Are you using infographics as part of your content strategy? No? Then you are missing out on valuable marketing opportunities to develop and share compelling content.
Let’s start with some communication basics:
- If you want to share information or a story with someone, you tell it to them.
- If you want that person to retain that information you’ve shared, include visuals to support your story.
- Studies have shown that 65% of the population are visual learners, so including visuals with your story will captivate your consumers and readers in a way words alone may fail to accomplish.
This is where infographics can significantly impact building compelling content that converts!
Why infographics should be part of your content strategy
Infographics are an aesthetically pleasing way to summarize data and share information in a more compelling and engaging format with your consumers.
Breaking your content into bite-sized pieces makes sharing complex information or data more easily digestible.
Here are just a few ways to incorporate Infographics into your content strategy effectively
1. Infographics can help build brand credibility and your role as a thought leader
Creating engaging and informative graphics can help people learn more about you or your business and help position you as a voice of authority in a particular area. For companies with proprietary data and research, Infographics are a great way to share just enough of your data to build interest in your company and products.
Not only will this support you as a thought leader, but it will also build credibility and trust in your brand.
2. Infographics support your brand strategy
For your content marketing strategy to succeed, it must align with your brand’s message and identity. And since Infographics are just one element of your content strategy, they also need strong brand visuals. When done right, your target audience can discern your brand’s infographics from others.
Every aspect of your infographic, from colors to fonts to text placement, should align with your brand. Doing so will build brand awareness and credibility with your audience.
Here are a few tips for creating branded, credible infographics that are sure to be share-worthy.
- Plan ahead. Most inform graphics use data and research to communicate and that requires planning. Consider how the data and research support your communications and what elements can be shared in a way that simplifies a complex story.
- Credibility + SEO. Increase your credibility by having your Infographics published on relevant sites with high domain authority – and don’t forget to have them backlinked to your site to boost your domain ranking!
- Keep it simple. Ensure your content is broken into bite-sized pieces that can be easily consumed.
- Sharing is caring. Share your infographics with trusted thought leaders in your industry and on platforms like LinkedIn.
- Visual representation matters. Keep your infographics professional by using information architecture and skilled designers.
3. Storytelling in a different format
Infographics can help people understand complex concepts using visual aids such as charts, graphs, or diagrams. In short, they usually use images and text in a graphic format to explain concepts, data, and complex issues.
Like a magazine story or book, they need to provide the reader with something new or of interest that is structured clearly and follows a purpose. Without a focus on the story, readers won’t stick around or make it to the end of your story – not unlike a book!
Here are a few tips for how to tell a story in an Infographic:
- Build the architecture. Like an essay, magazine story or book, you need to map out your story before writing. What do you want your audience to learn? What path do they need to take to get to the crescendo or story arch? What do you want them to take away from your content?
- Draft it out. Now that you have the framework outlined begin drafting the story. What is the flow? What data and information support your story? Chart it out to develop the story from beginning to end.
- Review, edit, repeat. Like any good content, take a step back from the story you are trying to tell to review the accuracy and flow of information. Make edits to ensure your story is clear, accurate and compelling. Do this until you are confident in your story.
- Design using your branding. Now it’s time to layout and design the story. This is where your brand is overlayed to add credibility to the compelling thoughts and ideas presented in the Infographic.
While not every infographic requires original ideas, they need to present information in a unique way that makes the reader of your content feel that they are learning something new or finding value in your story. And when people see the information as valuable, they share it with their network – which is excellent for brand awareness and building credibility for you and your brand.
Highly sharable content, especially infographics, are:
- Relevant to the audience they are intended for
- Visually appealing and easy to read
- Align with your brand
- Convey complex information in a simple format –bite-sized pieces of consumable content
- Tell a compelling story worthy of sharing
- Include a strong CTA to share – include share buttons and HTML code to embed your Infographic into others’ content. And most importantly, don’t be afraid to share across your networks!
Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been using Infographics as part of your content strategy for years, they are a necessary part of every storyteller’s toolkit as a great way to develop and share compelling content that, done right, will be highly shareable!
-PMW
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