There is no denying that infographics can be a very useful tool for relaying information and gaining traffic through content marketing. However, a good tool isn’t nearly as useful if it isn’t used effectively. Infographics are such a popular way of displaying statistics, it’s all but impossible to search for statistics about infographics. With so many infographics out there, marketers and business owners need to make sure their infographics stand out to their audiences. Here are four tips to ensure that the infographics you produce are at their best.
Be Original
A good infographic is more than just imagery, it’s about the information. Just as custom content is important for articles and blog posts, the same is true for infographics. However, it is common to see infographics with the exact same information as another with slightly different images. Just as you wouldn’t copy the text from an article, don’t copy the data from another infographic. This is unavoidable sometimes because people may be looking at the same dataset and end up making similar graphics. But if you’re starting to make an infographic and you see it’s been done, find a way to make it original. Find new research, focus on different areas (one infographic couldn’t cover everything in a particular study), etc. Taking the time to think of a way to present data in a way that others haven’t will help a infographic spread in a way that generic image wouldn’t.Include Sources Within Infographics with Links Under Image on Site
As with anything that is data-based, infographics need to have sources. While there are many people (sadly, too many) who are willing to repeat anything they see online without verification, the business and information savvy consumers that are the primary target audiences of infographics are looking for sources. Many infographics handle this by including a list of sources within the graphic itself. This is good for when the image is shared on social media or shows up in search engines, because it quickly establishes that sources can be found. However, since sources listed this way can’t be clicked, they aren’t particularly helpful for someone who really wants to view the source data. They would have to type in the entire url by hand using only the tiny characters of the infographic to go on. While this is possible, it’s a heavy burden on the searcher. Post links to the sources under the image when it’s posted by the organization. Besides adding credibility to the infographic, it adds value to the post on the businesses blog as well.Use High-Quality Imagery and Data
Anything a business owner uses to promote their business needs to be done well, and infographics are no exception. It’s not a good idea to just throw together an infographic that looks like it was made with MS Paint in 1995. There are a lot of templates for infographics that can be downloaded from Shutterstock and other image hosting services. These templates can be used with other images and data create original and professional-looking infographics relatively quickly. It’s equally important that the data used be of high quality. Don’t make an original, bold, new infographic and then use data that’s five years old or from poorly conducted studies. As the name suggests, people are looking for good information and good graphics when they look at infographics. Missing either component reduces the usefulness of the entire package.Focus
One thing to keep in mind when creating an infographic is that your space is limited and visually displaying data takes up more space than writing it. This means that you can’t just put every relevant piece of data on the infographic, otherwise it will be huge and people won’t look at all of it. The remedy is to focus the infographic on something specific and then only use the best data. For example, instead of trying to do an infographic on a generic topic like “social media” use a more focused subject like “social media engagement rates by network”. Besides keep the graphic itself on track, this is better for SEO because people who are searching for specific data are far more likely to click on an infographic with a title that focuses on the subject of their search.
Infographics are valuable tools for marketers and content creators, but with so many out there, it takes effort to create a graphic that will catch the attention of a target audience. It’s important that the infographic tool be used in a way that maximizes its effectiveness. Use these tips to help create infographics that are so useful that they are shared by others.