156 THE POWER OF VISUAL STORYTELLING TIPS for Adding Text, Quotes, and Stats to Social Media Images 1. Use text as needed. If your image com- to mix in one-liners, quotes, polls, or stats municates your desired story without to complement your visuals. text, then it probably isn’t needed. But 5. Ask questions. Looking for a quick focus if words or numbers will help viewers to group? For text posts, embed a question fully understand the context or if they on an image, and let the consumer feed- will add a humorous punch line that isn’t back help influence a product or business conveyed through the image, then go decision. forit. 6. Do your homework. Found a quote you 2. Determine your desired outcome. love? A great stat to use? Just make sure Whether inspiring, comforting, entertain- to fully vet the person behind the quote ing, or making them laugh, what do you and make sure he or she is a good fit to want your audience to do after seeing represent your brand on a visual piece of your visual with a text, quote, or stat content. It’s also critical to understand together? how the stats were sourced to ensure 3. Strike a balance. Keep the message brief their credibility. and powerful. Make sure there’s a good 7. Get crunching. Does your company save ratio of image to text, quote, or stat— consumers a certain amount of money strive for achieving perfect harmony or time on average? Could the amount versus competing for attention. of sandwiches you sell per year circle the 4. Crowdsource inspiration. Is there a globe? Get your in-house mathematical frequently used word, question, quote, whiz to help you crunch numbers and hashtag, or phrase to describe your prod- come up with stats and fun facts that will ucts or services? Consider looking to your make a difference with your customer online community for inspiration on ways base.