It’s no surprise that consumers are interacting more and more with visual material than written content. Videos, photos, and infographics are quickly taking over as the preferred method of consuming information.
Done correctly and an infographic drives traffic, builds links, and creates brand awareness. Don’t incorrectly and all of you have is a colossal waste of time.
Here are 5 tips to creating an awesome infographic:
1. Don’t Talk About Yourself. Infographics shouldn’t be salesy. Rather, they should provide industry insight, interesting statistics, or even humor. For example you can:
- Explain your industry’s history and future.
- Show interesting facts about your industry and company.
- Compare different products.
- Show geographic, gender, or economic differences.
Also, be sure the information you are sharing fits your target audience and customer.
The following infographic, done by Viator, does a fantastic job about sharing insight (in this case the London Olympics) without pushing themselves or their products on the consumer.
2. You’re not original or interesting. Do you have any unique insight you can provide to your audience? Do your customers have common questions you can answer? Is there any insight into your industry that others would find interesting or relevant?
While you should always use other infographics for design and content ideas, you should never just rip off their information and call it your own. It’s so easy now to compile interesting information on any topic that you should never have to resort to copying others’ information.
For example, once I find a topic I want to share with others, I like to use FactBrowser to see if there are any relevant statistics that I can share. (FactBrowser is great. They have a ton of good information from reputable sources that is in a quick and easy format to add to your infographic.*)
*Be sure to mention your sources. Just like with a research paper your information becomes more reputable and shareworthy when the consumer knows it comes from a good source. Also, it’s always a good idea to check multiple sources to verify the information you are sharing is correct.
The following infographic done by DigitalSurgeons shows a number of interesting and relevant information related to Twitter users including their interaction with Twitter, gender, economic status, age, and education. (Notice they took the time to reference all of their sources within the infographic.)
3. Keep it Simple. While infographics are great for sharing industry insight and interesting information, you must also make sure that you don’t share information that is too complex for an infographic. On the flip side, you want to make sure you aren’t just sharing superficial or common knowledge information. You should truly strive to provide insight through the information being shared.
The following infographic, done by Online Colleges, does a fantastic job of sharing insightful and interesting information without overwhelming the consumer.
4. Design matters. Something as simple as using the wrong colors could doom your infographic. So how do you make sure your infographic stands out?
- Use bright, simple colors images and graphics.
- Keep your infographics length short. Go too long and people won’t read it all the way through.
- Cut down the size. (keep the image below 1.5 to 2.0MB so people will download the image)
- Keep a logical flow to the information. You don’t want viewers eyes to have to jump around and worry about missing information because there’s not a logical pattern to the information.
- Use different font sizes to grab attention. Also, use simple, easy-to-read fonts that don’t require a lot of work to scan through.
- White space is good. If your images and text are too croded then people won’t read the information you are providing.
The following infographic on the largest bankruptcies has achieved a great design balance. It’s eye-catching, easy to follow, and keeps a logical flow.
5. Have a plan to get it out. Make sure you have a plan in place to gain as many possible views as you can. The best plan for your company will depend upon your target consumer. For some, social media is a great way to send out information, while for other companies, it could be sending out individual messages to industry leaders. Whatever your best method is. Be sure to plan it beforehand.