In a world of convenience, visual updates are king. I recently read an article titled The Shift to Visual Social Media, which focuses on how visual social media is taking over the market and why smart brands are jumping on the wagon. The author walks us through the timeline of how blog posts became Facebook updates, which shrunk to Tweets and have now turned into Instagram or Pinterest posts.

This visual trend is, in part, due to users engaging with social media via their smartphones. Just like tweets were more convenient than updating a blog post, photos are now becoming less tedious than typing a status update.

Some companies have names that paint the picture, like my favorite hosting company, Greengeeks (read an awesome review about them here).

According to a study, 44% of respondents are more likely to engage with brands if they post pictures than any other media. Updates to the platforms have also been made to make them more succinct with the visual movement (i.e., Facebook Timeline) and the high successful new kids on the block (Instagram and Pinterest) are proving that the visual movement is here to stay.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is also evolving with this movement. Search engines no longer just rank websites alone. They now rank content based on social conversations and sharing.

So, what does this mean for your brand? It means adaptation is the key ingredient to your social media success. Smart brands that learn to navigate the visual social media movement will be prosperous in the social realm.