There are so many tools out there to make your content marketing process easier, more effective, and “better than all the rest,” but are you really doing anything to stand out from the crowd?
One thing that many content marketers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners forget is that you can’t get to the top by creating the same thing that everyone else is – you have to find something uniquely yours. Of course, it’s impossible to reinvent the wheel, but you can spice it up a bit.
How?
With infographics.
They are quickly becoming a content marketer’s best friend. They’re (usually) affordable, simple to create, and can go viral faster than a blog post or “regular” image alone. And while all that is great, infographics are also exceptional at keeping your content marketing nice and tidy. You can design them to reflect your brand or logo, and they can all lead back to an optimized landing page.
Think that’s too good to be true?
Did you know that people who use infographics see a 12% increase in web traffic? Or that 80% of people will want to read content if it is supplemented with colorful graphics?
With numbers like that, what have you got to lose?
Why infographics work
Creating infographics that are highly visual (and not just blocks of text) help get the point across quickly. Consider this –
- They are also easy to remember (people will remember up to 80% of what they see!).
- Infographics speak to the visual aspects of the brain, which mean faster processing (250 milliseconds is all it takes for a symbol to be interpreted) and more interest.
Imagine increased blog or website traffic, higher sharing rates, increased authority, and – best of all – better conversions for you and your business. All of that is possible when you use infographics.
There is a caveat though. The power of infographics is similar to the power of any other content you produce and promote. If it isn’t relevant and useful, it’s not going to work. Your audience will be able to tell if you’re just pumping out infographics to take up visual real estate, or if you’re creating infographics with your audience in mind.
But if you’re wondering how exactly using infographics for content marketing is made easy with infographics you’re going to boost your content marketing with infographics, we have tips to help get you started.
How to create powerful infographics for content marketing easily (Even if you’ve never made them before)
The most common question marketers or entrepreneurs have when it comes to infographics is: “How difficult is this going to be?”
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to have a degree in graphic design, thousands of dollars, or tons of time to create an amazing, relevant, shareable infographic.
But what information makes for a great infographic? How can you create infographics quickly and efficiently?
Here’s how.
Start by planning your content
Just like you do with any other content you want to create, you need to sit down and decide what information you can share in the form of an infographic. You could for example:
- Re-purpose old blog posts or presentations
- Visualize data you’ve collected
- Share new infromation or a message to your audience.
Consider planning out 5-10 high quality infographics that are relevant to your brand and your target audience. This will be a big step towards boosting your content marketing process with visuals.
If you are at a loss for relevant infographic content, try brainstorming:
- Ways that you can adapt old content into visual representation
- Possibly incorporating statistics or facts you’ve written previously
- Creating symbols that connect to the message of a previous blog post
- Boiling down previous content to bite-sized chunks and creating a series of infographics to represent that content (blogs, e-books, etc.)
- How to collect and then represent data
- Share information about your audience
- Explain your product or service with statistics/symbols
- Illustrate what separates you from the competition (using numbers, charts, etc.)
- New messages you’d like to share with your audience
- Show increased sales, new products, follower/subscriber numbers, etc.
- Share resources, statistics, news, etc. that your audience will enjoy
- Provide a visually-appealing story about your business, product, etc.
There are a number of fantastic ways to utilize infographics as a visual marketing tool, and it is highly specific to what you or your business provides your audience. Once you have a few ideas, it’s time to break down the best way to tell it.
Organize your infographic
Unfortunately, people often think just slapping a few circles and pictures on a Google Drawing makes for an infographic – without paying much attention to formatting, design, or even the quality of content. Just because you’ve created an infographic doesn’t mean you’ve created a good infographic.
If you want to make sure people actually consume and share your visual content, try establishing a process for designing your infographic. Some people prefer to draw or map out an infographic before getting down to “brass tacks,” but you don’t have to do this. However, you should:
- Boil down your ideas into 3-5 basic, simple sentences
- See if you can recreate those sentences using objects, symbols, or at least fewer words
- Recognize the flow of your infographic
- Make sure there is a logical progression or path for eyes to follow
- Is there a point or a conclusion? Make sure that’s obvious to the audience
- Pay attention to format and style
- Use unique fonts that are easy to read
- Make sure everything is consistent (size, color, etc.)
- Keep with a specific color theme or use your logos to create brand unity
- Always include a Call to Action!
Then…
Find an infographic creation tool that suits you
Creating an infographic in Photoshop or even Microsoft Paint (if you’re old school) can be difficult and time-consuming. Hiring a graphic designer may expedite the process, but this option can get expensive. So what should you do?
There are infographic creation tools, like Easel.ly, that help you create infographics from templates, with an extensive selection of options and additions that can help you create visual content quickly and beautifully.
The best part is that this is a user-friendly, affordable way to create and share visuals.
So now that you have an awesome infographic (or 10), what are you supposed to do with them? The best part about infographics is how highly versatile they are, but we have a few suggestions to launch your visual content marketing campaign the right way.
Give it away!
Most marketers know the power of generating leads and interest with free content, and if you haven’t already started this process, we highly recommend it.
Essentially, you can create infographics that are relevant to your business, blog, or website, and that hits home with your target audience. Then, sprinkle those infographics in a variety of different content schemes, like free ebooks, email courses, videos, and PDF resources. You want them to see your free content and say, “Yes! I’ve been looking for something like this!”
Use them as blog images
You’re probably used to using “traditional” blog header images – nice stock photos of people doing something semi-related to your content. But what if you got rid of the cliche stock photos?
Instead use an audience-specific infographic that contained a little bit of the information your readers can expect when they click your link.
Better yet, why not use an infographic to make various points throughout your blog? Analysis shows that only 60% of an article without images will be scrolled through, as opposed to 100% of an article that contains various images.
The longer people engage with your content, the more likely they are to convert, and the more likely they are to retain the information related to your brand and / or company. The key here is using well-designed, relevant content in your infographics that make people want to click!
Attract backlinks and social shares
It wouldn’t be content marketing if it didn’t involve sharing your content with others, and hoping that they share it in turn. The best part about infographics is that sharing them is just so easy! If you have a link to your landing page, the image itself, and an influencer who will share your infographic, you’re ahead of the game by a longshot.
Even if you don’t have an influencer in your network, ask people to share your infographics (with the embed code or link attached) to get traffic, increase your conversions, and to spread your infographics far and wide. The other great thing about social media is that the thumbnail attached to links are just the perfect size for an infographic snapshot. You’ll tease people into clicking your link by using a stimulating infographic that also provides insight into what they’ll find on the other end of the link. This tactic is arguably most effective, and it’s why infographics are so popular.
Over to you – create powerful infographics for content marketing easily
You might be considering implementing infographics in your marketing campaign, or maybe you’ve held off because they look a little too complicated (or expensive).
The good news is that infographics are easy to create on your own (if you’re on a budget), and they are also versatile (you can use them on multiple platforms). For every one infographic you create, you can use it in half a dozen ways: email images, blog headers, social media thumbnails, ebooks, promotional or ad materials, and as effective backlinks to your website.
In terms of ROI (return on investment), a well-planned and thought-out infographic can singlehandedly change your content marketing. Depending on your specific business, product, or service, you can see a massive leap in conversions (whether that’s in the form of subscriptions, followers, sales, or leads) by pushing infographics to the front of your content marketing arsenal.
You could potentially gain from:
- Increased web traffic by increasing your click-through rate by 12%
- Increased member registration by 400% like this company
- Grow your social media reach three times over
- Or reach 5,000 more people like Neil Patel.
So what’s stopping you from creating powerful infographics for your content marketing?