Whether building your brand or promoting your product or service, using images can have a huge impact on your business.

1. Use Visuals to Increase Views and Engagement

Whether in social media or elsewhere, visual content leaves a huge impression. Remember that articles with images usually get 94 percent more total views than those without, according to Valentine Belonwu of Business Gross.

And, in a blog or social media, Curt Finch, CEO of Journyx says his company has found use of images raises engagement by 56 percent.

No matter which statistic you choose to consider, it’s clear your content is more powerful with visuals than without them.

2. Boost Your Brand with Consistent Profile Shots

You know your profile is important. And adding a great profile image goes even further toward establishing your brand. But being consistent with that image, no matter what channel you use, is also critical.

3. Encourage Your Followers to Share

There’s no need for you or your team to post all the visuals in your online marketing campaigns either.

Encourage your followers to do some of the work.

For example, do you have a product that works well in photos? Encourage customers to take their own photos and share them on social media. They can pose with your products or take a photo showing how they’re using them. If you have a popular service, perhaps your customers could post images showing how they benefited from it.

You can encourage your followers to post their own photos via Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

4. Avoid Stock Images

Yes, there are plenty of sites with free images out there. So finding visual content for your blog, website or even a flyer might not be hard.

But let’s face it, if they’re that easy to find, your competitors have probably used them already.

Instead, try your own take on a popular meme, for example. Unusual and even “carzy” images are recommended. But you’ll also want to make sure those images look good … even on a smartphone screen.