You will most likely have heard the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words”.

It is widely attributed to an American printer called Frank R. Bernard. In 1927 he wrote an article for Printers Ink magazine, in which he discussed how effective graphics were in advertising. In it, he said: “one look is worth a thousand words”.

In fact, the phrase probably originated in Japan or China much earlier.

When it comes to social media marketing, the importance of imagery should not be underestimated.

There is lots of evidence to suggest that pictures, video and graphics, often referred to as “rich content”, achieve greater engagement than words alone.

For example, a Twitter post which includes a picture is much more likely to be Retweeted or “liked” than 280 characters on their own.

In fact, some marketers believe that every single post on social media should be accompanied by a picture or image. That may be overkill, but if you’re not creating and using visual content as part of your social media marketing activity, it’s likely you won’t benefit from enhanced engagement.

The fastest growing networks, such as Pinterest and Instagram, have always put greater emphasis on pictures and video, and the “traditional” platforms are now doing the same as a result of increasing customer expectation.

However, that doesn’t mean you should bung any old picture up on your social media feed.

Throughout our social media marketing course, we highlight the importance of targeting your social media activity to the specific audience you wish to engage.

The same applies when it comes to using rich content.

See our social media marketing course