Visual Advertising Survey: Consumers More Likely to Notice Social Media Visuals Than Advertising Visuals

Social media has given businesses a way to communicate with their customers using both words and visuals. Now, advertising professionals are coming up with ways for businesses to integrate those visuals from social media into online ads. Are consumers any more likely to notice ads if they include visuals? And would it help to include the same types of photos that brands share on social media?

Online Ads

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 29% of respondents said that they notice ads every time they go online. 18% said they notice online ads every day. 34% said they sometimes notice online ads. 12% said they rarely do. And just 9% of respondents said that they never notice advertising online.

Visual Advertising

Of those who notice advertising online, 27% said they are definitely more likely to pay attention to these ads if they include photos or other visuals. 45% of consumers said they would probably be more likely to notice online ads if they include photos or visuals. 24% said they wouldn’t really be more likely to notice visual advertising online. And only 3% said they would actually be less likely to notice online ads that contain photos. Of those who said they notice advertising online at least every day, 45% said they are definitely more likely to notice ads with visuals, and 40% said they are probably more likely to notice ads with visuals.

Social Media

16% of overall respondents said that they follow many brands on social media. 29% said they just follow one or two of their favorite brands. 41% said they don’t follow any brands on social media. And 14% said they don’t use social media at all.40% of those who follow brands on social media said that they are definitely more likely to notice posts from those brands if they include photos or visuals. 44% said they would probably be more likely to notice social media posts that contain visuals. 13% said they wouldn’t really be more likely to notice these posts. And just 2% said they would actually be less likely to notice social media posts that contain photos.Of course, the fact that consumers are more likely to notice visuals on social media than visuals in advertising could be attributed more to the fact that those social media users have chosen to follow those particular brands. But the way targeted advertising is advancing online, visual advertising could become more relevant to all types of online consumers, and thus more noticeable.You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Ad for h2o from FlickrWhat do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on April 23 via AYTM’s online survey panel.