uses of infographics

2014 could be your most profitable year yet! How? Well, we’re loading you up with vital content and marketing information, all designed to increase your company’s exposure and profitability during the New Year. And one of the hottest tools is our topic today—infographics! One of the marketing tools currently said to be marketing gold is the infographic. Have you heard of them and wondered just why and how it might be of use to your company? We’ve dug into the infographic trenches and even tried using a couple of them ourselves. Let’s take a look as just why you should do more than think about trying them out, and how you should implement infographics as a marketing tool. What is an Infographic and Why It Matters for Your Marketing Efforts You’re educated regarding information and graphic marketing. These two marketing types are practically the bread and butter of every successful marketing campaign launched by every successful business for decades. But what exactly is an infographic? It sounds like a combination of information and graphics, doesn’t it? Wikipedia provides the simplest infographic definition. According to the online user-generated encyclopedia, infographics, also known as information graphics are graphic visual representations of data, knowledge or information, created with the purpose of presenting complex information in a quick and clear manner. A great example of an infographic is the weather report, which is a visual graphic depicting information about the weather. Graphs and charts presenting statistical data are another type of infographic. Think of an infographic as visual storytelling; it packs a strong and strongly memorable visual message. Infographics took on a dramatically new meaning for the marketing world with the advent of social media sites. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, infographics can be seamless and rapidly shared from a single user or business to an audience—and potential customer pool—of millions, worldwide. Why Use Infographics? Forbes sums up the top reason for creating and using infographics using the headline, “Use Infographics to Boost Your Credibility and Traffic.” Business owners are always looking for proven ways to boost credibility and traffic, but just why do infographics get the job done? Let’s take a look: Catering to short attention spans. Let’s be painfully honest, our attention spans are not what they used to be. We live in an information age. It’s streamed to us all the time; on the television, on the web, over our smartphones, on our tablets. We’re constantly bombarded with tons of useful information. How do we sort this information between our “must read” and “it can wait” lists? Simple! We look for the most captivating presentation. An infographic relays a complex message in a short, capturing format. Visualization caters to the brain. Forbes points out an excellent fact. “Human beings are highly visual.” It’s a fact that we absorb visual information faster than written information. We also retain is more easily. Ease of understanding. When infographics are properly created, they allow the audience to absorb and understand complex information in a fun and engaging format. When done right, this is why infographics can boost a company’s profile and website traffic. Going viral. The goal of every serious business is to create a marketing tool that goes viral, meaning it explodes onto the web grabbing thousands of views, tons of new exposure and converts to sales. A good infographic can accomplish this goal effortlessly while simultaneously inspiring writers and bloggers to chatter, creating backlinks, and further company exposure. Our highest converting email campaign of 2013 was our infographic campaign. It generated the most clicks and stirred up the highest amount of excitement and interest in our company to date. Why not tap into this proven marketing tool in 2014 and make it a year to remember as you gain record exposure? 10 Popular Ways to Use Infographics Larger amounts of data and content are the latest trends in online content marketing. According to a TNW Blog article on top ways to use infographics  “the biggest question surrounding [this trend] has been figuring out the best way to interpret it all.” Infographics have been like the superhero flying to the rescue. These super powered creations pack a punch. Let’s review the ten most common uses of these power packed creations: A recruiting tool. Designers have used infographics on resumes for years as a way to visually simplify their careers by highlighting their specific skillsets with their own design style. Somewhere along the way, recruiters realized the genius of this strategy and started using infographics as a way to recruit for project management positions. Today infographics are used to effectively communicate the facts about a company and who they seek to hire. A data presentation tool. Statistical and numerical data have long been a bear to present. They have the ability to put the audience on snooze or baffle them completely. Thanks to infographics, data is easier to present in the form of easily readable and understandable graphs and charts. Simplifying the complex. As mentioned earlier, the primary goal of an infographic is to simplify a complex idea or complex information. Infographics are incredible educational tools, particularly when attempting to present an overview versus an in-depth analysis. The visual basis of the infographic helps students and audiences alike grasp complex topics through memorable and easily understandable visual collages. Explaining operations. Not only can an infographic simplify the complex, but it can also reveal the mechanics behind an intricate object with precision simplicity. For example, skilled designers utilize infographics to pull apart and demonstrate how complex products like clocks, cameras, computer components and smartphone work. Such creations can be great additions to user manuals, showing consumers how their product is built and the mechanics at work on the inside. Making startling comparisons. When we compare our business or product to something, we separate points into categories: likeness and uniqueness. Infographics provide an innovative way to display such a comparison in graphic form by creating visual parallels. Sometimes comparisons are difficult to express. Where words … Read more