A Picture Paints a Thousand Words

Photos from Instagram; New York Times Blog

The old adage says, “A picture paints a thousand words” – but the question is, does this mean more to us now than before?

Pinterest and Instagram joined the social media domain in 2011 and they both have taken off faster than any other social media platform in the past. Research shows iPhone users upload nearly 4.5 million photos to Instagram each day and Pinterest has more than 12 million users and already outperforms LinkedIn, Google + and Twitter in driving referral traffic to retailers.

It seems visual content is more prevalent than ever – and as a marketing professional, I wonder – are we losing the power of words?

With this trend of image content, rarely do we stop and read an article. If the photo grabs our attention we may read a few lines underneath, but most of us just keep scrolling on to the next visually appealing article.

To engage readers and give the audience what they want, PR and marketing folks need to use this trend to their advantage and integrate photos and videos into press releases, blog posts and other marketing efforts and strategically curate the images to maximize readership.

That’s why in a recent campaign launch for our client MillBridge, EOS featured actual photos and videos of residents in the community’s website. We focused on using less copy and more visual content to really reach our audience and have them stop and spend time on the website.

Images make for a useful tool in supporting our content and really grabbing our reader’s attention – but there is no denying it’s in the actual wording where the argument and the core of what we are saying lives.

Pictures may mean more than ever now and Pinterest and Instagram may have changed the way we view and engage with online content, but in my opinion, it’s our words that will always be the most critical element in creating useful and relevant content.

Now I encourage you to weigh in– words or pictures? Where do you think the future lies for sharing content and spreading messages?

Leaping Forward in 2012

EOS Leap Year Bracelets

Leaping into 2012 and taking our agency to the next level, we have expanded with six new clients, new team members, and new products. As the economy recovers, our long-term clients graciously referred new business our way because of the value thinking and big ideas we offer. Couple big ideas with our ability to consistently execute programs that reach consumers and our new clients are winning in a rebounding economy - which is an also a win for us as their agency!

New clients added to our roster include:

• The City of Dunwoody
• Convention and Visitor’s Bureau of Dunwoody
• Higher Ground, a blog written by four Atlanta faith leaders to inspire positive change formed through The Community Foundation
• MillBridge, a new master-planned community outside of Charlotte
• Soleil Laurel Canyon, a master-planned active adult resort-style community in Canton, just north of Atlanta
• Turknett Leadership Group, a leadership character and organizational development firm

As the agency of record for these clients, we provide a range of integrated marketing services including advertising, branding, creative, public relations and social media.

In January, EOS joined forces with Emmy Award-winning journalist Kimberley Kennedy, in a unique partnership to offer a comprehensive, hands-on media and communications training program called EMPOWER.  Kennedy has more than 25 years’ experience covering hard news, features, and entertainment for WSB, WXIA and CNN.

We have already made some big steps this year, and are eager to see where 2012 will take us.  Make sure to “Like” us on Facebook and stay up to date on what’s happening at EOS. Let us know how you plan to leap in 2012 on Facebook and we will send you a LEAP YEAR bracelet!

Happy Leap Day!

A short trip but a lot of work ahead

Margaret and I traveled to Waxhaw, North Carolina just outside of Charlotte to get acquainted with Millbridge and Cureton, the two newest master-planned communities purchased by our client Landeavor. We toured the great amenities of these communities and visited Waxhaw’s charming main street. We are looking forward to working with Landeavor on creating new integrated marketing campaigns for these two residential communities targeting the Charlotte market in 2011….stay tuned!