A few things have been changing online lately.  Facebook, the largest social network, recently launched Timeline – first to personal user profiles and more recently to businesses (if you haven’t previewed your new Timeline Page and are worried about how to prepare for when it gets automatically published on March 30, check out this post).

Facebook’s Timeline is much more visual – it features an expansive cover photo across the entire width at the top of the page, then prominently displays photos and videos that have been posted within your Timeline below.  Updates and wall posts have taken the backseat to images, which really pop on the page and draw page visitors’ attention.

Pinterest, which we’ve talked about in several previous blog posts, is another fast-growing social network that’s gotten a lot of attention.  Why?  Well it’s focused exclusively on sharing (“pinning”) pictures and video and it presents them in an attractive and easy to browse format.  Users can curate as many “boards” as they’d like, pinning photos, graphics, video clips, etc. onto boards with specific themes.  So from a “wedding planning” board that features beautiful floral arrangement ideas, dresses, decor and more, to a “things I find funny” board that displays a collection of illustrated comic-style graphics with hilarious captions… it’s all about images.

So when you think about your online marketing strategy, what can you take away from this?  This article by Social Media Today discusses the importance of images and how you can use them and best leverage the new tools and new formats of tools to their full potential.  Just think about what kind of photos can best showcase and complement your business – is it product pictures, aspirational photographs, graphics or illustrations that appeal to your target demographic… there are so many options, so it’s time to get creative!