It's certainly not a coincidence that so much of what we share online today is picture related. There's just so much information around us that we cannot possibly remember it all in a limited amount of time. Using infographics to convey figures and data will help people absorb information in a much more efficient way. A way of presenting information in a visually appealing and memorable form, infographics allow your audience to engage quickly, gain insight, and absorb relevant information in bite-sized pieces, while also offering a variation within your content marketing strategy. What is an infographic? Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge, intended to present complex information quickly and clearly. There's a consensus that "a good infographic is worth a thousand words," providing an effective way to convert information into a memorable and visually appealing form. For marketers, infographics offer a different way to engage your audience. However, some information lends itself more to infographics than others and there are tips for using them to the best effect. Why are they so popular? In many ways, the infographic has been around since the dawn of time. Think about those paintings that cavemen etched into walls or the hieroglyphics used by the Egyptians. All these are infographics that tell a story or impart information using pictures. The last decade or so has seen a steady rise in the use of infographics for content marketing in a bid to educate, entertain and engage an audience. Infographics are now one of the most popular types of images for marketers, with 30% of content creators crafting their own original infographic images. Why? Because, according to statistics, infographics cater to the way we process information: •90% of information sent to the brain is visual. (MIT) •65% of people are visual learners. (Pearson) •99% of all sensory information is filtered out by the brain almost immediately. This means that only 1% of information actually gets through to the brain. Infographics are in this 1%. (QUE Publishing) Meanwhile, in content marketing terms: •Content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images. (Quick Sprout) •42% of marketers reported that infographics and other original graphics were the most engaging. This was higher than any other form of visual content. (Venngage) •Infographics can increase web traffic by 12%. (Demand Gen Report) •81% of people only skim the content they read online. The average user reads 20-28% of words during an average visit. (NN Group) •Infographics are liked and shared on social media three times more than any other type of content. (NN Group) When to use an infographic? Like any content, using infographics is all about offering them in the right place at the right time. So here's a quick checklist of when you might consider using an infographic: •When there are lots of data - Infographics are a great way of converting data and statistics into a visually compelling form. •If the information is hard to understand in written form - If your information is complex when written or hard to get your head around due to the numbers and statistics involved, an infographic may be a more effective way to tell the story. •If you haven't used too many recently - Infographics are part of a wider content strategy, and as such should be used sparing...
