I read an article the other day about content marketing (my passion you know!!) and the importance of it in today’s online world. A saying hit me between the eyes that I thought was absolutely spot on, it said ‘Content is King but images are the crown’.

Never a truer word was said, the real meat of any piece of content is in the research and thoughts of the author in the written piece but the attention grabbers are the title and/or the image and we know that images are the most shared pieces of content on the web, so they really are the crowning glory.

We now live in a world where your camera lives in your pocket and you’re only seconds away from taking that quick snap, putting it on Instagram applying a filter and then sharing and as business owners you need to take full advantage of this technology and easy way you can get people to engage and interact with you.

Here are some facts and figures for you to think about

1) Pinterest is now the 3rd largest social media network.

2) Facebook changed their timeline to emphasize larger images which increases user attention.

Both organisations realise the importance of photo- sharing.

More facts for you

1) It has always been true (even offline) that Press Releases are more accepted with accompanying photo, there are some stats that suggest PR pieces with a photo get a 45% more click through rate than those without.

2) In local search again images increase the click through rate.

3) In eCommerce – the same is true, a clear image increases the chance of a product being purchased online.

It’s not rocket science as to why this is true. If you wanted to purchase a new lamp for your home, you would need to see a photo of it before you parted with your cash. A photo can convey emotion really quickly and get that attention grabbing interest within the all important 7 seconds, words simply fail.

Take time to chose the right image to convey your marketing message, if you’re struggling then get some created.. a clever photographer will help you to come up with the concepts and be able to deliver them for you. Alternatively get a designer to create something for you (similar to the image in this blog post)

So content with images really is a winning combination…. rather like the King and his crown!