Adding Images to Your Press Release: Tips on Including Infographics on the Content
Do you know adding images to your press release helps journalists and influencers tell your story better? So, try this method today to get more attention.
Since the invention and popularization of the internet, every message needs to be more visualized to get the maximum attention from the media. Press releases are official brand announcements to the media to get media coverage and public attention. Following the new trends and rules, PR content also features visual media to be more appealing and attractive. This is why PR professionals nowadays are looking for ways to make their content more attractive and more visible on the internet. Most public relations officials understand that visual content is the key in today’s world. However, the industry still relies heavily on text-based press releases and pitch emails, so switching to visual press releases can be daunting.
So if you are wondering how you can start adding images to your press release or producing multimedia press releases, here is your complete guide. But before moving forward, let’s discuss why you should include visual content in your content.
Why Should you Include Visual Content in Your Press Release?
Since the internet is taking over, there are too many reasons why you should include pictures, videos, or any kind of multimedia in the press release content. However, the biggest by far is that visual content gets shared more on social media platforms. The stat is huge. For instance, Facebook posts containing images get 104% more comments and 53% more likes than just text-based posts. When it comes to content with compelling and attractive images, they get 94% more views than others. A recent study by PR Newswire press releases with images garnered nearly twice as many views as text-based content. The more multimedia will be added, the more visibility it will get. So, yes, social media and its ongoing trends are a major part of this entire distribution and publication.
Press release content with text along with photos, video, and other downloadable files received up to x9.7 times more than text content. If you are shocked by the statistics, you are already behind your fellow content creators. Understanding the urgency, they are urging journalists to include more visuals in their articles and posts. The simple rule is, that the more visuals you can give journalists, the more coverage you get.
Now that you have understood the importance of visual media in press releases, let’s move into some key types of visual content and the best practices for leveraging each one of them.
Images in Press Releases
Visual PRs are standing on images and relevant pictures. Images are easy to use, and cheap to obtain while being proven to increase views. Hence, adding images to the press releases will drive better results across the board. Moreover, when it comes to social media, images come in handy as they will automatically generate an image preview, which increases the likelihood of engagement.
Best Practices for Images in Your Press Releases
Images tend to get the best results when they are eye-catching, high-quality, and most importantly relevant to the story. So, you need to stay clear of generic stock pictures. Instead, go for images that will relate to the story. For visual press releases, it’s preferred to go high quality, high-resolution photos. For the pitch emails, you need to include an image preview that is quickly downloadable. Overall, you need to make sure that it is easy for journalists to download the image by using a social media press release.
Videos in Press Releases
From shorts on YouTube, and reels on Instagram, to professionally shot commercials, there is a solid reason why marketers love viral videos. It is arguably the most impactful medium of storytelling that has the power to elicit powerful emotions along with memorable narratives in just a few seconds. Videos add a relatable and human touch to the story you are trying to tell. Press releases are usually written in a monotonous tone, and the emotion is difficult to capture with just text. This is where videos work perfectly as they are great for explaining ideas that would be too complicated to write out otherwise.
Best Practices for Using Videos in Your Press Releases
The first rule is to not become daunted by the time and expense of creating professional videos for your press release. A simple video filmed for Instagram can be as powerful as any professional video if the content is right. However, if you choose to create videos, make sure they are short in length, or you have the risk of losing the audience. While hosting doesn’t use massive video files on your server, upload them to a hosting service. This will help video press release load faster. Moreover, it will automatically generate previews while being shared on social media. This works across all devices, and the most beneficial thing of all, it will give your press release content a much-needed SEO boost.
Infographics in Press Releases
When your press release has a data-driven story, infographics are the natural choice you should go for. They are easy to read and visually appealing. On top of that, they include the full potential of going viral. When you use infographics, they will paint the picture with just data, making it simple for the readers to understand and follow along.
Best Practices for Infographics in Your Press Releases
Getting a successful infographic starts with good, data, clarity, and simplicity. You can start by asking yourself what impression you want your readers to take away from the infographic data. Based on that, you can design your infographic. You can use the data to present a clear narrative, using only as many visuals as you need. Remember, using an easy-to-understand story is always better than an overcrowded collection of statistics, no matter how tempting it looks. An additional tip is to get more traction by sharing the infographic on Pinterest.
Creating Your Visual Content
The first option for getting relevant visual content for your press release is doing it yourself. Creating your content is not as hard as it sounds, for starters, it is usually cheaper than paying someone else to do it for you. But of course, it will be more time-consuming. You can use your smartphone to create content and edit it by using tools like PowerPoint, Canva, Keynote templates, Placeit, Wistia, Adobe Voice, etc. If you want to outsource it, some affordable and budget-friendly options for you would be 99 Designs, Free stock images, Freelancer, Visual.ly, etc.
In conclusion, you are missing a huge opportunity if you are not adding visual content to your press releases. Journalists need it, editors want it, and data shows that it works. So, get started before you are too behind the trend!
I am Darryl Broadhurst and i give investors an insight into the most recent news hitting the “Technology” sector in Wall Street. I have been an independent financial adviser for over 11 years in the city and in recent years turned my experience in finance and passion for journalism into a full time role. I perform analysis of Companies and publicizes valuable information for shareholder community.
