Visuals really boost traffic to your site: Articles with images get 94% more total views than plain text. I believe there is no need to repeat all the benefits of Infographics, a great tool to visualize your content, in engaging, eye-grabbing way, to our regular readers. Let’s simply list 10 latest interesting facts about Infographics and then move to what’s new in marketing with Infographics.
So how to do effective marketing by using Infographics? What are the new trends here?
1. Plan. Obvious but essential. You need to understand a purpose of your over-arching communication plan before creating an Infographic. Infographics work particularly well when they are a part of a content marketing campaign. They help you visualize your content differently or bring a new dimension to some information. So when everything is planned and aligned – that brings you so desirable synergies!
2. KISS. Think about key messages of your Infographic and try to keep it relevant, simple and short. Your Infographic should make the point, be clear and convey the message to your audience. And as any product and service, the more targeted your Infographic is, the better.
3. AIDA. Your Infographic should follow AIDA rule, that’s Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. So it should have an attractive story line which has an engaging beginning, middle and end that inspire readers to do something. It should hook people and guide them through. At the end, an effective call-to-action is a must.
4. Design. Yes, Infographic is much more than a simple PowerPoint or Excel document. And its design piquing interest and attracting attention should vary depending on the distribution channel:
a. Facebook: Sadly, but Infographics don’t format well on Facebook. However there is a good solution for that. You can upload a snapshot of the most compelling part of the Infographic and then include the link to the full version. You can even widen your reach by mentioning or tagging people or companies.
b. Twitter: Twitter is text-based, so here you can only post a link to your Infographic. And including either #Infographic or [INFOGRAPHIC] will increase the chance that your tweet becomes viral.
c. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a professional network so people there look for value in what they read. Therefore you should add some text with the link to the Infographic to demonstrate its value and make people go to read your Infographic increasing its popularity.
d. Pinterest: Here you don’t need to be too much official, rather have fun and write casual descriptions. Because titles like ‘Who knew there was so much to know about coconuts?’ is much more likely to be repined than boring ‘Coconut Infographic’.
5. Content. Content is a king – that’s true for Infographics as well. So use only high-qualitative, interesting data, research it well. Use citations and have real transparency showing where the data has emerged from. You should also remember that Infographics with key insights and data viz are more shared and are highly valued by those time-starved who need quick overview of the issue.
6. Give your Infographic a home. Social media is great, but ideally your Infographic should have its own home on your website. That will ensure you reap the SEO benefits. And then all your social links should point back to this page.
7. Earn the next click. As it was mentioned in point 2, Infographics work when they are short and simple. So it is usually impossible to include everything you wish to say to your customer in a single design piece. For that consider Infographic as a teaser that push people to click further in order to get more information. So a proper call-to-action at the end is very-very important.
8. Sharing is caring. Don’t be shy and clearly ask your readers to share your Infographic via social media platforms. Adding something like “If you enjoyed it, please consider sharing…” is easy but often not done. And you should make reposting the Infographic and linking back to your website as easy as possible, otherwise your efforts won’t work. The best way to do this is to supply an HTML embed code.
9. Innovate. Why only traditional static Infographics? Go for new types – Video and Interactive Infographics! They look smart and fresh, and even though they are usually more expensive to create than a static Infographic, the pay-off will be pretty impressive.
10. Promote. It goes without saying that after you create a marvelous piece of design, which is an Infographic, you should promote it. Use social media and also don’t forget email! More about the effective Infographic promotion here.
11. Branding. Last but not least – don’t forget to brand yourself via Infographic. For that add clearly visible “Brought to you by [YOUR LOGO]” at the bottom of the Infographic. And your brand will stay in minds of your readers.
So following this checklist will increase your chances to succeed with your Infographic. Good luck! 😉
Do you know any other good practices to market your brand with the help of Infographics? If so, please share it in the comments!
