June 16th, 2016

We've all heard the idiom "A picture is worth a thousand words", and it couldn't be any truer in Social Media. The idea suggests that an idea can be better conveyed with a single image than a written description. Keep this in mind as you approach your social strategy.

Think about how you go about your day exploring your social networks. What stops you in your tracks? Chances are, more often than not, that it's a brightly colored image that grabs your attention. Adding splashes of color is shown to emphasize critical information, convey a sense of professionalism, and increase readers’ attention spans and recall by 82%. (Source)

Furthermore, research shows that when a relevant image is paired with information a person hears, they are 55% more likely to remember that information 3 days later than if they only heard the information without the image. (Source)

Time and time again, in-depth research and simple observation show that visual content receives significantly higher engagement and is much more likely to be shared on social media. 

Need some ideas on where to find or create eye-catching imagery? Check out this short list of sites that have cheap or free images that you can start using today:

Death To Stock Photo - a lifestyle image resource for dreamers and doers smashing the mold.

Pexels - Find great free photos that you can use everywhere.

Unsplash - Free (do whatever you want) hi-res photos.

Canva - making graphic design amazingly simple for everyone, by bringing together a drag-and-drop design tool with a library of more than 1 million stock photographs, graphic elements and fonts.

Pablo - lets you create neat social media posts with images for free.

PikWizard - Free stock images and royalty-free images.