Visual Content Marketing: Statistics You Need To Know

I’ve already shared video marketing statistics showing the importance of visuals in 2021. Here are a few additional visual content marketing statistics showing their importance.

General Visual Content Marketing Stats

Here’s why visuals are a must-have in your content marketing mix:

1. Web users scan text and read about 20% of the words on a page during an average visit.
2. Further 65% of the general population are visual learners, and after three days of consumption, they can remember 65% of the visual information vis-à-vis 10% recall for written content.
3. A Venngage survey of 200 content marketers predicted that visuals would remain an integral part of marketing strategies in 2020 and 2021 for 66% of businesses.

4. In 2020, 25% of marketers anticipated spending between 10% to 20% of their total budgets on visual content creation.
5. 74% of marketers said that they used visuals in more than 70% of the articles they published. The type of visuals they rely on the most are stock photos closely followed by original graphics.

But ignore stock photos as much as you can.

6. Eye Tracking study by Nielsen found that users pay close attention to images/photos that contain relevant information and ignore fluffy pictures used to “jazz up” web pages. So original graphics and videos are a safer bet.

Derek Gleason, content lead at ConversionXL, calls the use of generic stock photography as “editorial debt.” If there’s fierce competition in your niche, be wary that they are easily replicable. So you might need to edit these out later.

All those shortcuts you’re taking now—neglecting outdated content, using stock photos, skimping on proofreading? That’s editorial debt.

If past experience doesn’t inspire me to scroll past ads, SERP features, and the top blue links to look for *your* site—I’ll never find it.

— Derek Gleason (@derek_gleason) October 17, 2019

If you’re writing long and in-depth articles, then don’t fret over adding 10+ images to it.

7. Orbit Media found that 90% bloggers add visuals to their content.
8. But just 3% bloggers include 10+ images per post. They are 39% more likely to report better results as well.

So you’ve got to include images, and they can’t be free stock ones. Now, where do you find time to actually create them?

9. Most marketers spend less than 2 hours each week to create visuals and most of them struggle at producing engaging visuals consistently.

So worry not if you’re in the same boat. Experiment with hiring professional designing agencies (like Graphic Rhythm Design whom I’ve partnered with in the past). You can also leverage visual content creation software like Canva and Venngage that come with handy templates.

Ready to create visuals for your brand?

Begin with choosing your brand’s colors.

10. Because colors can improve your brand recognition by up to 80% as per Xerox.
11. 99Designs predicts colors that calm and soothe would be majorly trending next year as people will crave some stability in the wake of uncertainty. Here are their top color trends for 2021:

Video Statistics

Not only are visuals important, but videos even more so. Consumers prefer watching them from brands over other types of content.

1. 80% of people say that they switch between online search and video while buying. This means brands need to focus more on producing videos.

So which platform is the favorite for videos?

2. The Social Media Examiner(SME) industry report found that interest in YouTube is high among marketers.

• • 69% of marketers plan on increasing their use of YouTube video,
  • 73% want to learn more about marketing on the platform,
  • It’s also the number-one video channel, used by 55% of marketers.

The latest YouTube stats further prove a high appetite for this platform.

3. 70% of people used YouTube during 2020 to watch online replacements of live events. They also used YouTube to learn new skills, stay fit, and even find social connections.

Many artists started using it to perform live from their homes and ended up with huge viewership.

4. 56% of live streamers even agreed that watching them can be just as good as being at an event in person.

In other content types:

5. Gaming, comedy, and positive-themed videos have done particularly well last year on YouTube.

But why are we only discussing YouTube?

6. Well, SME found that behind YouTube, Facebook and Instagram were the leading video channels marketers used.

In the wake of the cancellation of all major physical events and conferences (which is going to continue majorly in 2021), you can consider conducting webinars.

7. An average attendee spends a whopping 53 minutes consuming webinar content. I’ve prepared a list of webinar software you can choose from to get you started.

Infographic And Emerging Visual Marketing Stats

And now, let’s talk about the classic visual content format that seems to continue performing well for marketers. Oh, and we’ll mix it up with emerging visual marketing as well.

1. Infographics are the fourth most popular type of content marketing.
2. Among B2B marketers, Content Marketing Institute’s 2021 research found it’s the sixth most used content type.

3. Consumers are also excited about visual search and its integration in their shopping experience.

4. Using Virtual reality can uplift your display ad and visual ad performance.

Final Thoughts

Visuals are going to remain a key part of content marketing. But videos — a dynamic form of visuals — are going to become the de facto internet medium of communication.

How are you integrating visuals in your marketing? Did you find these visual content marketing stats useful for tweaking your strategy? Let me know in the comments below.