and reflect on.
Before you start – know your goals and audience
We’re calling these tips universal because they don’t apply to specific industries. We can’t address some things – such as the nature of your business, your existing strategy, or your target audience. Although we can edge quite close to the essentials of a refreshing visual content strategy because some things hold true for many brands.
Regardless of where you stand, of course it would be great to tap into the needs and wants of your target audience. It would be even more beneficial if you could acquire new clients or grow your followers count. You know best about their interests, and we come with 10 solid ideas to help you stand out. Let’s start from the top.
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Authentic visuals don’t leave one indifferent. Long gone are the days of cliches, and especially using very literal representations to illustrate your ideas. Something we do at Depositphotos is compiling collections of photographs every week to help you with your selection process. See our photo collections to find topics that are in line with your activity, and save yourself a whole lot of time with the basic search.
Focus on personalization
In terms of marketing activity, personalization is perhaps the most important topic of this year. Personalization is about finding a more personal approach to communication with your customers, followers, and prospective clients. Find out more about personalization in 2019 in this article. Briefly, personalizing your visual content is about finding images that will resonate with your client demographics if you were to break them down and talk to individuals instead of classifying and targeting segments.
Prioritize social media activity
What works for your brand, won’t necessarily work for the competitors next door. A great way to get organized and find a way to focus your energy on channels that work is testing your activity and engagement on different platforms. Once you pinpoint where engagement peaks, you can select 2 platforms where you can concentrate your efforts for better results.
Test formats with your audience
It’s trial and error for this aspect of content curation. We once covered 10 visual formats for engaging content curation, but it’s unrealistic to work in all these directions. Once again, you can select formats that could better represent your business and focus on a handful, or find new formats that you haven’t tried before to test if they work. The goal is of course to share the content you’re producing, and it’s a matter of analyzing what has previously worked for your trend to establish what you’ll continue using.
Invest in video and quality content
Aside from using video as one of the formats you’ll test out, you can create unique video content to spread the word about your brand. Video is on the rise, and has been on the lips of every marketer for the past few years. If video works so well, surely there’s a way you can make the most of this format in a way that will help promote your brand. Above all else, quality content is the only way to go so you have to be ready to invest, which doesn’t necessarily have to break the bank.
Get inspired by visual trends
As with every year, we predict the type of visual content, formats, and movements that will form the scope of visual communication. The visual trends of 2019 are a way to try something new in light of the type of content that will help you stand out. Visual trends are always about trying something new, and we have 9 strong ideas for you to try out with your visual content strategy.
Visual content creation with Crello
Personalizing existing visual content can be a time-saving tool. Crello has been an irreplaceable tool for social media managers, marketers, and entrepreneurs that want to take charge of their visual content curation. You can select templates based on your theme, customize the designs, try new formats, and offer something new every time you post on your platforms.
Getting organized: ‘Favorites’ folder to the rescue
If you do happen to be in charge of actual content curation, you need to have a place to gather all your images in one place. If the nature of your business requires photographs, videos, and illustrations, Depositphotos has a very convenient ‘Favorites’ folder options which helps you organize your content. Simply save the images you’d like to purchase in separate folders as you’re scrolling through the library and purchase them in bulk when you’re ready.
Keep an eye out for content ideas
Sure, you can track the online activity of your competitors, but that doesn’t exactly help you with creativity or producing unique content to make your brand memorable. In 2019, where do you find inspiration? You’ve got to use all the resources available to you. Aside from your favorite blogs and websites, there are quick alternatives to services like Pinterest to help you with your pool of ideas.
Visual content curation applies to not only social media, blogs, and ads, but also other modes of communication that you use on a regular basis. When you have to approach something intimidating like a content plan, keep in mind that going back to the basics and brainstorming with things that are already at your disposal is probably your best bet.
Today’s article is about the starting place of all great creative endeavors – inspiration, trends, and suggestions on how to move forward with establishing a visual content strategy that will work for your brand and is in line with your brand personality.
Have you defined your brand personality? Read up on: The Power of Brand Archetypes in Marketing: Which One are You?
