Visual Storytelling: Developing Multimedia Skills

THE POWER OF MULTIMEDIA

There is no denying the job description for journalists and marketers has been utterly transformed. The ever present glimmer of technology may not have eroded our degree of literacy, but it has had a major impact on our attention span and patience level.  We don’t read, we scan.  Visuals, with that worth of 1000 words, have become more important than ever.  This has changed the skill necessary for the media professional. For while traditional media jobs continue to decline, it is only writers and artists with digital media skills who can find high demand for their work. (Pew Research, 2020) The successful journalist is now a one-man show, fluent and able to work with images, audio and video to successfully craft content. (Schiefelbein, 2017). Thus, graphic and multimedia design skills are sought-after competencies in digital media job candidates.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Understanding the basics of photography can be very helpful whether taking a product shot or an image of an unfolding event. But it is also necessary how to edit those images as well. As marketing expert, Amanda DiSilvestro writes, “Photoshop used to be considered an “extra” kind of skill for your average marketer. Now, things have changed, and to be a great marketer knowing Adobe Photoshop is not only extremely valuable but becoming essential for marketing success.” (DiSilvestro, 2020) While Photoshop takes some time to get a handle on, there are tutorials, like this one from Hubspot, which cater to marketers, not creatives, and have a direct approach, making the time investment more manageable.

INFOGRAPHICS

Infographics are an excellent marketing tool for educating customers and sharing information because they help define and deepen the understanding of a concept, process, or set of data. (Malofiej, 2020) 65% of brands use infographics for marketing purposes as it has been proven that consumers tend to focus on “information-carrying images” like infographics more than they read the page’s text.  Perhaps that is because 84% of people who have used an infographic consider them to be useful. But they are powerful too when you consider this final fact, that Infographics are liked and shared more than any other type of content on social media. (Fontenella, 2020) Clearly, infographics are a great way to boost engagement with an audience. There are many freeware infographic tools available, like Piktochart, making this type of graphic skill one with a relatively short learning curve.

VIDEO

The power of video cannot be understated. As this example from the Washington Post shows, it is powerful and can bring home a message like nothing else.  Research has shown that the human brain is hardwired to respond to movement; a video on a page of static text garners attention. That, in turn, engages the viewer, keeping him on the page longer. Therefore, experts believe that communicating your brand message through video not only improves retention but, more importantly, boosts conversions. (Velos, 2021). Video is also important for SEO rankings. A video embedded in business website increases the chances to show up first on Google’s search by whopping 53 times more than a traditional web page (Deshmukh, 2021). Over 86 percent of businesses rely on video and 93 percent of marketers who use video say it is essential because the ROI met or exceeded their expectations. (Velos, 2021)  

NECESSARY SKILLS 

Far from a dying field, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that jobs in advertising, promotions, and marketing will grow 6% by 2029. (Bureau of Labor, 2021) But this success depends on encompassing a huge number of new skills and many of these rely upon translating information in a visual way digitally.  Web research has shown that content which includes visual gets 650% more engagement than content that only includes text. (Fontenella, 2020). It is clearly evident that visuals help grow traffic, clicks, and conversion. Investing time to learn the necessary skills to translate information visually will be time well invested.