People are overloaded with information these days. For marketing professionals, this means that your content strategy needs to work harder to get your message out there, and will need more than just text or images. After all, a picture paints a thousand words, which is especially true when the information is complex or numeric. In recent years, infographics appeared as a solution to keep information concise and present it in a way that is appealing, easy to understand, and easily retained. If you think infographics make a great addition to your existing content marketing strategy, here are some big reasons you should add infographics to content marketing strategy.
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Infographics are a better way to tell stories
‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ is a popular saying, and since infographics combine both pictures and words, you get the best of both worlds. You can share a complex subject and hold the attention of the reader while doing so. If infographic design keeps someone’s attention, it adds a visual and storytelling element to a complex, sterile subject.
According to Forbes adding Infographics to content marketing makes sense because:
- 74% of marketers rely on visuals in their social media messaging
- 56% of companies queried use infographics.
- 84% who’ve used them consider the medium effective
- 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual according to the report,
- Visuals are known to improve learning and retention by 400%.
To make good infographics, you need to collect relevant data, write text that is compelling, and present both in a way that is efficient and visually pleasing. If you do this, you can present heavy topics in an enjoyable way that’s understandable and memorable.
As a bonus, infographics beg others to share your content, which helps build your brand and get valuable backlinks to your website that improve SEO. In fact, many websites make sharing infographics easier by including embed links so website owners can easily include the infographic on their own websites. Another advantage of an infographic embed is it ensures your backlink is included with the infographic.
Visual cues help to increase the memorability of the information that you’re sharing. An infographic is a great way to embed your message in your audience’s memories.
Infographics are a better way to receive stories
Get plenty of data into your infographics by including charts or other visual data displays. Well researched facts and figures lend authority and give your reader a tangible point of reference. Infographics are also scannable, so when visitors need information quickly, an infographic is a perfect solution. Infographics in your content marketing strategy also appeal to Google, so much so that search tends to deliver infographics frequently among the top search results.
Most people are quite visual. A lot of the information transmitted to the brain is visual and is processed faster by the brain than text. This is why most people prefer to look at an infographic to learn something than read a long piece of text on the same subject.
Visitors don’t see all the text on a web page when they visit and even the visible text isn’t always read by visitors. In fact, most visitors scan the webpage looking for specific information to satisfy their query and don’t read the entire posts. An infographic allows visitors to skim the content more quickly, as already mentioned, and using an infographic toward the end of a post (which makes logical sense since the length of infographics means visitors often won’t read anything beyond the graphic) encourages visitors to at least scan down past the first screen of text. Ensure your infographics contain your logo and website link on them so people who find the infographic shared from another website know the quality of your work and recognize your expertise on the topic.
It’s a better way to maximize coverage
Your message is only as effective as your ability to share. And, people love to share infographics beyond their use by other website owners. Visitors pin infographics on Pinterest, tweeted out, and retweeted them on Twitter, and they are frequently shared and/or liked on Facebook. Adding Infographics to content marketing strategy gives you more opportunities for posts to go viral, thus improving awareness of your brand and enhancing reputation.
A useful infographic drives traffic to your website, as the shares and links reach more users based on sharing behavior. Investing in infographics organically boost your search engine rankings with all those backlinks and increased visits to your website. Don’t worry that you can’t use keywords or embed links within Infographics or use other SEO techniques because they are images. You avoid most of these issues by using an HTML format for infographics as well as highlighting embed codes to track their performance when shared on other websites or social media.
Print can’t go digital, but digital can go print. You can easily turn Infographics into presentations, posters, brochures, leaflets, and other materials to support your brand. Others will also share your infographics offline. In fact, repeating the Infographic in content marketing across platforms enhances your brand through repetition.
Because Infographics contain your logo on and meet your visual identity, whenever and wherever they’re used they support your marketing campaigns and communicate your brand identity. Infographics are a great way to enhance brand awareness because they reach so many in so many different ways.
Infographics improve visibility
A huge amount of web traffic comes from mobile phones and other devices. If you want mobile-optimized content, then infographics are ideal. Infographics are usually in portrait format, which is ideal for scrolling. Infographics are easily viewed on phones, tablets, and other mobile devices.
There are lots of Infographics around, but, when compared with the amount of text-based content, Infographics stand out. If you invest in a good Infographic with quality information, your content tends to maintain its place in search results. Infographics also have a long shelf life that appeals to readers for a long time, unless the information contained within the Infographic expires, such as the current number of users for a particular product. They’re a great example of evergreen content.