Do you know why photo images, video and graphics work so well on social media? Clue: it’s not because they break up the slabs of text on line.

It’s because people are hard-wired to respond to visual input. It’s a visceral, primordial system that keeps us out of danger, helps us find food as well as identify a good mate. We’ve perfected it over 200,000 years, so no wonder it’s our primary sensory input.

Hear a piece of information and you’ll only recall 10% of it three days later. That rises to 65% when there is a visual stimulus. Text is good (around half as effective as images) as it’s visual – but it’s a code we have to decipher and then interpret. (ref: http://www.brainrules.net/vision) Images connect with us on a subconscious level; an emotional level. Yes; they may be ‘triggering’. This is very much the point of them and that’s so much more powerful than reading.

Present photos of your new personnel on your website and the audience connects with them because of their smiles. It shows they’re approachable and friendly. Subconsciously the audience recognises that the person is trustworthy and even if they are a possible mate – and their brain did that is milliseconds (Ref: British Psychological Society) Why subconsciously? Because our brains cannot tell the difference between the real world and a 2D facsimile; we exhibit the same emotional responses to both. We’re still working at the primordial level, despite our modern exterior.

Which is why in the modern, social media driven world, all platforms benefit from using visual content in your posts. That’s where I come in; offering you exclusive, on message, high quality content that you can use over and over again.

By working on a brief together, we decide on what is worth highlighting. If your business is mainly service lead, get shots of your staff interacting with customers, or with each other or simply on the phone. Show people in a professional setting, looking smart and focussed on their tasks. Emotionally, prospects and customers will see professionals working and that fosters peace of mind. If you sell products, you could simply have shots of your wares. Better, is showing how customers use your products; which may get others feeling they are missing out, as they’re not using them. The more specialised your work, the better photos and video is at showing how customers benefit.

So, next time you view a story with an image that has stopped you scrolling past, ask yourself how you felt when you viewed it and if you connected with the post due to the visual material.