Infographics and Content Marketing go hand in hand today! Traditional marketing heaved its last breath with the advent of blogging and when social media marketing set its foot, traditional marketing lost much of its importance. Marketing took the form of creating content that is not just persuasive but also informative and entertaining.
With the advent of social media, content marketing has become the most important form of marketing. Smart marketing professionals have realized this and have begun to create compelling content in the form of blogs, features, interviews, videos and podcasts. Is that enough? Enter Infographics.
Content marketing is increasingly relying upon Infographics
Infographics have shaken the content marketing industry just like blogging shook traditional marketing strategies. It is no longer enough to create compelling blog posts and write eBooks. There have to be Infographics that support all your content. Content that is marketed without the assistance of Infographics stands the chance of being ignored by those who do not have much interest in reading. Content today is mostly textual, closely followed by videos.
Images are adjunct props that help primary textual content sell. Infographics on the other hand are visual, can stand on their own and can also be props to other forms of content. Infographics can thus be used as a content marketing technique to distribute valuable, consistent and reliable information in the form of charts, graphs, maps and other forms of visual representations.
Visual information is very crucial in keeping the attention of those who find it difficult to process information. Those with a cognitive orientation towards visual content will lean towards Infographics than textual content. Thus, it is simply not possible to ignore Infographics and their benefits. By constantly creating and curating information that can be graphically represented, we can retain members of our audience who prefer to scan information rather than go deep into an analysis.
When we take a look at content marketing and the realm of Infographics, there are a few advantages that are very clear:
• Infographics are very visual and are easy to interpret
• Infographics boost traffic and are good for SEO
• Infographics are shareable and are social media-friendly
• Infographics make corporate content look richer and more vibrant
• Infographics can be created at a relatively fast pace, when compared with lengthy whitepapers and eBooks.
With that in mind, Infographics can be a powerful way of boosting your content marketing techniques. In this article, let us take a look at how Infographics can help your content marketing strategy.
Visual representation of existing content can boost traffic
Companies that regularly post blogs and eBooks may often not see the kind of popularity they expect from their content. This is mostly because blogs and eBooks may not be enough to attract the kind of target audience they have defined for themselves. People sometimes prefer to visualize their content rather than reading text. This means, when you publish that blog or article, some people find it difficult to process all those words.
They prefer to scan an Infographic, instead. Infographics can be used to support your eBook, whitepapers and blogs, instead of publishing them on their own. The fact that Infographics have the ability to condense information and present them in a visually appealing manner makes them vastly attractive. Use Infographics that are based on your other forms of content and use them as props.
It is easier to get the attention of certain groups of people when you provide information in a visual format. Those who want to dig deep into the matter will choose to read your corresponding blog or eBook. The more researched your eBook or blog is, the easier it is to create your Infographic.
Infographics can be shared across social media
The fact that Pinterest is one of the most important social networking websites should tell marketers something. This is a platform that can be used to promote content and market it to a targeted audience carefully. Infographics can be published and shared on Pinterest with a link to your blog, whitepaper or eBook. The traffic that you may get now will be vastly higher than what it was before you had published an Infographic and shared it on Pinterest.
Other social networking sites that can be used for the same purpose are Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. While LinkedIn is a great place to market, Infographics are more popular on Facebook and LinkedIn. However, Twitter has made several changes to its interface.
The new Twitter interface makes it easier to view images and this could be a boon to people who publish Infographics and share them as well. Make use of the available social media tools to market your content with the help of Infographics. Remember that Infographics create the kind of interest that is required to divert traffic towards your more researched and well put-together content, like eBooks or whitepapers.
Targeting the millenials
Those born between 1982 and 2000 are usually known as the millennials. The older millennials have already reached their thirties while the younger ones are stepping into middle teenage. The younger millennials, especially the ones aged between 15 and 25 are the ones that will be more amenable to viewing Infographics.
Youngsters are known to prefer pictorial representation of data rather than having to read through reams of text. The older millennials, those aged between 25 and 32 may not prefer Infographics as much as the younger ones would. If your business specifically targets youngsters, it is a good idea to go ahead and start using Infographics as your main form of content. Run contests for your readers and ask them to share them across social media for more benefits.
A content marketing strategy that is rooted in Infographics works best for younger millennials. However, if your target audience is older millennials or even the older Gen X and the baby boomers, use Infographics as props to support your eBooks, whitepapers and blogs. You could also use Infographics on their own if you have compelling statistics and data to represent visually.
Infographics are a crucial part of content marketing
Whether you are looking at making an existing content marketing campaign look compelling and attractive or you are trying to present information that can be easily viewed and scanned, Infographics can be a powerful way to attract and build audience. As pictorial representations of data make them wildly viral, they can bring in a lot of traffic to the website.
Moreover, Infographics can easily be embedded, as long as one has the embed code. That makes them very portable as well. If you are looking for a worldwide coverage and boost your brand awareness, Infographics can support you at a minimal cost and effort. Last but not the least, it shows that you are an expert in your domain and that the textual content which you publish alongside are valid and reliable.
Certainly, companies will begin to understand the importance of Infographics in the near future and use them to boost content marketing campaigns. Their relative approachability and user-friendliness makes them attractive to some of the most attention deficient viewers online. It is thus important to invest one’s time and effort in creating Infographics that not only stand on their own but also act as props to other forms of content.
