By Matthew Langie, Chief Marketing Officer, Curalate

Consumer shopping behaviors have changed significantly in just a year. Today, billions of images are shared daily across a growing number of consumer touch points, including Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Tumblr. As a result, consumers are in a perpetual state of discovery, engagement, and shopping. And they’re creating photos of the experiences, products and brands they identify with too.

It’s a new day in marketing, and images—both brand-owned and fan-sourced—are a gateway not only to engagement but revenue. If you’re striving to build an effective visual commerce strategy in 2016, here’s what you need to know.

1. Image-driven social platforms will dominate.
As consumer expectations and modes of communication continue to be visual, the social channels that dominate consumer time, attention and engagement will continue to outpace the rest. As you set 2016 budgets, these are the channels to bet on.

2. Authenticity will trump accuracy.
Paralleling the growth of user-generated content (UGC), the prevailing success with 2016 marketing campaigns will be those with images that convey an authentic experience. Campaigns that make use of inspiring lifestyle images, and that place products within the context of relevant experiences, will drive higher traffic, engagement and revenue.

3. The image is the buy button.
A growing consumer trend will be the expectation that any image is shoppable. And with billions of images shared every day, that’s billions of opportunities to drive revenue. In treating pictures as individual points of purchase, you will see more brands creating shoppable experiences across more digital touch points.

See more at: www.curalate.com