One of the biggest challenges of content marketing is to ensure that your audience receives fresh and dynamic content from you (or your business) consistently.
As the internet has evolved, so have the types of content being fed to hungry recipients! And there is certainly more demand for visual content NOW than ever.
People no longer just wish to scan through pages of text when they want to read/learn things online. They want more compelling visuals along with textual content. This is why it is not surprising that infographics have quickly risen in prominence over the past few years because they are able to provide information to people in an attractive visual format.
I am sure you have noticed plenty of these by now all over the web (social media sites – particularly Pinterest, business blogs, etc.). They pretty much look like posters (colorful images, less text) and makes you wanna click on them when you see one. Hey, I know I do ? !
So, what are these infographics and why do they work? And why should you start incorporating them into your content marketing strategy?
Let’s find out.
What is an infographic
Before we delve into the definition, let’s look at some interesting stats on how we humans perceive and process information.
- Human beings are visual creatures. 65% of us are visual learners. Our brain processes more information, faster (60,000X) when it is presented in a visual format rather than in the form of text. In fact, 1/2 of our brain is dedicated to visual function!
- 2 out of 5 people respond better to visual information than plain text.
- Website content with images gets 47% more clicks than those without.
- We retain up to 20% of the information we process in a visual format as opposed to only 10% of the information we read. Thus, when things are laid out in front of us in the form of an image or a video, we are more likely to remember it than just plain text.
Need more stats? Check out – 13 reasons why your brain craves infographics by NeoMam Studios.
An infographic is exactly what its name implies – information represented in the form of a graphic (diagrams, animations, data charts, tables and so on). See example below.
Infographics can be a powerful addition to your content marketing campaigns because they have the distinct advantage of being more visually attractive.
That being said, developing written content for your website/blog is not being ruled out altogether. You will still need to feed your target audience with well-written content. However, representing a part of the information with an infographic or pairing an infographic with a relevant blog post will make it more engaging for your audience. More engagement will drive more traffic back to your website and in time place you higher in search engine rankings.
Why do infographics work
Here are the 9 reasons as to why you should be using more infographics to market your content.
1. Are visually appealing
By this time we have established the fact that visual content is the way to go if you want to keep your audience focused with what you have to offer.
Infographics are like digital posters with large and colorful images, animations, charts etc. and minimal text. Hence they are perfect for catching someone’s eye at first glance.
Successful infographic design involves strategically organizing text and images within its body to provide that visual appeal. Haphazard placements of data and diagrams will not do the trick.
Check out this infographic by Venngage highlighting the 25 music festivals around the world you should visit before you die.
Imagine if the same info was presented as a bulleted list, such as below.
- Reading/Leeds Music Fest – Since 1961. Reading + Leeds, England. Aug 28 – 30, 2015.
- Montreux Jazz Fest – Since 1967. Montreux, Switzerland. July 3 – 18, 2015.
- Glastonbury Festival – Since 1970. Somerset, England. June 24 – 28, 2015.
- Roskilde Festival – Since 1971. Copenhagen, Denmark. July 1 – 5, 2015.
- Dour – Since 1989. Dour, Belgium. July 15 – 19, 2015.
and so on, it just wouldn’t have the same appeal!
2. Are self-explanatory
Infographics are pretty much self-explanatory. You don’t need to break the data down any further and explain it to your audience. It’s all right there.
Take a look at this example from Business Insider.
A study conducted by Buffer (social media publishing app) tested 2 Facebook image posts – one with an infographic and another with just an image. Both had suitable captions along with the image. The one with the infographic received 78 likes and 20 comments and the other received only 11 likes and 3 comments.
Clearly, because the infographic was able to capture the reader’s attention right away due to its self-explanatory nature.
3. Perfect fuel for social sharing networks
It has been proved by research that people love to share images on social networks. And what better way to fuel this sharing than by providing them with content in the form of a graphic?
According to Kissmetrics, photos get 53% more likes, 104% more comments and 84% more click-throughs on Facebook. In fact, photos outperform videos, links and text on Facebook.
Tweets with photos average a 35% boost in retweets. Tweets accompanying infographics usually contain the word [infographic] or the hashtag #infographic.
Social sharing sites such as Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr are completely image-based. This is what my Pinterest page looks like when I perform a search for the word “infographics”.
Tumblr and Instagram are not far behind.
Infographics are becoming more and more interactive as we speak. We are talking clickable (scrolling, user-data driven content, animation and multipagination) infographics, motion graphics and so on. The The Bright Future of Car Sharing is a classic example of what an interactive infographic looks like.
4. Have the potential to go viral
Infographics have tremendous potential to go viral. How many times have you heard of textual content going viral on social media or otherwise? It is almost ALWAYS an image or a video.
A little disclaimer here before I proceed ? – I am not talking about Ellen’s Oscar selfie kinda viral but viral enough to open up conversations and bring in new business.
The key factors to consider for “infographic-virality”, I would say, are accuracy and relevance of the data presented. The content you are planning to share must be able to strike a chord with your audience. And it is always a good practice to cite your sources at the end of your infographic so that people know where your data is coming from.
5. Offer the ability to target different audiences
Each business has a target audience.
But here’s the thing – your target audience can be a mix of various buyer personas. (Here is a blog post which explains buyer personas in more detail).
Some might make their buying decisions based on detailed blog posts whereas others might be tempted by an attractive infographic. Therefore, businesses offering content in more than one form have a clear advantage while channeling their marketing efforts in order to reach out to a diverse audience.
6. Establishes your brand’s identity across the web
When you create an infographic you place your business logo in it. Every time your infographic is shared, your logo becomes visible to a wider network of potential customers, thus establishing your unique identity online.
7. Easy to create and design
There are plenty of free (and paid) tools available which have made it easier for businesses to create and design infographics. You don’t need to hire an expensive designer to do the job for you, unless you want to, of course!
Piktochart is an online tool that lets you create infographics for free. You can start with a blank canvas and work your way up or use one of their available templates – limited for the free version of the tool. But you can get plenty of ideas on how to proceed by even just browsing through the paid templates. I have created infographics right from scratch using the blank canvas and I highly recommend it! Here is an example.
Venngage is another online tool which lets you create free and premium infographics. I have just started using their premium version (quite inexpensive at $15/month) and I must say that I’m quite impressed.
Listed below are some more tools available. Most of them offer a free basic version and you can pay to upgrade and use advanced features.
8. Easy to share
Infographics are highly portable.
They can be embedded on other sites (the embed code is usually provided for you), downloaded an image/pdf files or printed on paper. Either way, the word about your business reaches more people whenever someone shares your infographic.
Here is an example of an infographic embed code by QuickSprout.
9. Increases traffic to your website
Needless to say, if all of the above work it will eventually bring in more traffic to your website. We all know the saying that “Content is King” and infographics not only provide the content but do so in a manner that is less taxing for our brain and more pleasing for our eyes!
Are you using infographics in your content to attract new customers towards your business? How is it working for you?