Following the social media and marketing trends for 2013 it is clear that visuals will be a major driver of the communications and storytelling activities of brands. We can already see a number of companies who have put some great efforts into utilising visuals as a marketing tool to effectively capture people’s attention and engage with them. Visual content is therefore without doubt the new black – just as I’ve said in an article I wrote for Muddywall.

This shift towards visual content has provoked another powerful trend – the rise of infographics.

In another article for Muddywall, I highlight that leveraging infographics can help brands extend reach, drive traffic, improve SEO as well as increase social sharing and engagement.

There’s a simple reason behind why infographics provide so many opportunities – people are naturally more drawn to visual forms of communication than having to read lengthy text. What’s more, being presented with data in a visual way allows us to more quickly and easily perceive and understand complex information.

I personally love infographics! I’m sure you’ve noticed that already, considering how many infographics I’ve shared here and the fact that I myself created one, which summarised the survey findings of my dissertation.

From this personal experience with infographics, I stand behind other marketers who talk about the power of this content tool. I’ve seen massive sharing, interest in and engagement with my own infographic (especially on Pinterest), which was probably the strongest push so far to increase the awareness about this blog.

When it comes to social media marketing, infographics are highly sharable and a lot more popular than traditional posts, and as Nowsourcing calls them, they are therefore a ‘revolutionary marketing tool.’

To give you some food for thought, here’s their infographic that represents the state and science behind infographics (I know, really cool to explain the development of infographics in an infographic :-) ).

(Click on the infographic for a larger view)

Infographic by Top Marketing Schools