Infographics are a great marketing tool, as they allow for easy communication of complex ideas in a visual way. Over the past few years, they’ve been forgotten due to the mass production of extremely low quality infographics strictly for link building. But infographics are not dead. When properly crafted, infographics, like other forms of visual content, are still highly effective at cutting through clutter and engaging online audiences. It was actually found that high-quality infographics are liked and shared three times more than any other type of content. As your goal is to provide value to your audience rather than generate link-bait, infographics are still highly effective as a content marketing tool.

Here are 5 important tips to keep in mind when creating and marketing a successful infographic. 

Determine Your Target Audience and Goal 

For an infographic to succeed, it needs to meet the needs of an audience. The first, and one of the most important, steps is identifying the audience you want to reach. Then determining their pain points, desires, etc. A common mistake made when creating an infographic is choosing a topic that’s popular in general, rather than specific to their audience. Infographics that gain the most attention and traffic are specific, relevant, targeted, and meet audiences where they want it most.

Next, determine what you’re trying to achieve with this piece of content. Where and how does it fit into your ultimate marketing goal? It’s important to be sure that an infographic is the best format to communicate your message. You don’t want to waste time on something that doesn’t fit into your larger strategy or miss out on a better solution.  

Chose a Compelling Title 

The headline of the infographic is extremely important. It needs to be compelling enough to grab readers’ attention, while priming them for the data they are about to digest. Clearly defining what the infographic will be communicating right at the beginning makes it easier to understand the rest of the graphic. You also want it to be simple. Titles that get too wordy may not keep someone’s attention long enough for them to make it through the rest of the content. It’s also very beneficial to try optimizing your title for SEO. Although infographics are technically images, they still contribute to the search relevance if part of a blog piece. If optimizing for search is part of your content strategy, we recommend including keywords in your title.

Stay Focused 

It’s best to keep infographics simple and focused on one main idea. It can be tempting to try to cram as much information as possible into the story. You don’t want your infographic to look like an attempt to randomly assemble as much data as possible. An infographic is most effective when it tells a strong and straightforward story that brings more clarity to a topic. 

It’s also important to establish a flow for your design. The reader’s eye should naturally go from one block of information to the next, moving them through a thought process. Once all of your information is in the right sequence and you begin to work on the first draft of your infographic, you can also use images and symbols to help reinforce the flow of your infographic, such as arrows.

Make Viewing Easy 

This tip is applicable in more ways than one. You want the infographic to be physically easy to view. Often times infographics are designed very large and must be downsized when published. This can cause readability to easily get lost. Make sure the smallest fonts can still be read without too much difficulty, whether the viewer decides to enlarge the infographic or not. This can also be done through using contrasting colors.

You also want to make viewing easy by making the infographic easy to find. Just as any other piece of content, it doesn’t just magically go viral. To help your team distribute the infographic effectively, there are a few extra steps to be taken. First, you should optimize your infographic for SEO, as we mentioned previously. Make sure you have the best file names and keywords to get the most traffic. Next, make sure your infographic is easily shareable. Make sure you have the right resolution, file formats, and sizes, whether it’s going out via email, blog, or social. You can even break up the infographic into different assets to get more mileage from one piece of content. Lastly, create a compelling pitch that explains why the content is interesting and relevant. You can do this through highlighting key takeaways, making the pitch personal and brief, etc. 

Double Check Facts and Cite Resources 

Infographics usually include a lot of specific data. It’s important to make sure the pieces of data used are accurate. This can be done by making sure the statistics themselves are true and the sources you’re using are reliable. When using outside sources, it’s also important to make sure you’re citing them. Try to use sources that are as up-to-date as possible. Using old stats, especially in an industry where information is always changing, makes you seem out of touch. It’s easiest to include those citations at the bottom of the piece, but you can include them in the body if it’s not distracting. 

Conclusion 

Infographics are alive, well, and very valuable when it comes to content marketing tools. They require a delicate balance between telling a story and providing hard-hitting points to drive your message. Creating a successful infographic doesn’t have to be difficult. It just takes a strong understanding of your audience, your goals, and willingness to put in high quality effort. 

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