Facebook is primary social network of choice for most businesses

One of the very first ever studies regarding the use of visuals for online marketing by Maltese business organisations has revealed that 43% of local companies are still not measuring the success of their visual content and remain unaware whether their efforts are proving to be fruitful or not.

Carried out by local web development and e-marketing company ICON, the research delves into the subject of visual online marketing when it comes to the promotion of products and services as well as how users interact with their online content.

ICON said it was researching what local marketers are using as media tools for promotions and what individual web users in Malta are utilising regarding social media and what leads them to make a purchase online.

“The findings have provided insightful and offered an in-depth glance into how the two are interacting and what spurs both to interact with such content. As expected, the vast majority of marketers (89%) have agreed that their products with images tend to fare a lot better online than those without any images. Surprisingly, those who believe otherwise have also claimed that they are in no way measuring online success,” ICON said.

Facebook is the favoured platform for both marketers and web users in Malta but web users are also more likely to experiment with new media such as emerging channels including Pinterest, Google and Instagram.

Most marketers surveyed (64%) have agreed that clients are more likely to share their feedback while on Facebook.  Although gathering feedback on products/services can prove to be slightly complicated, various options are available to gather input.

Similarly, 90% of local users have never purchased anything online that was not supported by an image and they would not buy online unless they have seen an image of the product first.

Although finding images for a website or social channel is no easy feat, marketers (84%) have admitted that they would rather take photos of their own products or services online to give it that extra personal touch. On the contrary, 32% of local companies gather their images from suppliers while another 35% purchase their stock photography.

Alternatively, most users (70%) have agreed that they would not participate in competitions where they had to upload images in order to participate. Only 14% showed their willingness to participate in such online competitions.

“For most businesses in Malta, Facebook is the primary social network of choice and marketers want to find out and learn more about other social media tools especially since more and more web users are using other social media channels for interaction,” ICON said.

Local companies in various sectors including Information Technology, construction, retail, consultancy, media and recruitment were among those surveyed.

The full report can be downloaded from here: http://www.icon.com.mt/visualmarketing.aspx