The rise of visual channels like Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest1 makes it crucial for organizations to be visible here. Even though visual has been a trend forever, trends focusing on visual still keep coming. Think of the rise of visual search and the importance of 360-degree and live video. Which trends are you going to focus on?
Visual search
Visuals search gives users a whole new searching experience which perfectly suits the current needs. Visual search is the search for more information based on images like photos or screenshots. This is what makes visual search perfect for finding the answer when you’re really sure which question to ask or to get more information about sightings, books, or companies without having to type it.
With the rise of visual search, it is more important now than ever to have an excellent visible presence online. That’s why you got to have beautiful, personal images with a clear description. Try to avoid stock photos as much as you can. As an organization, you can implement this trend the way you like. Give your users more information about items of clothing or animals in your zoo, using just their camera. You can even show a list of ingredients when someone points their camera at their dish in your restaurant.
Want to know more about visual search and how you can use this trend for your organization? Read all about it in our blog >>
360-degree video/photo
More and more people prefer to use their mobile over their computer. Already 52,5% of all the traffic comes from mobile2. This is what makes it perfect for marketers to focus on 360-degree content, which phones show in significant ways. You only have to move your phone around to view all the content. Mobile is not the only device you can see this on, on a desktop you can just swipe through the image/video.
Whereas ‘normal’ content is just scrolled past by, 360-degree content offers users a whole new dimension. The numbers don’t lie: interactive content has two times more conversions3, and 360-degree photo ads offer growth of 410% on your ROI compared to standard/passive photo ads.
Social media channels make it a lot easier to use 360-degree content or ads too. This way, you can show your target group your amazing festival, while they virtually stand in the middle of the dancing crowd or you can show them the most fantastic holiday destinations. Facebook even offers a heatmap tool to show you the parts your consumers liked most. This way, you can change and optimize your future content. We see that more and more organizations use text in their 360-degree ads. This makes sending a message to your target group even easier and makes the ads more focused on getting conversions.
Live video
Live video is perfect if you want to strengthen the connection with your target group. During a live video, you can immediately answer the questions your target group has, and it’s perfect for interaction (even 6 times more effective than standard/passive Facebook videos4). This way, you can quickly respond to the needs of your consumers. That’s the reason why Facebook and Instagram even show a notification when someone of your friends is going live and show the live video at the beginning of all the ‘stories’. The results? More interaction and more reach5.
As an organization, you can use live video for webinars, for showing a behind the screens videos or help your users get answers to their questions. Live video is great because it only shows the information for a short amount of time. This gives your users a sense of urgency to watch this because they don’t want to miss out (the so-called FOMO).
Holograms
New in the world of visual marketing is holograms. Probably everyone knows what holograms are: 3D objects that virtually seem to float in the air. Though it may seem pretty futuristic, holograms are more common than you might think. Several techniques are already invented that make it possible to have your own hologram. Think of looking glass, an upside-down pyramid you can put on your phone or a 3D led fan you can buy or even hire. Even school children already have classes about creating holograms!6
Holograms are innovative and look like they float in the air, that’s why it makes them stand out! You can use this for showing your ads in a new way in, for example, shopping malls or during an event. You can also use it as decoration for your event, show it during a light festival, or even let your CEO virtually present on stage.
