Summary: Images are important. Here’s an example of how I promoted the same blog post on Linkedin with two different featured images and got 5 TIMES the number of Views in just one day with the newest image.
Curiosity and Observation
We should use our powers of observation to consider what is unique about things that we see, why things are different, why one way is better than another, etc.
In a recent audio book I listened to on Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson, he noted that Leonardo wasn’t educated in formal school, but had well developed skills of observation:
“Leonardo had almost no schooling and could barely read Latin or do long division. His genius was of the type we can understand, even take lessons from. It was based on skills we can aspire to improve in ourselves, such as curiosity and intense observation.”
and
“In addition to his instinct for discerning patterns across disciplines, Leonardo honed two other traits that aided his scientific pursuits: an omnivorous curiosity, which bordered on the fanatical, and an acute power of observation, which was eerily intense. Like much with Leonardo, these were interconnected.”
These skills of curiosity and observation are in demand today in fields like Data Science, Data Mining, Sentiment Analysis, Predictive Modeling and Analytics. For it is only in the use of these skills that conclusions can be drawn from vast pools of data.
Let’s use those skills of observation to see how using a different image got 5 TIMES the number of Linkedin Views…
Same Content, Different Image
Here are the images. The brightly colored image on the left can be found HERE and the stock photo image on the right can be found HERE.
My observations as to why the one on the left got 5x more Views (2783 vs. 586) and 41x more Likes (41 vs. 1) in just 1 day than the one on the right in 5 days:
- It is a more brightly colored infographic
- It is a longer image
- The one on the left had a more compelling statement (?)
- The one on the right led with a question (?)
- The one on the right is a standard stock image. Perhaps people have seen that one before (?)
Which one do you prefer? Why do you think the one on the left did so much better? Leave your comments below.
Lessons Learned
- Design – I think people do like infographics. Why? Because they communicate as well as show thoughtful design. The infographic on the learning pyramid I originally found on Pinterest looked like this: LINK. But I didn’t like how the learning method with the lowest retention percentage was at the top. I thought the top should be reserved for the highest retention percentage, so I found the pyramid graphic on one of these three FREE stock photo/graphic sites: PEXELS, PIXABAY or UNSPLASH.
- Color – Since it only had 6 colors in the original graphic and I needed seven layers for the seven types of learning, I added a seventh layer in Microsoft Powerpoint and then added in the text in Microsoft Powerpoint.
- Font – I like the font Futura Standard Condensed . It’s used by a famous street artist named Shepard Fairey in his OBEY poster . I also added a little promotion for my blog at the top. 🙂
- Color – I think the rainbow colors really stand out and contrast nicely with the white text.
- Length – the graphic on the left is longer and therefore requires more scrolling to view the image as you scroll past in the Linkedin Feed.
- Stock Photos – although they might be good, for the purpose of promotion of a blog post, I think something more creative and eye-catching should be used. Don’t use stock photos, unless you add something to them. As an example, here’s my next blog post image (notice the font – Futura Standard Condensed).
My next blog post: “Guru or Sherpa?”
Did this image get the job done?
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