What’s captured your attention lately using social media? Chances are it was something visual: an image, a meme, a video snippet, or even an infographic. A recent study by ROI Research finds that 44% of respondents are more likely to engage with brands if they post pictures than any other media. In today’s digitally connected society, it’s pictures that have become the content that drives the most engagement and the most advocacy across social networks.

In a recent Fast Company post by Intel’s social media strategist Ekaterina Walter, she provides a quote from Dr. William J. Ward, Professor of Social Media at Syracuse University, which sums up beautifully the evolution of how we are communicating with social media:

“Blogs were one of the earliest forms of social networking where people were writing 1,000 words. When we moved to status updates on Facebook, our posts became shorter. Then micro-blogs like Twitter came along and shortened our updates to 140 characters. Now we are even skipping words altogether and moving towards more visual communication with social-sharing sites like Pinterest.”

Digital consumers today seek a visual, curated, personalized shopping and buying experience, similar to the one they experience in the stores and with print catalogs. These consumers are connected and want to see what social influencers, not just their friends, are highlighting, liking, and buying. User generated content (UGC) from influencers serves as social proof and provides consumers an invitation to join the conversation, express brand enthusiasm, and provides a higher level of confidence to purchase. When presented with easy ways to provide their own brand enthusiasm, consumers are very open to leave authentic expressions and visual cues provide a great canvas for context. Social Tools like Instragram and Pinterest have re-defined social and commerce engagement, yet companies leveraging Facebook and Twitter have still seen pictures and visuals to drive engagement as seen below.

See how top consumer brands leverage ReadyPulse’s influencer marketing software.

1. User Generated Content (UGC) Curation and Publishing: Find and publish the best UGC to use in your marketing. You can find content that is already posted across social media networks or simply ask your fans and customers for photos. A contest is not always needed to collect UGC. Brand advocates are happy to share, and generally appreciate the recognition. Make the most engaging social content shoppable and use it across your digital properties to drive more revenue.

2. Shoppable Instagram – With a simple application, Instagram Scheduler, you can schedule out your Instagram posts in advance. The beauty of the application is that you can not only schedule your posts, but also make those posts shoppable. So now you can turn Instagram browsers into your buyers.

3. Social Influencer Campaigns: Launch influencer marketing campaigns to an exclusive network of authentic social influencers. Use influencer marketing campaigns to collect earned media, collect product reviews and spread your brand message to new audiences.

4. Brand Ambassador Programs: Build, manage and scale your brand ambassador program with one easy to use platform. Use ReadyPulse to build a custom ambassador portal that ambassadors can use to manage their profiles, participate in your campaigns and communicate back and forth. Recruit the best social influencers to your official brand ambassador program to collect engaging content from them on an on-going basis.

User generated content is activating more word of mouth expressions than any other medium on social networks today. Engage in visual communications to drive more insight and more advocacy for your brands, categories, and products.