By: Leah Rodgers
It’s not a secret: no matter how brilliant your online marketing content is, text isn’t what catches readers’ eyes. Articles with a featured image get 94% more total views. Not convinced? How about this fun fact: “When people hear information, they're likely to remember only 10% of that information three days later. However, if a relevant image is paired with that same information, people retained 65% of the information three days later.”
Images matter, and educators have been on the internet long enough that yet another picture of an elementary school teacher playfully engaging with a red apple no longer catches their eye. The next time you’re scrolling for visuals to accent your blog, email, or webinar, take a step back and consider these three methods for selecting an attention-grabbing image that’ll pull your audience in.
Show People, Not Products
Sure, product placement is eye-candy on social media feeds, but people trust people. People are naturally drawn to faces, so including images with people taking action are more likely to compel readers to take notice. Even if it’s a thoughtfully edited picture from your phone, real pictures of real people bring content to life.
When choosing which pictures of people to use, whether you took them yourself or you’re selecting from stock images, it also helps to keep in mind that in classrooms across the country, children and educators come from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures. Diversity not only makes your images more visually interesting, it engages a wider audience.
Personalize Stock Images
Did you know that if your licensing agreement with your stock photo source says so, you can warp and edit your licensed photos? This holds true, of course, as long as it’s not immoral or defamatory. So even if you can’t take original photos, you can use video tutorials and some Photoshop and—ta-da!—you have a customized image you won’t see anywhere else. Take a look at the image that we altered below. Can you spot the five differences?
Use Screenshots as Sneak Peeks
Search engines have ruined the element of surprise, and people find comfort in that. If your content is about a platform, program, or app that has a digital interface, use it! If you’re portraying your product as a seamless way educators can solve a common problem, show them what they’d get themselves into using your product. Supplementing your explanations with sneak peeks into what you’re selling will allow readers to imagine the real thing. Just make sure to close your browser tabs before you drag and snap!
Since this post is about the power of pictures, I’ll keep it short and end with one last note: a well-chosen image shouldn’t distract from your message; it should stop readers in their tracks and make them excited to read what you’ve written.
Thanks for sharing!