Simply put, infographics are one of the fastest growing and most effective types of digital content. If this is the first time you’ve heard this news, you are part of the minority. In fact, 62% of companies admitted to using infographics in their content marketing initiatives last year, with 26% of non-users expressing interest in using them for the first time this year. That leaves roughly 12% of businesses on the outside, yet to test the waters with infographics. Don’t be part of the minority. Here is everything you need to know about why infographics are awesome and effective!

Disclaimer: Not all infographics are created equal! The rise in popularity has brought about some of the most convoluted and repulsive infographics imaginable. If you want to learn the power of infographics, you must first recognize that there is a discrepancy between quality infographics and bad ones. The below holds true for high-quality infographics!

What’s the recipe for Quality Infographics?

The rise of infographics has brought the onset of convoluted, mediocre, and just plain ugly infographics. This has sometimes given infographics a bad rap. However, anyone who looks at the data and digital marketing landscape will tell you that infographics aren’t going anywhere. In fact, they will continue to grow and the shift, much like with text content, will start favoring quality infographics. The best infographics are the ones that focus on design, data, and effective messaging.

Quality Infographics Are Easy To Digest

One of the biggest reasons you need to be creating infographics is that they are incredibly easy for users to digest. Most of us are naturally wired to respond better to visual data than to text or even auditory data. It’s reported that 65% of humans learn better through visual assets and that we retain twice as much visual information than information we read. Moreover, we can digest information 60,000 times faster when it is presented visually than as standalone text.

Effective infographics are founded in great design. Everything from the color palate, typeface, and illustrations play a critical role in the digestibility of an infographic.  This means that the best way to create an easy-to-digest infographic is by finding a high-quality designer who has experience and knowledge in infographic design. CopyPress is just one of the many viable options for quality infographic work, but whatever you decide, make sure you do your due diligence with the freelance designer or marketing agency that you pick.

Quality Infographics Are Founded In Data

Think of an effective infographic like a birthday cake. While the outside and design of the cake is important, there is another characteristic that is equally memorable. That is the taste of the cake. What are the ingredients? What’s the flavor? Is the taste enough to make up for an unappealing design? Or are you left with a bland cake that just looks good on Instagram?

The cake analogy holds true to infographics. You can have the most visually appealing infographic in the world, but if you don’t have data or a unique vantage point, it will be just another fleeting piece of content. The most effective infographics are the ones that combine great data with great visual design. Take this example CopyPress created about the different mediums for content consumption.

The infographic’s premise is to take data from popular content platforms and show the discrepancy and size variations across each platform. By taking a number of different data sets and variables, we were able to uncover trends and interesting vantage points. These data-driven discoveries are what set successful infographics apart from the rest.

With the rise of big data, public consumer trends, and internal reports, there is no reason that your company cannot find resourceful information to build a quality infographic around. In fact, if you search “your industry + infographic” you are bound to find at least one compelling, data-driven infographic that has already done just that.

Quality Infographics Nail the Brand Messaging

Let’s get back to the birthday cake analogy. The design and ingredients are certainly two of the most important elements, but what is often forgotten is the need for a recipient of said cake and a need to convey the message of “Happy Birthday!”

These subtle but important elements fall under the brand messaging. It encompasses “what” you want to say and “who” you are saying it to. Or in marketing terms, the story and target audience. Quality infographics must focus on “who” it is being created for as well as “what” it intends to say.

The “what” is very much dependent on the data we mentioned above. A successful infographic will be able to weave a compelling message out of resources and data. We cannot simply list out facts and figures on a graphic and call it a day. Rather, a good infographic needs to take data sets and find a story that aligns with the information and the relevant audience.

Speaking of relevant audience, the best infographics understand “who” is going to benefit the most from the story and data. This is going to vary depending on the company and industry, but proper market research and customer information will help to mold the best targets.

What’s the Value of a Quality Infographic?

We can move on from what goes into quality infographics, and now focus on their true value. In other words, how you can generate the highest return on your digital asset. Infographics serve a variety of purposes such as sales tools, SEO assets, and cross-channel versatility.

Quality Infographics Can Sell For You

One of the many benefits to a quality infographic is the opportunity that it gives you in the sales process. Take this interactive infographic we created that outlines the design workflow at CopyPress. While using our internal information and data, we created a story that outlines a message targeted to potential and current customers. This serves as sales collateral that can be used to highlight our design and development capabilities, as well as outlining our workflow which can help alleviate concerns that come up during the sales process. Not every infographic should be created to sell your company, but quality infographics, if done correctly, can certainly do just that.

Another example is infographics that highlight your brand vs competitors. This side-by-side comparison trick is just as effective digitally as it is in print or verbal communication. Regardless of the tactic, you can leverage the power and effectiveness of quality infographics to sell your brand. This provides an incredible value and exponential ROI.

Quality Infographics Are an SEO’s Best Friend

Another valuable reason to create infographics is the power it can have on increasing your web traffic and subsequent organic search presence. This has been talked about in length on several sites so I won’t get into it too much, but there are some very basic SEO benefits to creating quality infographics.

1. They generate natural backlinks: Quality infographics that are grounded in compelling data and storytelling will become resources to other bloggers and publishers. These publishers will be more apt to link back to a rich-media piece like an infographic than they would to a standard blog article.
2. Make for easy outreach assets: Infographics can easily be embedded on other websites and can also serve as excellent outreach assets. By simply pitching your published infographic to relevant bloggers or publishers, you will be able to perpetuate citations back to the infographic.
3. Increased on-site engagement: Another valuable factor in search ranking is engagement. Infographics will generate an increased CTR and depending on the quality of the infographic, you can see an improvement in on-site activity like bounce rates and time on-site.
4. Evergreen content: One of the most valuable traits of an infographic compared to other on-site content is that they typically have a shelf-life longer than other types of content. Most quality infographics can maintain relevancy for several months or years, depending on the nature of the data and topic. This relevancy will help continue to drive backlinks and traffic to that page.

Quality Infographics Can Thrive On Different Platforms

An infographic is incredibly versatile. In addition to living on your website and embedded on other publishers’, the asset can also thrive on mediums like social media. In fact, you can slice elements of your infographic and cycle the content out over multiple posts. The best part is, engagement on sites like Twitter and Facebook are substantially increased when a visual element is added to the post. On Facebook alone, an image in the post increases likes by 53%, comments by 104%, and click-through rates by 84%.

To see the true value of an infographic, you have to make sure that you are leveraging the asset and pushing it on other platforms. In addition to sites like Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, you should also look to find infographic submission sites that promote quality infographics. The more visibility you can generate, the more likely the infographic is to succeed and reach its full potential.

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

As we’ve discussed, quality infographics are like a birthday cake. You need to know who the cake is meant for, you need to make sure it’s a flavor that person likes, and that the design and message reflect what you intend them to. If the infographic is created properly, you will see the value through its versatility in marketing, sales, and search.

If you need help creating quality infographics, give CopyPress a try! We have the experience and knowledge to help you take any data and turn it into a compelling and beautiful infographic. Schedule a strategy call today.

Derek Miller

CopyPress writer

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