Consider These 5 Things When Adding Visuals to Social-Media Content Your success at growing and maintaining an engaged, active audience relies on your ability to produce relevant, visual social media content.

By Lizetta Staplefoote

This story originally appeared on Visual.ly

Six in 10 social media updates are images. Three in 10 updates are videos. Your success at growing and maintaining an engaged, active audience relies on your ability to produce relevant, visual social media content. Some points to consider as you plan visual content for social media:

1. Don't think mobile, be mobile. Social media and mobile are married at the hip, offering a captive audience for you and convenience to users. Your job is to make sure that if they click into your content on a social media property from their mobile device your infographic, video, or interactive piece displays and performs consistently. Have the mobile conversation in the early planning stages, not as an after thought before launch.

Related: 5 Social-Media Tips to Enhance Your Marketing

2. Create content that interacts. Pieces that require user input or integrate user data to create personalized experiences stimulate more interest. Use interactive pieces that give users engaging options to control how to view data and what data to view or that offers interesting insights from user-provided data.

3. An image for every blog post. Using the company logo as a blog anchor image doesn't work in a world where the recent spate of successfully launched social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are image-focused. As you select images choose ones that both accurately represent your piece and have the power to pop out of a users overloaded feed to drive clicks and shares.

Related: 5 New Social-Media Platforms Worth a Look

4. Leverage GIFs & social media videos. These aren't the demo videos or the cheesey GIFs of yesteryear. GIFs are making a comeback and video is continuing its domination with smaller bite-sized clips. These nuggets of content gold are the backbone of platforms like Vine and Instagram. With just a few seconds to grab attention, they are often a fun, gripping few minutes used to reinforce brands or causes.

5. Plan for real-time reaction: Can you pull together an infographic about breaking event to be timely and relevant? Much like a newsroom, you need to put in place resources and processes to jump on hot stories quickly. Social listening systems can help you figure out what to listen to, but you need the creators and designers or a reliable vendor ecosystem to ensure that you can execute before the buzz wears off.

Related: Most Companies Don't Get How Customer Service on Social Media Works

Lizetta Staplefoote is a contributer for Visually

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

JPMorgan Shuts Down Internal Message Board Comments After Employees React to Return-to-Office Mandate

Employees were given the option to leave comments about the RTO mandate with their first and last names on display — and they did not hold back.

Innovation

4 Ways Market Leaders Use Innovation to Foster Business Growth

Forward-thinkers constantly strive to diversify and streamline their products and services, turning novelties into commodities desired by many.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Business News

Your Old Apple AirPods Can Soon Act as an Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid, According to the FDA

The new software is compatible with the Apple AirPods Pro and accessible through iOS — for free and now FDA-authorized.

Business News

'More Soul-Crushing Than Ever': Popular Hiring Platform Finds Around 20% of Its Postings Were 'Ghost Jobs'

Is that job listing too good to be true? There's a one-in-five chance that it might be.

Growing a Business

5 Risk-Taking Lessons From Founders Who Bet Big and Won

Discover the bold moves and strategic risks that catapulted these entrepreneurs to success. Learn how their fearless decisions can inspire your own path to growth.