5 Top Tips for Successful Infographics

Infographics are one of the most engaging formats of content a business can create. Successful marketers such as Neil Patel, co-founder of Crazy Egg and Hello Bar, swear by infographics for their ability to get shared and achieve a huge level of exposure for the creator. But, whilst creating an infographic has been proven to generate industry buzz, you can’t just throw together any old infographic – you need your infographic to stand out from the crowd and offer something new.

In a very interesting infographic entitled Why your Brain Craves Infographics, it is revealed that almost 50% of the human brain is involved in visual processing and that we can get a sense of a visual scene within just 1/10 of a second. Compared to reading an article or watching a video, infographics can deliver a huge level of information in a short period of time and this allows a brand to connect with potential customers and industry peers almost instantly.

There are a few other good reasons to invest in a quality infographic:

• • Infographics are compelling and attractive
  • Infographics are easily scanned and viewed
  • Infographics have serious viral capabilities
  • Infographics are embeddable
  • Infographics can increase traffic

If your business is looking into creating an infographic, here’s five top tips to create a successful one.

5. Size is Important

The size of your infographic can make or break it. Your infographic should always be available as a high resolution image, and it’s best to create your infographic in a variety of sizes so that it can fit on all types of web page. Another thing you need to consider is that when you share your infographic on Facebook or Twitter these social networks will not show the whole image. Therefore, you might like to create an ‘infogram’ which details some of the most compelling facts in your full-size infographic.

4. Naming is Key

Just as an articles headline will pull viewers in, so will an infographics headline. You need to get your title right for your infographic to be a success because your title is a promise to the viewer about what they can expect to find – if your title and data don’t add up, your infographic is not going to get shared. In the end, this point is about trust, and establishing a relationship with the viewer. Also consider that the name of your infographic will be directly linked to its performance in the search engines.

3. Don’t Brand Too Much

An overly-branded infographic is one which rarely becomes a success. Remember that bloggers and peers who share infographics do so because they deem them valuable to their readers. Heavy branding will serve as a form of advertising to these bloggers and the last thing you want is for them to refuse to share it because there’s too much self-promotion going on. So, hold back on the branding and simply have a small logo at the bottom which details who created it.

2. Always Include References

Infographics are supposed to be interesting with lots of facts, statistics, and opinion. However, without referencing all of the great sources you’ve used to compile your facts and statistics your infographic is not going to have the level of credibility needed to be a success. You have two choices with this – include live links to each fact and statistic within the body of the infographic or simply list each source in non-HTML at the bottom of the infographic.

1. Offer Insight

There are thousands of infographics out there which have been solely built out of facts and statistics from third-party sources. Whilst putting together all of these will make for an interesting read, it won’t be a unique read. Your infographic will have a much greater chance at being a success and going viral if you include unique data and unique insight because by offering real value to people you will make your infographic an easier pitch to bloggers and industry peers looking to share it.