Social Media Explained

"People don’t buy “revolutions.” They buy “aspirins” to fix the pain or “vitamins” to supplement their lives, so localize the pitch and keep it simple." -Guy Kawasaki

"People don’t buy “revolutions.” They buy “aspirins” to fix the pain or “vitamins” to supplement their lives, so localize the pitch and keep it simple." -Guy Kawasaki
#Socialmedia

Studies Confirm the Power of Visuals in eLearning

We are now in the age of visual information where visual content plays a role in every part of life. As 65 percent of the population is visual learners, images are clearly key to engaging people in eLearning courses. 

Moving and still images have been included in learning materials for decades, but only now has faster broadband, cellular networks, and high-resolution screens made it possible for high-quality images to be a part of eLearning visual design. Graphic interfaces made up of photos, illustrations, charts, maps, diagrams, and videos are gradually replacing text-based courses.

In this post, we will dig deep into some statistics and facts to further convince of why eLearning developers should embrace visuals when creating their courses. 

1. Visuals Stick in Long-Term Memory

Both the short-term and long-term memory store information in chunks, but the former is limited. One of the easiest ways to ensure that learners store information in their long-term memory is to pair concepts with meaningful images. Research has found that this tactic increases recall better than when courses deliver information through aural or textual form. Visuals help people make sense out of the content and direct attention, increasing the possibilities that the learners will remember.

According to Dr. Lynell Burmark, education consultant who writes and speaks about visual literacy: “…unless our words, concepts, ideas are hooked onto an image, they will go in one ear, sail through the brain, and go out the other ear. Words are processed by our short-term memory where we can only retain about seven bits of information (plus or minus 2) […]. Images, on the other hand, go directly into long-term memory where they are indelibly etched.”

Furthermore, this effect increases over time. One study found that after three days, a user retained only 10-20 percent of written or spoken information but almost 65 percent of visual information. Another study showed that an illustrated text was 9 percent more effective than text alone when testing immediate comprehension and 83 percent more effective when the test was delayed. 

Infographic: How Often Should I Post on Social Media?

Infographic: How Often Should I Post on Social Media?:

It seems like a great portion of the social media research we do at Buffer often comes back to a few big questions for social media sharing.

How do I get more followers?

What should I share?

When should I share it? 

And how often should I be sharing?

Social media frequency is one that we’ve enjoyed experimenting with a lot at Buffer. How many times per day should we posting? Is it different for individuals versus companies? I personally share to Twitter four times per day, and we share to Buffer’s Twitter account 14 times per day. Do these frequencies make sense?

Fortunately, we’re able to check in with a bunch of great research on frequency to get a baseline for what might be best practice for a social media schedule.

We’re incredibly grateful for our friends at SumAll for placing all this awesome research into a beautiful infographic that makes the question of “how often to post” a breeze to answer.

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StarBuzzOnline

5 Steps to Increased Visual Content Engagement | SEJ

5 Steps to Increased Visual Content Engagement | SEJ: "5 Steps to Increased Visual Content Engagement | #Infographic"- Jonathan Long : Sorurce HERE

Visual content performs better because the average consumer absorbs more of what they see than what they read. While we tend to only remember 20% of what we read, we remember 80% of what we see. Visual content creates more engagement, and the longer you can hold someone’s attention, the greater the chance of them converting – whether that is a list signup, a download, a phone call, or a sale.

In order to engage your audience you need to create very good visual content. So, what does “very good” mean? You need to make sure you have a topic of interest your target audience, then match it with great colors, an awesome design, and a well thought out plan for promotion.

The infographic below was created to help you create awesome visual content, and develop 
a plan that results in a positive ROI.

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#SocialMediaImpact

The Often Forgotten Viral Content Marketing Tactic Written by Jeff Bullas

Written by Jeff Bullas 

It was a grey, cold and dreary day when I flew into London. It had been a long flight. I was tired and needed to shower because 20 hours of plane travel was pushing the boundaries for other humans within adjacent nostril range!

But I needed to check traffic and approve comments on my blog, as a blogger’s journey requires keeping up with the daily tasks, habits and rituals of online publishing. Being always on in a connected 24/7 world is often relentless.

It was a surprise to find when I checked my traffic that the blog post I had published 24 hours earlier had “gone”viral”. The article was titled, “30 Things You Should Not Share On Social Media“. It received over 122,000 views, was retweeted over 6,000 times and was shared on Facebook over 3,500 times.

A week later I posted it’s positive alternative, “20 Things you Should Share on Social Media“. The question in the back of my mind was…”would it receive the same viral traffic?”

The simple analysis after posting revealed that the positive version received only 16,000 views. Good but not great. And there lies a lesson that I have not forgotten.

Negative headlines work!

That was my first experience of viral content on my blog.

How are Lawyers Using Social Media? [INFOGRAPHIC]

By Shea Bennett on Feb. 20, 2015 - 3:00 PM

Did you know that a recent survey found that 62 percent of law firms maintain a presence on social networks, up from 55 percent in 2012? 78 percent of lawyers themselves manage one or more social networks for professional purposes, with those in litigation, commercial law and employment/labor most prominent.Around 1.7 hours per week is spent using social networking sites, and slightly more than one third (35 percent) of lawyers have obtained clients from these channels.

Check the visual below for more insights, which comes courtesy of MyCase.