Images are proliferating social media, on visual networks like Pinterest and Instagram and proving more effective on Facebook and Twitter. Users are more likely to engage with brands that post pictures, so check out these best practices for visual content strategy, tactics for executing images in social media and resources for finding visual inspiration. There are also a few apps to check out for where visuals may go next, including ThingLink and DigiSocial.

1. 1Proprietary & Confidential © 2011 Zócalo Group, LLC
June 2013
@JessicaReed09
WHY AND HOW
OF VISUAL
STRATEGY FOR
BRANDS IN
SOCIAL MEDIA

2. 2© 2013 Zócalo Group, LLC
Why Images?
83% of learning
occurs visually
90% of
information
transmitted
to the brain
is visual
Images are
processed
60,000X
faster in the
brain than
text

3. 3© 2013 Zócalo Group, LLC
Why Now in Social?

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Images Taking Over Social Media
500 million photos are shared per day on average so far
in 2013, which is on pace to become a 2x increase by the
end of 2013, compared to share volume in 2012
“70% of all
social media
actions
involve a
picture”
- Professor Mikolaj Jan
Piskorski,Harvard University

5. 5© 2013 Zócalo Group, LLC
44% of users are more likely to
engage with brands if they post
pictures than any other media.

6. 6Proprietary & Confidential © 2011 Zócalo Group, LLC
Image
Strategy

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Best Practices
Editorial
No faces

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Best Practices
Include
Mascot

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“Quotes account for 10% of Pinterest’s traffic”
Best Practices

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Best Practices
Red Hues
Multiple
Dominant
Colors
50% Color
Saturation
Medium
Lightness

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Best Practices
Background
no more than
40% of total
image area
Vertical =
Better

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Description & Hashtag
To be
shared,
it must
be
found!

13. 13Proprietary & Confidential © 2011 Zócalo Group, LLC
Tactics

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Management Systems
Be Efficient
Be Responsive

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Pinnable Mail
Email templates to
feature specific pins
with call-to-action
Ensures Pinterest users
receive email featuring
images on topics
they’ve recently pinned

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Contests
for the Win

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Gather the Influence
3,604,241
Followers

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Amplify through Paid

19. 19Proprietary & Confidential © 2011 Zócalo Group, LLC
Measure

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Analytic Platforms Offer More
Only about 10% of conversations mention
a brand explicitly on Pinterest
Track which images are being shared,
when and where they’re shared to
determine the why that will influence
strategy

21. 21© 2013 Zócalo Group, LLC
Analytic Platforms Offer More

22. 22Proprietary & Confidential © 2011 Zócalo Group, LLC
Resources

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Popular Images

24. 24© 2013 Zócalo Group, LLC
Popular Images

25. 25Proprietary & Confidential © 2011 Zócalo Group, LLC
Where to
go next?

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Add rich media tags to an
image to make it interactive

27. 27© 2013 Zócalo Group, LLC
150MM snaps
shared daily
globally
vs. Instagram
40MM/Day
SnapChat

28. 28© 2013 Zócalo Group, LLC
DigiSocial
Audio with Images

29. 29Proprietary & Confidential © 2011 Zócalo Group, LLC
Questions?
Jessica Reed
Emerging Media Strategist
Zócalo Group
Email: jreed@zocalogroup.com
LinkedIn: JessicaReed09
Twitter: JessicaReed09
Sources: EVZdrop, HubSpot, Curalate, Hello! Society, PinLeague, ROI Research,
Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Dan Zarrella, Mashable, Pinterest