Infographics: why and how to use them
By Mikaela Delia
You've probably seen those really neat comic-strip looking posts floating around on the web. They usually contain big bubbly letters and numbers, easy to read factoids, and colorful graphics. They are, the appropriately named, infographics. Aside from being easy to read, infographics are unbelievably useful at delivering eye-catching information to web users. More and more companies are using infographics to raise brand awareness, and to relay information about their industry to potential customers in a quick, easy, retainable way.
If you haven't yet started creating infographics to raise awareness about your brand yet, no worries! I'm here to put to bed any reservations you may have about creating them and to educate you about the ways infographics can help promote your brand.
Why use them
Within the last decade, infographics have become an increasing trend. In fact, from 2010 to 2012, infographic search volumes have increased over 800% (searchenginejournal.com). This is due to the fact that most of what we remember is derived through visual stimuli. The colors, movement, emphasis and graphics that make up an infographic create stronger memorization than the typical printed word. In addition, since most of us have increasingly shorter attention spans, we tend to “scan” material as opposed to actually reading text. Furthermore, we tend to remember information that we’ve seen more so than read (searchenginejournal.com). Aside from the benefits of the visual-appeal of infographics, they're easier to share and distribute online. The source of the infographic can be included on it as well, so it's easy to find their source. Infographics are compatible with most social media channels, so there dispersal through blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest is ideal for raising brand awareness.
How to make them
Chart Credit: halfblog.com
There are plenty of inexpensive and even free resources out there to help you make infographics. Bear in mind, because they require more thought and effort than the written word, they'll typically take more time to create. But considering how content-driven marketing is these days, the pay-off is worth it. Here are some resources to help you get started:
Atlantic Training Blog- Check out the blog of the safety training company Atlantic Training. They have tons of infographics that they let users use and refer to at their leisure. Get a feel for the typical layout of an infographics by the way they've laid out the graphics and the information in relationship to color, etc. Notice the visual stimulation and the emphasis on certain facts. The infographics are also relevant to their industry, in addition to having share buttons for quick sharing to social media platforms. (Note this for when it comes times to publish the infographics you've made.)
Snappa- If you haven't heard about Snappa yet, today is your lucky day. I personally love this platform because it provides you with quick and easy tools to not only create your own infographics, but
Creating Infographics on Snappa
colorful, catchy graphics of all kinds to assist with sharing your marketing content. For $10/mo you can create, save and download as many graphics that you create as you want...and it's so worth it. I'm a huge fan.
Hubspot- Check out this blog post published by Hubspot. In addition to teaching you specifics about how to get started using infographics for marketing your brand, they even give you 15 free infographics templates you can download and use.
Venngage- Venngage is a platform that gives you access to hundred of infographic templates that you can customize, edit and create to share on your own social media platforms or company website. Their infographics are easy to edit and download, and they have a plethora of beautiful graphics for you to choose from. Check out which infographic templates are top performers on the web with this article: The Top 9 Infographic Template Types.
How to use them
The idea with infographics is to share them with the world. Let the world see them in all their glory! Aside from being informative, they'll raise awareness about your brand the farther you push their reach. Here are some ways to distribute your infographics:
- Social media- You'll undoubtedly want to post your infographics on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and more. These are all free platforms that harness immense impression opportunity.
- Your Blog- You'll definitely want to include them on their own tab on your blog. Make sure to provide tags, and to have a disclaimer that they can be used at your visitor's leisure as long as they provide a link back to your blog.
- Emails- Infographics are great to use to shift away from traditional email formats. Include all of your main points in the infographic in a fun, colorful way to boost open-rates and engagement on your mailing list.
- Outreach- Proactively reach out to other businesses to share your infographics in exchange for a link back. If it's especially relevant to their industry or operations, they'll usually share them either on their social media or their blog. It's a win-win for both parties.
Bottom line: Infographics are mystical sources of brand-awareness magic. Harness their power for your own marketing sorcery.
What does our team do?
At Social Hire, we don't just do social.
Our group of specialists are an organisation that helps our clients boost their online marketing by offering social media management services on a monthly basis.
You might like these blog posts 6 Biggest Ways Social Media Impacts a Business, 6 Problems Associated With Outsourcing And How To Prevent Them, 3 Brilliant Digital Ad Campaigns and Their Lessons, and How to Manage a Social Media Crisis.
