Advocates of content marketing often emphasise the importance of the words you use, and for good reason. Your blog posts and social media interventions are at  the very core of your web presence. However, images too have an important complementary role, and it may well be worth giving them some consideration as part of your content promotion project.

Here are some compelling reasons to give images a regular place in your content postings.

First, there’s evidence that image-adorned blog or social posts make more impact than their pure text counterparts. According to a recent Social Intelligence report from Adobe Digital Index, posts which include images can generate an “engagement rate” up to 600 per cent higher than those which don’t. Engagement Rate is broadly a web metric which states the number of people who shared, commented on or liked a post as a proportion of the total number of people who viewed that post. This figure alone certainly gives pause for thought when it comes to deploying images.

Next, a well-chosen image can contextualise and elucidate the point you’re making, thereby making the post clearer. If you’re discussing a tricky technical matter, a simple graph or diagram might be just what the reader needs to focus their mind.

A strong image can also assist you in making your post, as well as your brand, more memorable. When Samsung first introduced burst mode (or action shots) in to its mobile phone brands, the promotional pictures are what remain in the mind – happy-go-lucky young folk caught mid-dive over a swimming pool, for instance.

Finally, there is in fact some text associated with images and how search engines index them. If you can add a meaningful title and alt-text to your image, then this metadata could assist you with your search engine optimisation.

Steven Morris