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9 Reasons to Start Creating Infographics Now

[fa icon="calendar"] 21-Jun-2015 08:00:00 / by Iliyana Stareva

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I absolutely love, love, love infographics! They are such a great way to transmit a message and engage with people, don't you think? 

You could say that I am addicted to them because even though I don't have any design background, I've already created seven distinct infographics. (You can check them out on my SlideShare and Visual.ly profiles.) 

It's all about being inspired, having an idea and getting creative. And there are so many tools you can use today - go Canva, Piktochart or even PowerPoint. I've used them all. 

Infographics are a fantastic marketing tool. Leveraging this type of content can help you extend your reach, drive traffic, increase social sharing and engagement as well as help you stand out among all the noise out there. 

I've said it before: visual content is king. Infographics can not only boost your traditional comms efforts, but also take your digital content marketing to the next level by being able to create content that truly fascinates.

 Here are nine crucial reasons why you should start creating infographics now:

9 Reasons to Start Creating Infographics Now

  1.      Effective storytelling

Infographics are one of the most effective storytelling methods because you can get a lot of information across quickly and easily. People love images as they can relate to them. It's a lot easier for us to understand and consume a message explained in a visual way than when it is text based. And it’s a lot more fun.

  1.      Attention grabbing

Infographics are an amazing tool to capture the attention of your audience. They are way less boring than plain text. What’s more, they allow you to absorb the information within seconds. People have very short attention spans so a well-executed infographic can not only attract people, but also keep their attention for longer.

  1.      SEO

Search engines love infographics too! If someone publishes your infographic and provides a link back to your website then for engines this means that you have remarkable content that is worth sharing and your site has authority. Because of all Panda and Penguin updates, it's now far more important that you create great content, then to over optimise with keywords. Google wants to solve people's problems and so search results need to provide the best solutions. Want to be part of those results? Focus on unique content - including infographics (and pinning them on Pinterest).  

  1.     Traffic

"We need more traffic" - I hear that every day from my clients. First of all, infographics are easily findable. With all social networks expanding their visual capabilities, infographics are everywhere. And the more people share them, the more people will be able to find you and come to your site. Don't forget that social posts appear in search results. Also, think Pinterest here. Each pin has a URL behind it, so when you pin your infographic and it impresses people they can simply click on the image and will be brought to your site for more info. I share all my infographics and blog post images on Pinterest and that's bringing me a lot of traffic. Wouldn't you like that too?  

  1.      Virality

Compelling infographics often go viral because they are super easy to share. For example, you only need one click on Pinterest. A huge amount of all pins there are infographics that get tons of likes and repins. One of my older infographics about LinkedIn got repinned about 350 times during the first week only! That was in 2013, so by now it must have spread thousands of times. 

  1.     Brand awareness

By adding your logo and your website on the infographic people will know who created it, which will then increase awareness about your business. If you impress them, they'll come searching for more, they'll remember you and they'll talk about you.

  1.      Expertise

Every year the Edelman Trust Barometer finds that we trust experts more than CEOs. By creating infographics on a specific topic you are sharing your knowledge and valuable experiences. This way you can position your business or yourself as a thought leader in the area and build trust in your know-how and capabilities.

  1.     Emotional impact

Do you want to be remembered? Do you want to pop up in people's mind right when they realise they have a problem and are searching for solutions? You have to stand out then, you need to make a strong impact. Infographics can help you do that. What's more, choosing to create infographics leaves the impression that you are willing to invest the time and effort to solve for your customers better. They will appreciate that very much and this will allow you to build a stronger relationship with them.

  1.     They are big!

This is probably the most important reason - infographics are everywhere, people love them, they share them. Google "infographic" and you'll find over 63,800,000 results. Furthermore, Pinterest and Tumblr are exploding, and so is SlideShare too. Infographics have become a communications tool that you simply can't ignore anymore.  

 

And since we are talking about infographics, what better way to finish this post then by including an infographic about infographics (comes from NMS):

infographics_as_marketing_tools 

Do you use infographics in your marketing efforts? 

 

Topics: Social Media, Storytelling, Marketing

Iliyana Stareva

Written by Iliyana Stareva

Iliyana Stareva is the author of Inbound PR - the book that is transforming the PR industry. She's also a keynote speaker and a consultant in inbound and digital for fast-growing companies and agencies. Currently, Iliyana is Chief of Staff to the EMEA President at ServiceNow. Before that, she held global and EMEA-wide positions at Cisco and HubSpot. She is also certified by the PMI as a Project Management Professional (PMP)®. In her free time, you can find Iliyana writing for her blog, dancing salsa or travelling the world.

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