As social media nerds, we spend hours analyzing a client’s content.

We scroll, click and gather as much information as possible about each client’s social media platforms.

But regular folks don’t. They’re looking for the content – the meat and potatoes.

Mashable recently performed an eye-tracking study to show where Facebook users’ eyeballs are actually going. Time and again, the study showed a single phrase rings true: content is king.

No matter how many Facebook apps we may build or profile pictures we agonize over, most of those eyeballs went straight to the Facebook wall. In fact, users were more likely to view the wall four times longer than anything else on the page.

The eye-tracking study used 30 participants who looked at various brand pages from Coca-Cola to Converse. With the gender ratio split 50/50 and most of the users falling in ages 19 – 49, the study tried to get a general sense of perspectives.

According to the results, wall photos were noticed 85% of the time, and “likes” were noticed 58% of the time. Simply put, the branding pages with the most photos held a viewer’s attention longer.

If you’re deciding to spend a majority of Facebook space on your profile picture, then it needs a human element. Specifically speaking – a human face. Profile photos that used a face in connection to the brand caught a visitor’s attention more often than just a picture of the product.

Naturally, the first post garnered more attention, followed by the branding pages’ photos and the Facebook advertisement on the right. Some eyeballs hung around the “Info” and “Events” tabs, but older posts went almost unnoticed.

So use the data to your own advantage. Here are the top 3 lessons learned through this study:

1. Use a face.

The heat maps revealed more people fixated on faces than anything else. If you’re managing a family-owned business, make sure to have at least a photo of the family somewhere up top.

2. Post engaging content.

Sharing bad content is boring not only for you – but for your visitors. Post community happenings, photos of company events or recent news you found interesting. Get conversations going!

3. Facebook ads make a difference.

Advertisements on the right peaked a user’s interests – and the results have storied success. Learn more about social marketing from us!

You can view the entire results of the study here.

If you have ever managed a social media page before, you have probably had this happen to you: you post the perfect graphic, it works perfectly with your product or brands message, and no one, not a soul, posts a comment or acknowledges that you even took the time to share this piece of visualgold with the general public. You posted this amazing image or

video and it falls on deaf ears like an Arizonan complaining about cold weather. Why did this happen? How can you avoid it in the future? It’s all about the content, chump.

That’s right, companies are finding that the words you pair with your all-world graphic can have a huge impact on engagement. What, I’m sure by now you are asking, was the consensus of these findings?  Your post should be unique and clever, concise, and leave the fan or consumer with some kind of question.

Originality at the Origin

No one wants to attach their name (or Twitter handle) with a post that is schlepped together. The first component to a good image or video post is to write a caption that is as equally creative and unique as the graphic is. While humor and clever phrasing is a great way to boost your post to all-post level, a post that reads forced or uncomfortably will certainly lower the level of engagement you will receive. Generally, you want to stick to the message the graphic speaks to and ask yourself how can I refer to this idea or concept in a fun, fresh way?

Keep it Short

When posting any type of graphic, it is important to remember that the visual is the primary focus of your post. The content that goes along with it should serve like a lyrical Flavor Flav (read: hype man)  for your graphic. Your content should be witty (and preferably have an over-sized clock around its neck) without drawing too much attention to itself. A great way to make certain you have done this is to read the post as though the visual where not a part of it. If your post seems complete, you probably need to go back and find a way to keep the visual in the front of the reader’s mind.

There’s No Such Thing as a Stupid Question?

The final component to a good visual post is to leave the reader with some sort of question you are looking for them to answer. People are far more inclined to participate publically when they feel as though they get to contribute to the message. People like to feel as though their input actually matters, and questions or fill in the blank post endings are a great way to show your followers and fans that you really care about their experience and their opinions.

Go On, Get Visual

Today, social media serves as a wonderful way for businesses to pool their clientele and acquire a deeper, more personal understanding of what makes their consumers tick. The trick? Use content as a way to tie the reader and the image or video together. Once you’ve done that, the battle is won.

Related articles

• 17 Eye-Opening Examples of Content Visualization (hubspot.com)
• Let the pictures tell the story (themarlincompany.com)
• Visuals are important in journalism (journalistjan.wordpress.com)

Pinterest is one of the newest social applications which was designed to allow users to “pin” photos of the things they are interested in and share them with other users. This is a great way to connect with people that have similar tastes in products, food, art… and the list goes on and on. You have to request an invitation to join the community (it took about two weeks for me to receive my invitation after I requested one) or receive an invite from a current Pinterest user.

While Pinterest is still fairly new, there are a handful of brands that have started to use the application. One such brand is Saveur Magazine. They have several boards that have collections of desserts, travel destinations, cocktails, and more. When you click on the large version of the board, it links back to Saveur’s site. For example, if you see a photo of something that looks mighty tasty on their “Recipes” pinboard, you can click on it, and voila! it will take you directly to the page that contains the recipe for that item. (more…)