SD Blog

Welcome to the blog of my random interests. Enjoy...

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The ideal weather for a little canoeing. Some may go as far as saying the perfect weather, but we'll let the discussion lie elsewhere. 

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This is genius!

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The view from my dock in Maine.

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The TRUTH!! Paul Pierce makes a crucial three-pointer in the final minute of Tuesday’s Celtics-Heat game. The basket gave Boston a four point lead on their way to a 94-90 victory, leaving them with a record of 3-2.

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This is a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) ad illustrating a depleting forest in the form of human lungs.

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The Visual Content Revolution: Keep Up or be Left Behind!

The trend of visual content within web pages is becoming one of the most effective and underrated marketing techniques used today. The use of pictures and images has become a very important marketing strategy used to create consumer engagement. Photographs are like the eye candy of content marketing. The only roadblock that keeps businesses from using this invaluable tool is answering the question “why?”

Visual content allows consumers to understand more about a company. It gives an in-depth description, but without the use of copy. Companies have so much information that they want to relay to consumers, but they only have a 3 second window to catch their attention, generally speaking. Most consumers do not pay much attention to the text unless is something catches their eye and sparks their interest. Two great attention grabbing methods are using an attractive header and a descriptive picture. More often than not, consumers are lured in by the image because that is where the eye’s line of focus begins; it is attracted to the diversity in colors and information that the picture has within it. Marketers want consumers to be able to look at a picture and understand what the document is all about, enticing the consumer to start reading.  

Visual content can be used in many different ways:

Brand Identity

History

Founders

Location

Company Activities

Staff, etc.

The uses for visual content are endless. Look at Facebook’s timeline, for instance. It allows the personal profile to engage the audience with a large picture of their interests followed by pictures that have been taken of them. You can look at somebody’s page, whom you may not know, and have a good understanding of what they enjoy. Pinterest is in the same exact boat. Instead of listing certain interests/activities in bulleted words on scrapbooks, they are listed in pictures, which are much more powerful for attracting and engaging consumers. According to Simply Measured, “visual content (photos and videos) have seen a 65% increase in engagement.”

Visual content has even becoming more present in blogging. The copy may be the substance of the blog post, but the image can be among the few reasons why the post gets read.

The visual content revolution is well underway. Those who do not keep up will be left behind.

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How Big Data is a Rapidly Growing Business Trend

Big data in the business world can have varying quantities depending on the size and capabilities of a company. For smaller companies, big data may consist of hundreds of gigabytes. While for larger companies it may be Terabytes or exabytes of data before they have to resort to alternative methods of collection.  Either way, as each year passes, data collection is getting heavier and heavier. It won’t be long before many companies will be outsourcing their datasets to data analysts in order to obtain business and consumer trends within their market.

For those who may not know what ”big data” is, it is simply large datasets that become too big for database management software, such as excel, to easily control. Most of the troubles with big data come from the collection, storage, and analysis of this data. Companies need a simple means to control it because the data that is collected can present information regarding company performance, consumer behavior, sales trends, etc. All information that is important as companies look to the future.

Many predictions have risen due to the popularity of this subject, some more believable than others. However, amidst all this information, one thing is clear: in order to keep up with today’s economy, business firms must learn to control and analyze the vast amount of increasing data that is being recieved each year.