Infographics are undoubtedly one of the best sources of visual content that a brand can create in today’s marketing world, and they’ve been growing in popularity for a while. According to information gathered by Quick Sprout, 63% of social media posts are made up of images – including infographics.
Competition is fierce, so delivering unique content is the only option. The process of creating an infographic might seem daunting to some brands, but following simple steps and taking the time to plan it out is the key to a successful infographic people will undoubtedly share.
1. Do some solid research
Research is one of the most important parts of creating a winning infographic. Your audience will read, share, and come back to the content as long as it has valuable information that they want to know. Make sure your research is on par with your audience and that you source everything thoroughly so you’re not stealing content.
2. Collaborate with team members
If you have a solid marketing team, get everyone in on the research and planning for your infographic. Create a document (Google Docs is great for collaboration) and invite team members to leave comments, make edits, or move the information around. Not only might you end up with fresh ideas for your infographic, but also you’ll have extra eyes for spotting mistakes.
3. Edit the written content thoroughly
Speaking of mistakes: everyone makes them. Your infographic isn’t going to fail completely if you have a typo or two, but it just might take away from your credibility. Run through your research write-up a few times, and have an editor or two peruse it as well. Take care of any typos, grammar issues, or spelling mistakes before you hit that share button for the greatest chance at success.
4. Go for simple style
You might be eager to cram as much information and eye-catching design into your infographic as possible, but that doesn’t typically work out. While you need to use colors and graphics that are pleasing to the eye, overdoing it will make the infographic too busy and too difficult for your audience to read. That’ll also reduce the amount of shares you get. When in doubt, keep it simple.
5. Hire the perfect graphic artist
Unless you have a professional graphic designer on your team, you’ll want to search for just the right artist to transform your write-up into a beautiful infographic. If that simply isn’t in the budget, then consider trying it yourself with tools like Piktochart, Infogr.am, and Canva. Here’s a great list of options on jeffbullas.com for Photoshop alternatives.
6. Go through a few rounds of design edits
Don’t be afraid to ask your graphic designer for edits until you think it’s just right. If you’re creating the infographic yourself, send it through your team for honest feedback and opinions. It’s a learning process that will get easier every time you dive into planning, creating, and distributing visual content.
7. Get the size just right
Long and skinny, right? Sort of. It’s true that the vast majority of infographics are vertically inclined, but according to Socially Sorted, there are no set rules for just how big or small it should be. However, they say to keep it under 5000 pixels in height or you’ll lose your reader’s attention. Socially Sorted suggests a horizontal width of 735 pixels in order to optimize the graphic for Pinterest, and to experiment with 1000-2500 pixels for length.
8. Use credible sources
This ties into the research portion of creating an infographic. It’s important to tap into data, facts, and figures from reliable sources when you’re creating an infographic. When your readers trust your content, it’ll prompt brand loyalty and lend credibility to the rest of your content.
9. Put some exciting data at the top
Just like a good article or blog post, you have to have an excellent hook. Whether that’s an eye-catching graphic paired with a stunning statistic or a block of text that draws the reader in, make sure the top of your infographic is impressive enough to encourage scrolling.
10. Optimize your infographic for social shares
You’ve made a pretty awesome infographic, checked and double-checked your spelling and sources, and impressed everyone at the company with how great it looks. Now it’s time to distribute it around the Internet.
First, make sure your website’s URL and your brand’s logo are at the top or bottom of the infographic so that everyone knows where it came from. Create a blog post with the proper share buttons, including a Pinterest “Pin it” button for easier pinning. Crop the infographic as necessary so that it looks enticing on Facebook and Twitter, and include an embed code in your blog post for other bloggers to grab.
Once you send your infographic out to all of the major channels and influencers, you’ll get to kick back and watch the traffic roll in.
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