Contributors:
Amol Ghemud Published: August 14, 2018
In This Article
Share On:
INTRODUCTION:
An image post uses a visual element as the centerpiece of your post, such as a SlideShare presentation, infographic, comic, or high-resolution images.
Use your introduction to provide a caption for your image(s). Why is it valuable? What’s the point? Image posts don’t require a lot of text, so choose your words wisely.
Here are some examples of how we use Visual blog posts here at HubSpot:
After just a few lines of introductory text, insert the visual.
Call out the most important elements of the visual. Include “Tweet this!” links that mention key points and vital takeaways from your visual.
CONCLUSION:
Now it’s time to say goodbye and wrap up your post. Remind your readers of your key takeaway, reiterate what your readers need to do to get the desired result, and ask a question about how they see the topic to encourage comments and conversation. Don’t forget to add a Call-to-Action!
Congratulations! What a lovely image post you’ve created.
For Curious Minds
Your introduction must function as a compelling caption that establishes immediate value and context for the visual. It should concisely explain why the image is important and what problem it solves for the reader, acting as a hook that encourages them to engage with the content that follows. Instead of a generic opening, your introduction should operate as a strategic primer.
To craft an effective introduction, focus on these three objectives:
State the Core Point: Clearly articulate the main argument or takeaway the visual presents.
Explain its Relevance: Briefly describe why this information matters to your audience right now.
Set Expectations: Hint at the most interesting data point or section within the visual to build anticipation.
As seen in HubSpot's examples, this method provides a narrative frame, turning a simple image into a powerful piece of visual storytelling. Explore the full article to see how to apply this to different visual formats.
A truly successful image post is a cohesive narrative where the text and visuals work together to deliver a clear, actionable message. The structure is critical because it manages the user experience, guiding the reader from initial curiosity to final action, ensuring the visual's key points are not just seen but understood and retained. This deliberate flow transforms a passive graphic into an interactive content asset.
The three-part structure serves distinct strategic purposes: The Introduction provides a caption that frames the visual's purpose and value. The Body presents the visual and uses text callouts, like “Tweet this!” links, to highlight key data and facilitate sharing. The Conclusion reinforces the main takeaway, asks a question to spur conversation, and presents a Call-to-Action. This structured content approach ensures your visual asset achieves its marketing objectives. Learn how to refine each section by reading the full guide.
The choice between an infographic and high-resolution images depends entirely on your communication goal and the complexity of your message. An infographic is ideal for data-driven storytelling and is best used when you need to explain a complex process, present statistics, or establish thought leadership. High-resolution images, on the other hand, excel at creating an emotional connection and building brand aesthetic.
Consider these factors when making your decision:
Goal Alignment: Use infographics for educational or persuasive goals where data is central. Use high-resolution photos to evoke a specific mood or showcase product aesthetics for brand-building.
Information Density: If your topic involves multiple data points, steps, or a historical timeline, an infographic is the superior format.
Audience Intent: If your audience is looking for quick, scannable information, an infographic works well. If they are seeking inspiration or a brand experience, powerful images are more effective.
Selecting the right format ensures your visual aligns with your strategic objectives. The complete post explores more visual types to match your content goals.
Complex subjects are exceptionally well-suited for visual formats because infographics and SlideShares excel at making intricate information digestible and memorable. They break down dense data, timelines, and processes into scannable visual chunks, lowering the cognitive load for the reader and increasing comprehension and retention compared to long-form text alone. This is why brands like HubSpot use them for topics like algorithm changes.
For B2B brands, this information design strategy yields significant results:
Enhanced Authority: Successfully simplifying a complex topic demonstrates deep expertise and builds trust.
Increased Shareability: Visuals are shared more frequently on social media, expanding brand reach.
Improved Engagement: Readers are more likely to spend time with a well-designed visual than a wall of text, leading to lower bounce rates.
This approach turns potentially dry B2B topics into engaging assets that educate and convert. Discover more examples of complex topics turned into compelling visuals in the full article.
The success of these examples reveals that modern content strategy is shifting from pure information delivery to engaging narrative experiences. Transforming data into a visual story makes it more relatable, memorable, and persuasive, capturing audience attention in a crowded digital landscape. It shows that how you present information is just as important as the information itself.
Businesses can apply this principle by adopting a 'story-first' mindset for their data. Instead of just listing facts, find the narrative within them. For instance:
Turn customer survey data into an infographic about industry trends.
Convert a project timeline into a visual history, as with the Google algorithm example.
Compile key takeaways from a webinar into a shareable SlideShare presentation.
This method reframes your content from a report into a valuable, shareable asset. The full post offers more ideas for turning your business data into compelling visual stories.
Repurposing a research report requires a structured approach that distills its core value into a scannable, shareable format. The goal is not to replicate the report but to create an engaging entry point that highlights the most compelling findings and encourages readers to learn more. A well-executed visual post can breathe new life into your cornerstone content.
Follow this three-step implementation plan for maximum impact:
Craft a Compelling Introduction: Start with a short paragraph that identifies the key problem the report addresses and states the single most surprising finding you will be visualizing.
Design and Annotate the Visual Body: Create your infographic or SlideShare. In the blog body, insert the visual and write short text callouts for 3-4 key data points. Embed “Tweet this!” links for each of these points to make sharing effortless.
Conclude with a Clear Path Forward: End with a brief summary, a question for the comments section, and a prominent Call-to-Action that links to the full research report download.
This process ensures your visual is not just seen but understood and shared. Find more tips on repurposing content visually in the complete article.
The long-term implication of shrinking attention spans is that text-heavy content will face diminishing returns unless it is structured for scannability and supplemented with compelling visuals. Mastering the image post format now is crucial because it builds foundational skills in information design and concise communication, which are essential for future content formats. It trains your team to distill complex ideas into their most potent, easily digestible forms.
Developing this capability prepares you for a future where content must deliver value almost instantly. Key future-proofing skills you gain include:
Visual Literacy: Understanding how to communicate effectively with images, charts, and graphics.
Content Atomization: Breaking down large concepts into smaller, shareable visual assets.
Engagement Focus: Prioritizing content that grabs attention and encourages interaction, like including a “Tweet this!” link.
This prepares you for a marketing landscape dominated by visual-first platforms and audiences with little patience for dense text. Learn more about adapting your strategy in the full post.
This approach fails because it lacks a narrative and a clear directive, leaving the audience to guess the key takeaway and what to do next. An image without context is just art; an image with a strategic conclusion becomes a marketing tool that drives measurable audience action. The conclusion's role is to crystallize the visual's message and provide a clear path forward.
To transform a passive viewing into an active engagement, your conclusion must include these four components:
Restate the Key Takeaway: Remind readers of the single most important point from the visual.
Reiterate What to Do: Tell them how to apply this new knowledge.
Ask a Provocative Question: Spark conversation by directly asking for their perspective on the topic.
Add a Strong Call-to-Action: Provide a clear, unmissable link to the desired next step, whether it's downloading a resource or contacting sales.
This structure ensures your visual content does more than just inform; it converts. The full article breaks down how to write a compelling Call-to-Action.
The 'Tweet this!' link strategy directly solves the shareability problem by removing friction and guiding the audience to share specific, pre-written messages. Instead of hoping a reader will copy a statistic, craft a tweet, and post it, you provide a one-click solution that ensures the message is shared exactly as you intended, often with your username and a link back to the post. This is a powerful tool for amplifying content reach.
Effective implementation involves both placement and content. First, identify the three to five most impactful, surprising, or actionable data points from your visual. In the body of your post, write a brief sentence to introduce each key insight. Immediately following the sentence, place a hyperlink with clear anchor text like “(Tweet this!)” or “Click to Tweet.” This makes the callout impossible to miss and simple to act on. This tactic turns your readers into active promoters of your content. The full article provides tools for generating these links easily.
The introduction and conclusion serve as strategic bookends with distinct functions: the intro sells the 'why' and the conclusion sells the 'what's next.' The introduction's primary purpose is to generate curiosity and establish relevance. It acts as a caption, framing the visual to convince the reader that investing time to analyze it will be valuable. Its goal is to get the reader to scroll down.
In contrast, the conclusion's purpose is to drive a specific action after the reader has consumed the visual. It synthesizes the key message and pivots toward a marketing objective. The conclusion should:
Summarize the Value: Remind the reader of the key takeaway they just learned.
Encourage Engagement: Ask a question to stimulate comments and community interaction.
Direct the Next Step: Feature a clear Call-to-Action (CTA) that moves the reader further into your ecosystem.
This narrative arc moves the reader from intrigue to action. Explore advanced techniques for both in our full guide.
A startup can create high-impact visual posts without a designer by focusing on a single, powerful image and using text to build a narrative around it. The key is to select a high-resolution photograph that is emotionally resonant and relevant to the topic, then use the blog post's structure to deconstruct its meaning and connect it to your key message. This approach prioritizes strategic communication over complex design.
Here is a simple plan to follow:
Choose a Hero Image: Select one stunning, high-quality photograph that encapsulates the core theme of your post.
Write a Captivating Intro: Use the introduction to explain the image's significance and introduce the main topic.
Use Text Callouts in the Body: Instead of data points, call out 2-3 important elements or ideas represented in the image, using bold text or blockquotes to make them stand out.
Conclude with a Strong CTA: Wrap up by summarizing your point and linking it to a clear Call-to-Action.
This method effectively leverages an image to create a memorable and professional-looking post. The complete article lists free resources for high-resolution images.
The image post will evolve from a static asset into a more dynamic and interactive experience, with AI enabling hyper-personalized visuals and new formats. The core challenge will no longer be creating a visual, but orchestrating a compelling narrative around it. The skills that matter most will shift from technical design ability to strategic curation and communication.
To stay ahead, content creators should focus on developing these skills:
Prompt Engineering: Learning how to effectively instruct AI tools to generate visuals that align with brand and narrative goals.
Ethical Curation: Understanding the legal and ethical implications of using AI-generated media.
Narrative Framing: Honing the ability to write powerful introductions, contextual callouts, and actionable conclusions that give meaning to any visual.
Data Interpretation: Strengthening the ability to find the 'story' in data to guide visual creation.
Mastering the fundamentals of structuring an image post, as outlined by HubSpot, provides the perfect foundation for this future. See the full post for more on future-proofing your content skills.
Amol has helped catalyse business growth with his strategic & data-driven methodologies. With a decade of experience in the field of marketing, he has donned multiple hats, from channel optimization, data analytics and creative brand positioning to growth engineering and sales.
Growth Strategy and Planning
