Did you know that online content with images receives 94 percent more views than those without?

Makes sense. Visuals grab your attention and provide a quick preview of the content within. Nowhere else is this more prevalent, or relevant, than on social media.

Vanguard’s design and social media pros participated in Nonprofit Tech for Good’s webinar on social media visuals last week. Here’s what we learned that might help you get that awesome audience engagement everyone wants.

The facts don’t lie. Visual communication is in high demand!

• Facebook photos receive 4x more engagement than posts with links.
• Tweets with images receive 18 percent more clicks and 150 percent more retweets.
• Nonprofits are 58x more likely to receive engagement on Instagram than on Facebook and 120x times more likely than on Twitter.

If there’s a sharp visual linked to your messaging, your supporters will have something to share with their friends.

Nonprofits with smaller communications staff may be worried about not having the skills or software for creating engaging visuals. But so many tools are available to help! Here are two recommended free image-editing apps.

PIXLR – The Photoshop Alternative

Familiar with Photoshop? Then this free web app with photo editing capabilities is for you. You can load in an image from your computer or load one from a URL to play with.

CANVA – Design Using Templates

Great for the experienced and newbies alike. It provides a massive library of images, fonts, and templates at your disposal with drag and drop capabilities. Canva has pre-set templates for any social media platform so you never have to guess about the size.

Stay tuned Wednesday for the really fun part!