With visual content being so hot right now, an effective visual content strategy is becoming more important as a critical component of your marketing. But where do you start? We talked to brands and experts who are getting real results with visual social media. In this SlideShare presentation we reveal the magic tricks used by these visual content "illusionists" - their tips, tools and tricks for executing a successful visual content strategy.

1. The
of
Strategy
8 Experts Reveal
their Tricks

2. Visual
content is
so
right now!

3. An effective
is becoming more
important as a critical component
of marketing.

4. Eight experts & brands reveal their
magic tricks for getting you to
, & through to
devour more of their content.

5. Matthew Steele,
San Diego Zoo
 Identify, cultivate,
and connect with
your brand
evangelists
 Test, Test, Repeat

6. “We noticed that we
had a strong
contingent of high
quality fan
photographers, so
we reached out to
them to forge
mutually beneficial
relationships in which
they provide us
content and we
provide them
notoriety and perks.”

7. “We often share a piece of visual content
on one channel to see if it would be a good fit
for other channels. For example, we might
test a piece of visual content on Tumblr, and if
it performs well we might post it on Facebook
knowing that it has a better chance of
overcoming the strict news feed algorithm.”

8. Sarah (Sos) Mattsson,
Tourism & Events Queensland
 Content
efficiencies
 Build audiences
and engagement
with high quality
visual content

9. “Not all visual content can be used
across all digital channels. But where you can,
push the efficiencies of the content to make
sure you’re squeezing enough awesomeness
out of the work you’re doing.”

10. “The Instagram audience
and engagement
grows every day as we
focus on republishing a
variety of destinations and
experiences, but we
always try to feature high
quality images. We want
to make people feel like
they are there – sipping on
that cocktail at sunset at
Hamilton Island or getting
into the kayak at the
Noosa Everglades.”

11. Sue B Zimmerman,
The Instagram Expert
Start in
advance
Use Dropbox

12. “Don’t wait until the day you publish something.
Allow yourself enough visual content “creation
space” and plan ahead. Creativity takes time!”

13. “Put everything in Dropbox. Keep a folder just for
graphics and images as well as a stock of fresh
professional photos. One great photoshoot with a
lot of variety goes a long way.”

14. Caz & Craig Makepeace,
Y Travel Blog
Optimize
your images
Use text
overlays

15. “We try to use as many of our own photos as we
can for our images, so we can keep to our travel
brand and story. Portrait size images work best
so we’re conscious of making sure we grab
portrait size photos when we’re out exploring.
We use Lightroom to edit our images.”

16. “We use Canva or PicMonkey to put text
over our images. We prefer PicMonkey for its ease
& simplicity. We have constant internet connection
issues while travelling around Australia &
PicMonkey works better on slower internet speeds.”

17. Grab the
Click Here to Read More &
Download the Checklist of
Visual Content Strategy
Secrets!

18. Azure Collier,
Constant Contact
 Create branding
guidelines
 Show the
people behind
your business

19. “Choose colors and types of images or
icons that visually represent your brand
and your voice and use them
consistently across social networks.”

20. “We share lots of photos that show off our hard
work & expertise, but also give you a look at what happens
behind the scenes at Constant Contact. I try to keep tabs on
what’s happening in the building, from events to holiday
decorations to interesting things I see in workspaces or
conference rooms. I use employee-generated content as well.”

21. Kristin Ammerman,
Social Media Image Designer
 Don’t be
boring!
 Create a
publishing
schedule

22. “People are on social
to see videos of cats
or touch base with
their friends. They
don’t come to visit
social websites to see
you. So to compete,
your mindset must be
set accordingly and
always employ one of
the following three
elements: Educational,
Inspirational and
Entertaining.”

23. “Don’t wing it! Use a calendar that everyone
on the team can see. Have this planned
out up to 3 months in advance. Look
ahead at the calendar and see how you
can tie in seasons and holidays.”

24. Scott Ayres,
Post Planner “Ambassador
of Awesome”
Facebook
Instagram

25. “On Facebook, we 100% use the Viral Photos tool
inside the Post Planner App to find photos to post
to our page of course! By posting photos already
proven to have high engagement on other pages
we consistently have a weekly Reach of over 7
million, from our page of 100k Likes!”

26. “On Instagram, we use a
combination of repurposing
photos that performed well
on our Facebook page
along with original
graphics that contain
quotes or lead users to our
blog posts. From time to
time our staff will also post
pictures of what’s going on
in their world around the
globe. As a distributed
team that can be quite
interesting at time with
people in the US, UK,
Europe and Asia!”

27. Rebekah Radice,
Digital & Social Media Strategist
 Don’t reinvent
the wheel
 Make your
own
quoteables

28. “Rather than create multiple versions of one image,
create one image that works on multiple platforms .
I create an image that’s the perfect size for Google Plus
and Pinterest and then an image that works on Facebook
and Instagram. I have found that portrait images perform
well on Google Plus and Pinterest.”

29. “Position yourself as an industry leader by sharing your
thoughts and quotes. One easy way to do this is with the
“Save Publishing” Chrome extension. Save Publishing will
magically highlight quotable text. This text is highlighted in
red and clickable. Copy and paste this text and add it to an
image using a tool like Quotes Cover. Voila – you now have
a series of quotes to add to your social channels!”

30. That’s a of
visual content
strategy!

31. Go and start
creating
some visual
content
!

32. Want to
some of the tricks
from the
“Visual Content
Strategy Illusionists”?

33. to Grab the Visual
Content Strategy
Checklist !

34. Production Team
Design by
DONNA MORITZ
Images by
www.SociallySorted.com.au