Visual Storytelling: How to Use Images and Video to Connect with Your Audience
Storytelling has been used for thousands of years. Marketers have been using it for many years and have always seen great results from it. That’s because storytelling is one of the best ways to communicate a message and create memorable content.
Visual storytelling is the process of telling a story through visual content like photos and videos. It’s the most modern type of storytelling, and If you ask us, you should definitely use it in your content strategies.
In order to help you create the best visual stories, we’ll be sharing some of the best tips out there and how to use them yourself. If this is something that interests you, stay tuned!
1. Understand your audience
Every good marketer knows this… Knowing your audience from top to bottom gives you a great advantage over your competitors. We can’t stress this enough but if you know your audience well, the results from your visual storytelling will be far better.
The visual storytelling you make must be relevant to your audience and target customers. Relevant to their interests, expertise, problems, and ambitions. It’s easier to capture the reader’s attention with visual storytelling than it is with content storytelling. That said, you should use your knowledge about your audience and make it even better.
Pro tip: Here’s something you can do in order to identify your customer and speak to them directly. Create a customer avatar! This avatar should contain information like name, age, gender, income, job, interests, and more. Have this avatar in mind when creating the visual content and the job will get much easier.
2. Use high-quality photos and videos
As technology becomes more advanced by the day, so should your visuals. Using high-quality photos and videos is a necessity nowadays.
With high-quality photos and videos, you’re able to help the reader understand your story, and not only that… You’re also able to “take them to another world” and allow them to really live your story.
High-quality visuals can also leave a positive memory for your readers. Do you get this feeling when you try to watch a Youtube video and your internet is bad and so is the quality? That feeling of disappointment and dissatisfaction? That’s the feeling your readers will get if you create low-quality visuals.
3. Create a consistent visual style
Much like your brand voice and style, visual style should follow the same principles. Consistency is key here. You must be consistent with your visual style so that you create loyalty and a strong connection with your audience.
To achieve visual style consistency, you should use the same fonts, elements, colors, etc. Careful though… By using the same fonts or colors, you’re trying to create trust and consistency, not boring content. Keep that in mind and this strategy won’t fail you. You can choose your signature colors or fonts when making your brand and use them on every single one of your visuals.
4. Keep it simple
A picture is worth a thousand words… This phrase reveals a lot about visual content. What it really means is that you should keep your visuals simple and neat. Here are some common traps you should avoid in order to keep your visuals simple:
Don’t use visuals to explain what you’ve already explained with words. Images and videos have a different purpose and they shouldn’t be repeating your text. Make them independent from your text and give them their own purpose.
Another trap you should be aware of is using too many calls to action. Making your visuals forceful deprives them of the ability to properly interact with the reader. Again, keep your visuals simple and neat… You can use some calls to action but make sure not to overdo it.
5. Tell a story
A strong requirement for good visual storytelling is guess what… Telling a story.
This means creating something that has a beginning, middle, and end. Sounds pretty easy right?
You should create something that obviously makes sense and conveys a message. Consistency is once again mandatory here because, without it, you can’t communicate anything to your target audience.
You can also make a visual storytelling strategy that will contain a plan, certain steps, and anticipated results.
Don’t forget that storytelling is a powerful form of communication whether it’s content or visual. Since you know its true strength, you should definitely use it to your advantage.
6. Use captions and descriptions
We think there’s this wrong view about visual storytelling that it shouldn’t be associated with any text. Well, that's just wrong…
You can and should use text in your visual storytelling. Captions and descriptions are a great way to do so.
Captions and quick descriptions are types of short-form content and they work really well with visual storytelling. By including text in your photos and videos, you give your readers as much knowledge as possible and create a positive experience.
Therefore, combine visuals and content in order to get the best results from your visual storytelling.
7. Make it interactive
Studies have shown that interactive elements can increase a page’s engagement by as much as 50%. And all that just by using some interactive elements…
Interactive elements are great at catching the reader’s attention and keeping them on the page. When you use powerful storytelling with interactive elements, you’re guaranteed to see great results and engagement rates.
Elements aren’t the only way you can make your storytelling interactive. You can ask questions, allow the readers to participate in your story and use their imagination, and many more.
8. Be authentic
Not much to say here other than the fact that being authentic and creating fresh content is an absolute must in storytelling. Do you want to know how to make your audience happy? Give them something new…
Valuable information and authentic content will upgrade your story’s quality and take your business to another level. Therefore, prioritize being unique and authentic with your storytelling.