Images are powerful.
Many of us have heard the statement, “science indicates that the human eye registers images 60,000 times faster than text.” While I’ve not been able to confirm that, I have found data* that states, “Presentations using visual aids were found to be 43% MORE PERSUASIVE than unaided presentations.” Good enough for me!
Without a doubt, any marketing material we produce is going to be more effective when we include images: photos, graphics, statistical charts and graphs…you get the idea! Just look at the wildly successful social media platforms Pinterest and Instagram!
According to a study published by Simply Measured, a social media analytics platform, in 2013 Pinterest grew by 10% and Instagram grew by 14%! That’s significant growth for photo- and image-sharing social platforms, and just reinforces the power and effectiveness of using images in our online marketing efforts.
Now that we’ve determined the power of using images, let’s talk about how the everyday business person can take advantage of this: finding images that are {legally} free to use, and creating original image content.
A few free image resources
There are several sources for {free} images on the web. Constant Contact has a very large image library with free images, and some of the other sites I often access are MorgueFile.com and RGBstock.com There are no license requirements, and there are literally thousands of free images available to download. I also have an account from graphicstock.com with a {purchased} license to download unlimited stock images and use in any project royalty-free. At last count, graphicstock.com had over 250,000 images! This article posted on Bufferapp.com lists several other resources for {free} images.
Now comes the creative part: turning those {free} images into original content for your social, email, blog, you name it use. Two of my favorite tools are Canva and PicMonkey. These are free tools that allow the user to upload original images, found images, or even use some of the images found in their library, add some text and filters, and voilá! As a matter-of-fact, the image in this blog post was created from an image I found on MorgueFile and edited in Canva. It can’t get too much easier for the average user to create original image content than that!
So, go ahead, and try it! Grab an image, drop it into Canva, add some text, and have fun!
disclaimer: the links in this article are NOT affiliate links
*http://misrc.umn.edu/workingpapers/fullpapers/1986