THE

VISUAL
CONTENT
PLAYBOOK
FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

page 2

WELCOME
If youve ever seen snackable memes, bite-sized
data visualizations, or inspirational quotes, then
youve seen micro content. Often in the form of
a quick video, a chart, or single powerful image,
micro content is short-form visual content that is
designed to fight information overload.
In this guide, featuring interviews with innovative
social media marketers at LinkedIn, Whole Foods,
and Buffer, well show you how to build your own
micro content strategy from the ground up.
Read on to learn how this powerful storytelling
medium can help your brand stand out,
engage audiences, and tell powerful stories.

HOW DO WE
KNOW ALL
THIS STUFF?
Were Visually, and we help
more than 1100 brands and
agencies produce highimpact visual content.
From micro content to
videos and interactive
websites, were dedicated to
making it faster, easier, and
more affordable to work
with world class creatives.
But great content with the
wrong strategy wont get
you anywhere. Thats why
its our business to know
(and share) the best ways
to run effective campaigns.

PART 1

WHY
MICRO CONTENT
MATTERS

Its the little details that

are vital. Little things make
big things happen.
John Wooden
American basketball player and coach

Why Micro Content Matters

COMPETITION
FOR AUDIENCES IS
VERY, VERY REAL
The currency of the internet is no longer just
clicksas a recent report from Econsultancy
points outits brand awareness, engagement,
and conversion. Digital audiences are hungry
for the next big learning opportunity or source of
entertainment, and your brand has a six-second
window of attention span to pique their interests
and get them sharing.
Recognizing this opportunity, every company on
the planet has developed a presence on social.
From Facebook to Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, or
Pinterest, more and more social media managers
are vying for the same eyeballs.
As Copyblogger points out, anyone can pick up
a smartphone and start tweeting. But the biggest
challenge youre facing is also your biggest
opportunity. When it comes to digital content,
everyonebrands, publishers, and individualsis
on an equal playing field, which means doing a
little more can really set you apart.

page 4

BRING THE NOISE

BRAND-GENERATED CONTENT
ENGAGEMENT RATES ARE AT
AN ALL-TIME LOW

-60%

Across 2013 and 2014, the

output of content per brand
increased by 78%, but content
engagement decreased by 60%

>10 visits

43% of professionally
produced blog posts generate
fewer than 10 interactions
Source: An analysis of 8,800 brands and 13.8 million
pieces of content, across 7 marketing channels and
7.2 billion combined interactions from TrackMaven.

Why Micro Content Matters

page 5

THE BOTTOM LINE:

YOU NEED MICRO CONTENT
Micro content is one of the most powerful,
untapped opportunities in social. Unlike heavyhitting visual content campaigns, snackable
videos and gripping images can integrate
into your everyday social management to
communicate a cohesive, coherent brand story.
It gets you noticed, gets shared, and doesnt
have to be difficult to produce.
Good micro content is a complete thought,
inspirational message, and end-to-end
experience. Its something that the human brain
can process in a few seconds while also leaving
a lasting impression. Its a subtle way to reinforce
your brands value proposition and identity.
Micro content is also practical. Its efficient to
create, economical to produce, and heavyhitting in terms of the ROI and engagement
levels that its able to drive.
As we dive into the how, what, and why of
micro content, lets take a quick peek at
some micro content that really works. Lets
get started by looking at some awesome
examples from big brands.

W H AT E X A C T LY I S
MICRO CONTENT?
Whether in the form of a six-second video
or a single powerful image, micro content
is short-form content optimized for social
media and designed to combat
information overload.
It typically employs multiple media
(writing, static images, video, or audio)
to communicate more efficiently than
text-based messaging.

Awesome Examples

page 6

THINK WITH GOOGLE

SHOWS OFF SHAREABLE DATA
Think with Google has a ton of great data. Its social team communicates insights more effectively
by creating a steady pipeline of engaging Twitter content that turns in-depth research studies into
snackable, easily digestible micro-stories for its followers (and their followers, too).

Awesome Examples

page 7

LINKEDIN MAKES CONNECTIONS

OUTSIDE THE WORKPLACE
LinkedIn uses micro content on its Facebook page to commemorate events and share
inspirational messages that are meaningful to its audience. It breaks from the sites frenzy of
networking, job hunting, and social marketing to highlight a more human look at working life.

Awesome Examples

page 8

ART.COM
INSPIRES AND ENGAGES AUDIENCES
Art.com creates snackable videos on its Facebook Page to make art more relatable to
consumers who love DIY and home decor projects. In this case, videos are the perfect medium
for sharing detailed information, priming customers for the next big purchase, and getting likes.

Why Micro Content Matters

page 9

HERES YOUR
PERMISSION SLIP
To outsmart the digital noise youre facing, youll
need to make every moment with your audience
count. As Gopi Kallayil, chief brand marketing
evangelist at Google, points out in an article for
the Stanford Graduate School of Businesss blog:
brand marketing is becoming permission based
in the sense that consumers are in control of the
marketing materials they choose to see they see.
Think of micro content as your permission slip.
Gaining permission is why youll see companies
like GE launching data visualization hubs,
Dove creating socially conscious viral videos,
and Williams Sonoma creating shoppable
infographic lookbooks.
These one-of-a-kind brand experiences,
while powerful, are also resource intensive.
As heavy-hitters, theyre important for
reinforcing top-of-funnel awareness and brand
engagement, but theyre also challenging to
replicate on a consistent basis.
You need a scalable way to stand out every day.
Well show you how!

SION
MIS
PER ANTED
GR

Alison

Spotlight

page 10

BUFFERS BUFF
CONTENT MARKETING
Buffer is an awesome app for driving traffic and increasing
engagement on social media. We talked to their Content Crafter,
Courtney Seiter, to get some insight about how she uses micro
content within Buffers much-imitated content marketing program:

We keep our content at

Buffer visually driven by
making visuals a constant
focus. Weve found that the
types of posts that have the
most impact for the writer and
reader tend to be broad, wellresearched and data-focused
pieces, with lots of in-depth
examples and hands-on
tipsincluding visuals and
screenshots to explain any
tools and workflows.
Often a photo, graphic, or
video can tell the story in

a much more succinct and

impactful way than words can.
The biggest driver for all our
content at Buffer is to be as
helpful as possible. Visuals
are such a huge part of
thatpeople prefer to learn
in all kinds of different ways,
and we want everyone who
comes to our blogs to be
able to dig in deeply and find
a lot of value. That means
we focus a lot on multiple
entry points for each piece,
which we create through

formatting and a variety of

informational visuals. If youve
only got a few seconds to
spend on a piece, you can
still make those moments
count by absorbing a great,
information-dense visual.

Why Micro Content Matters

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WHERE DO YOU STAND?

Theres an arms race in b2b visual content (for good reason).

70%

of marketers reported planning to

increase the use of original
visual assets in 2015

58

In 2014, the use of video content

increased from 8% to 58%,
while the use of infographics
increased from 9% to 52%.

Visual content
was rated among the

top 5

most effective B2B

marketing tactics

86

of buyers expressed desire

to access interactive visual
content on demand

We look to build relationships throughout the entire customer journey. Its a process
that looks different dependent on the part of the organization you look at. For our
social team, its about building relationships with our customers one at a time.
Natanya Anderson Global Director of CRM, social media, and customer service at Whole Foods

(Source: HubSpot)

Why Micro Content Matters

page 12

BECAUSE OUR MINDS ARE

WIRED VISUALLY
Visual content generated

94

60,000x
faster than text

more views

Tweets with
images get

Visuals are processed

150

80%

of the text
on most
pages does
not get read

Visual
content is

40x

more retweets
18% more clicks,
and 89% more
favorites

We retain

80%

as often
as text

of what we see,
20% of what we
read, and 10% of
we they hear

3.6x

There were

more video on
Facebook News
Feeds in 2014
than 2013

(Sources: Buffer, HubSpot)

PART 2

PUT
MICRO CONTENT
TO WORK

Everyone is trying to
accomplish something big,
not realizing that life is made
up of the little things.
Frank A. Clark American football player

Put Micro Content to Work

page 14

HOW MICRO
CONTENT WORKS
Micro content should tell two simultaneous
stories. The first is whats contained to the
visual: an inspirational message, metric, or
compelling trend. The second is what your
audiences may not see consciouslya tie
into your underlying brand promise.

As an example, this Think with Google micro

content makes an interesting data point
memorable through bold color choices,
simple icons, and easy-to-digest fonts. It
also humanizes Googles reams of data, an
asymmetrical egg in the frying pan showing
theres a real world behind all of it.

Put Micro Content to Work

page 15

Sour cream, cayenne

USING PHOTOGRAPHY
FOR MICRO CONTENT
Good micro content should always tell a story.
A vivid, poignant photo can be micro content
all by itself, but sometimes it needs a little more
context to jump out at people and say more than
just stock photo.
Whole Foods use of videography and
photography are a great examples of real
world imagery used well. Each visual on the
companys Facebook and Twitter feeds present
a self-contained story about the food giants
delicious products. By mapping to several larger,
overarching themeslike health and wellness
(definitely not pictured here!)delicious food
starts to translate to a full, healthy life, even when
chili dogs are involved.

Its content thats collectible, inspirational, and reflective of our

brand. It has to be more than just a product shot. It has to be about
how that product is useful or inspirational. Its about using different
multimedia to help our customers feel nourished.
Natanya Anderson Global Director of CRM, social media, and customer service at Whole Foods

Put Micro Content to Work

page 16

MAKING YOUR
CONTENT VISUAL
The challenge is that most companies dont
have high quality photography on handor
even visually driven products, for that matter.
If youre part of a B2B company, for instance,
it probably doesnt make sense to share
pictures of food, beautiful landscapes,
or art. Stock photos wont cut it, either.
But your company doesnt need to be
visually driven to have a visual identity.
There are many different techniques for
creating aesthetically pleasing, memorable,
and impactful experiences. Afterall, the
whole world of memes is based on taking
somewhat common imagery and adding a
little something extra to make it resonate.
Heres an example from Whole Foods of
how a little text and design can make a less
exciting image (and topic, for that matter)
a lot more interesting.

89%

of marketers cite micro content

as an effective or very effective
channel in their strategies

Source: Salesforce, 2015

State of Marketing Report

Put Micro Content to Work

page 17

HOW TO FIND
IDEAS FOR CONTENT
When it comes to micro content, the idea generation process can be
harder than it seems. Youre not creating one, heavy-hitting microsite,
ebook, or infographic: youre creating a steady stream of content as a
layer upon the content that youre already releasing.

As far as trends go, its

interesting to watch social
visual styles come and go.
From quotes on images, to
striking scenery, to the neverending success of put a dog
on it and it will do well, its
always changing. There are
some unwritten rules of whats
deemed appropriate for social
visuals and its important for
marketers to stay personally
involved in social so theyre
privy to these guidelines.
Page Williams
Social Media Marketing
Manager at LinkedIn

1000

Put Micro Content to Work

page 18

IDEAS FOR YOUR

CONTENT PIPELINE
You need to do more than come up with a few ideasyou need to build
a pipeline. Here are some ideas to make the process simple:

1. RELY ON EXISTING, PILLAR

CONTENT FOR INSPIRATION
If you have a library of content assets on-hand, start there. If you have
some design concepts handyeven better. Start with your existing
visual assets to find concepts to repurpose:
Infographics - Designed to go viral, infographics help you capture the
essence of your story on one simple, shareable canvas. Take a look at
the types of concepts that have performed well in the past. Highlight
themes worth repurposing into snackable content. You can even chop
up your infographics to make feed-friendly micro content (or design
infographics with modularity in mind).
Video - Video is one of the top ways to create an emotional impact
online. Take a look at your past marketing data to see which of your
videos have performed well in the past. These assets could be
inspiring sources for micro-videos.
eBooks - eBooks empower companies to educate and engage with
audiences. Re-read your longer guides to find shorter, snackable micro
content. Once again, remember you can design eBooks with reuse as
microcontent in mind. Youll definitely see artwork from this guide in our
social media feeds!
Presentations - Presentations are somewhat similar to micro content in
that they communicate big ideas in snackable, digestible ways. Pull out
individual slides for social reuse.

Put Micro Content to Work

page 19

2. CREATE AND RELEASE

MICRO CONTENT AROUND A
LARGER ANCHOR CAMPAIGN
You can use microcontent to
build momentum to a larger
event like a marketing push or
product launch. Position your
business objective as a central
theme, and create micro
content assets to tell a story
around the value proposition
that youre looking to push.

TOP
TIP

Creating micro content is a lot

more scalable (and easier to
secure resources for) when its
part of your initial project brief
and designers can plan their
designs around it.

Chop up your e-books and infographics into

smaller, snackable pieces of content that
you can easily tweet and share.

3. RUN TESTS TO
SEE WHAT WILL STICK
Micro content is less costly and
quicker to create than larger
pieces of content. You should
feel comfortable running tests
to see what types of content
audiences are responding to.
In the weeks leading up to April
Fools day in 2014, for instance,
Visually worked with its creative
marketplace to create a series
of visual jokes. This initiative
was part of a larger series of
campaigns in which Visually
consistently tests new ideas
and themes to see what will
resonate with audiences.

Put Micro Content to Work

page 20

4. IDENTIFY TRENDING TOPICS

Your micro content will make the strongest impact when it
strikes a chord. There are several resources that can help you
identify trending topics that may be relevant to your audience.
Here are a few places to find topics that have a big audience:

We rely heavily on SEO keyword research to help inform the

visual content that were able to create. Weve found time and
again that its an indicator of the channels and content that
our audiences are interested in.
Natanya Anderson Global Director of CRM, social
media, and customer service at Whole Foods

GENERAL
INTEREST
LEVELS:

TRENDING
TOPICS:

BuzzFeed
UpWorthy
Google News
Buzz Sumo
Google Trends

Google Keyword Planner

Quora
Reddit
Twitter hashtags
Pinterest hashtags
Instagram hashtags

Put Micro Content to Work

page 21

4. MORE IDEAS FOR TOPICS...

To get closer to your existing audience,
look to your own social media followers
by examining the comments that theyre
leaving, the content theyre sharing, and
questions theyre asking.

If you have a search bar on your website

or blog, see what people are searching
for. Once you know what people are
hungry for, you can create micro content
that speaks to these interests spot-on.

A good example is that at Thanksgiving, we found

that the two things people care about is how to brine
a turkey and how to cook a turkey. Neither of these
things are long-form content: its all snackable while
addressing a specific need. Its collectible, evergreen,
and performs beautifully. It makes complexity simple.
Natanya Anderson Global Director of CRM, social
media, and customer service at Whole Foods

Put Micro Content to Work

page 22

5. COLLABORATE
CROSS-FUNCTIONALLY WITH
FREELANCERS, PR TEAMS,
PRODUCT TEAMS
Brainstorming is hard to do alone. Instead of keeping your micro
content strategy to one person or team, consider bringing in multiple
groups. By working with others, youll drive efficiency in your
brainstorming process by casting your net wide.
Creative partners can help you brainstorm new ways to present your
brand and achieve your business goals. They might also be able to
help support your distribution strategy.

Collaboration
is just, really, a
group of people
getting in a room
with their eye
on a very similar
prize and wanting
to come out with
the same show.
Harold Prince
American theatrical producer

These internal teams are

helping us define visual
strategy, tones, styles, and
direction. Its with these guide
rails that other teams are able
to go forth and bring their
vision to life. They are laying
a strategic foundation from
which a house can be built
-- its just as important as a
marketing strategy.
Page Williams Social Media
Marketing Manager at LinkedIn

Put Micro Content to Work

page 23

6. PLAN YOUR
DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
Your micro content strategy needs more than amazing visuals to take
off. You need to pay close attention to the context in which youre
using this content. Know the social channels youre going to leverage
and how youre going to build a campaign around the volume of
content that youre releasing. And those hashtags you researched
when you were identifying topics will probably come in handy when
youre making your posts.

Recently, we launched a content campaign

called Foods for Thought on Twitter.
We wanted to give our customers the
opportunity to showcase their own visually
stunning content alongside ours, to reinforce
who we are as a brand. We used a hashtag
to centralize this messaging. We celebrated
their own visuals by encouraging usergenerated content and made them a part of
our own brand.
Natanya Anderson
Global Director of CRM, social media, and
customer service at Whole Foods

Put Micro Content to Work

page 24

5 SUBTLE TIPS FOR

AWESOME MICRO
CONTENT
1. Know your platform
Take some time to understand your
audience on each social media platform
where youre present. See what resonates
with your audience, and focus on
concentrating your efforts on what your
fans, followers, and subscribers will consider
compelling. Also make sure to know your
image size requirements.

2. Prioritize copywriting
Dont let your images fall flat with lackluster
writing. Create copy that adds context
through a series of compelling headlines
and short sentences.

4. Think in terms of larger

campaigns and series
Every micro content asset is part of a
larger story. Make sure to synchronize your
campaigns around a larger story or business
initiative. By identifying all your needs
ahead of time, youll also make it easier for
designers to create derivative content in the
process of creating your big rocks.

3. Use action verbs

Energize your audience with language that
generates a burst of inspiration in an easy
to consume, bite-sized form.

5. Integrate experiences
between screens
Millward Browns recent AdReaction study
found that more than 40 percent of 1645
year old multiscreen consumers in the U.S.
use devices simultaneously. You can hone
in on this audience by crafting stackable
content that meshes well with other
platforms and encourages sharing.

PART 2

BUILD MICRO
CONTENT INTO YOUR
DAILY ROUTINE

When you look at people who are

successful, you will find that they arent
the people who are motivated but have
consistency in their motivation.
Arsene Wenger
French football manager and former player

Build Micro Content Into Your Daily Routine

page 26

GET YOUR DUCKS IN ORDER

Behind every successful social media,
content, or creative program is an even better
process. One of the biggest challenges and
time sinks that social media teams face is
the amount of back and forth that goes into
perfecting an asset and making sure that
campaigns are on brand.

With micro content, you wont have the time

to manage a lengthy approval queue. Instead,
youll need to take the time to determine your
processes and workflows upfront, to ensure
that youre able to create a steady stream of
visuals that your audience will absolutely love.

Build Micro Content Into Your Daily Routine

page 27

CHECKLIST TO GET STARTED

1. Plan your overall campaign

Outline your topline goals & KPIs
Identify the target market
Develop a messaging framework
Identify launch dates

2. Figure out a content plan

Determine what assets youll need
Create an inventory of what you
have on hand and any potential gaps
Figure out what you need in terms
of tone, style, and voice
Create a content calendar to time
the release of your assets
Identify potential stakeholders
(and get high-level buy in)
Commit to a high level
visual strategy

3. Figure out what types of talent you need

Determine what youd like to outsource
and what youd like to keep in house
(copywriting vs. design, for instance).
Build your team accordingly, and make
sure that you have the right people
staffed to every aspect of your project.
Get your freelancers and creative team
on board

4. Kick off your campaign

Translate your strategy and plan into a
brief that spells out goals, messaging,
deliverables, and timelines
Schedule a kickoff meeting
Present your plan to the team, and make
sure that everyone is aligned
Agree on everyones role and the
timeline for delivery, review and approval

After this initial planning process, youll work with your creative partners to bring your
ideas to life. Here are some additional tips to help guide you:

Build Micro Content Into Your Daily Routine

TOP TIPS

BE FLEXIBLE
WITH YOUR
TACTICS
You should enter your campaign with a
hypothesis about what content will work
well on which social channel, but know
upfront that it can be hard to predict what will
resonate on social media. Pay close attention
to how different assets perform, and be
prepared to change things up on the fly.

page 28

I believe that you have to have an

overarching visual strategy where you
understand what it is youre trying to
communicate with visuals holistically,
and what role visuals play for your brand.
From there, you can create channelspecific successes.
So for example, we really struggle with
product-based content, even when its
beautiful. In our beauty department,
for instance, we sell these beautiful
handmade soaps.
But when we put them on Facebook,
just fizzle, because Facebook is very
lifestyle and very fun.
But when we take a similar image and
we put it out on Instagram, it performs
beautifully there. And so I think thats,
I see a lot of content being produced
these days about this is the way you
must do visuals, and I think, then I think
it continues to be important to have
channel-specific strategies and really
understanding what the visuals can do
for you in one channel they cant do
in another.
Natanya Anderson
Global Director of CRM, social media,
and customer service at Whole Foods

Build Micro Content Into Your Daily Routine

page 29

TOP TIPS

DOCUMENT
SUCCESSES
AND FAILURES
To the extent possible, your micro content
execution should build upon past successes
and failures. When youre kicking off your
next campaign, taking a look at whats
performed best for you might give you a leg
up. Dont forget to look at different social
channels, where your followers may have
very different preferences.

About two years ago, we did this test on

Pinterest where we sort of threw everything
at the Pinterest wall to see what would
stick. We used different kinds of content,
we used different designs, and the entire
purpose of that activity was to gather
data and to see what was consistent on
Pinterest and other channels, and what
was unique to Pinterest.
And then we looked at some industry
research from our Pinterest analytics
partner, Curalate, on what was working
for other people too so we could
have that as input. And we came to a
standard approach to the way that we
do imagery for Pinterest thats either
photography-based or illustration-based.
And that approach isnt just about the
photography and the design process,
but its about the entire process from
brainstorming to production.
Natanya Anderson
Global Director of CRM, social media,
and customer service at Whole Foods

Build Micro Content Into Your Daily Routine

page 30

TOP TIPS

TIME TO FAIL FAST!

GO LEARN, ITERATE,
AND GROW!
One of the biggest benefits of micro content is
the opportunity to see quick results. In addition
to finding channels where you resonate, youll
also have the ability to develop new micro
content on the basis of performance.
You might even want to have a little extra
time set aside with your creative team to create
new assets which reflect your learnings from
the first days of your campaign. Definitely take
the time to document what worked and what
didnt when your campaign is over.
Bottom line, you have to be committed
to keep trying. More than anything, being
attentive and persistent will lead to successful
social campaigns. We cant wait to see
where yours go!

In todays world, where

content marketing is such a big
focus, I think one of the things
everybodys starting to figure out
is that you need to understand
how hard your content is
working. In addition to looking
at the immediate ROI per piece
of content, youll need to look
at its entire lifespan. Visual
marketing, especially through
micro content, is an
iterative process.
Natanya Anderson
Global Director of CRM, social media,
and customer service at Whole Foods

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CONTENT?
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