There is no denying that we are visual beings. We are surrounded by images in everything we do, and these images impact how we feel. When you wake up to a bright sunny day, your mood tends to feel “bright and sunny.” When you see an act of kindness, you feel kinder. When you see pictures of loved ones, you instantly feel connected to them.

This visual content is constantly processing in your mind and either makes you feel a part of what you see or disconnects you from it. Instantly. As you build your online presence, it is crucial to keep that fact in mind.

As you proceed with your businesses social media strategy, do not forget to engage your community. They like hearing your verbal updates, but they love seeing the pictures of your day to day business life, articles that interest you, video clips that are relevant to what it is you do. By doing these simple things, you will engage your audience on a whole new level. It will bring them into your world and make them feel a part of it. It is the easiest way to make your audience feel a connection to you and what you do.

Still don’t believe me? Have you heard of Pinterest? If not, trust me it’s only a matter of time until you do. Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media platforms available. American users of the social network spend an average of one hour and 17 minutes on the site, well ahead of Twitter (36 minutes), LinkedIn (17 minutes), and Google+ (six minutes). With 10.4 million users and growing (via AppData), the site is built entirely of images posted by users. Images of recipes, clothes, motivational quotes, businesses they adore and things they love.

Another huge platform is YouTube, which has 35 hours of video footage uploaded every hour! More video is uploaded every 60 days than the three major US Television networks produced in 60 years. Those are some impressive stats provided by YouTube themselves.

The proof is in the pudding folks. People everywhere like to engage verbally, but they LOVE to engage visually! Ask yourself this, is your business empowering your audience by making them feel a part of it, or are you disconnecting from them?