Infographics have grown in popularity over the years.
Unlike long-winded blog posts, infographics are visually stimulating in nature. The best ones have stunning designs that you can’t help but read and ogle from top to bottom.
In fact, this single statistic is why you need to incorporate infographics into your content strategy:
According to Venngage, 40% of marketers agree that infographics improve audience engagement.
They not only make sharing content much easier, but they also help readers process information faster!
However, designing them is no walk in the park.
Sure, there are tools to help you create one that you can feature on your blog post and share on social media.
But you need to learn how to create infographics that look and read awesome!
To help you, below are tips on how to create stunning visual content accompanied by examples of the best infographics around:
Recommended: How to Use Infographics to Get Page One Rankings in Google Search
1- Be evergreen
Creating evergreen infographics allows your content to remain relevant at all times.
Just like the evergreen tree, evergreen content contains information that will still be useful after months or even years since publishing it.
An example of an evergreen infographic is this one from Boulder Therapeutics:
Regardless of your lifestyle, you need to maintain a proper back posture to prevent back pains. This infographic captures everything that you must do to keep up back upright at all times.
Another great thing about this infographic is that it covers different situations that could lead to back pain. By addressing these issues, you can avoid having back problems from the very start.
Action item: Come up with a topic in your niche that people always ask online. Then answers all those questions and feature them all into an infographic!
2 – Easily share complex info
Infographics must present complex information easily. This can be done through graphs, percentages, pie charts, or bar lines.
It’s all about removing the need to explain things in words.
As a bonus, having side-by-side comparisons gives readers a better understanding than merely using data figures.
People are interested in comparisons. Titles having “A vs. B” formats attract readers into the infographic as this sparks their curiosity.
This approach is perfect if you’re comparing products or services to your readers. Designing an infographic for this content type lets you break down complex information into bits and pieces that your readers will easily understand.
However, this isn’t always the case. As long as you can simplify a complicated topic that fifth graders can easily grasp, then you’re good to go!
Here’s an example of an infographic that explains the Carbon Budget beautifully:
Action item: To help you simplify your infographic, refer to the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Index. This should help you write the text in your infographic that everybody can understand. The lower the grade, the better!
3 – Be timely
Opposite to evergreen content, you may need to create an infographic based on the latest and most relevant news in your niche.
They may have a short lifespan since news is fleeting and changes in an instant. But if you catch lightning in a bottle, you can enjoy lots of traffic from your infographic!
Here’s a somewhat dated example about the Google algorithm changes by Square 2 Marketing:
It documents the different changes in the Google algorithm that SEOs need to know. Currently, it’s not updated to the latest changes, i.e. RankBrain, etc. but it nonetheless serves as an example on how you can leverage the latest news to your advantage.
Action items: When turning huge news items into an infographic, you need to be swift in creating an infographic about it. You need to use a tool like Canva or Visme to help you create visual content in a jiffy. Visme has a large collection of over 500 free infographic templates available for use at any time.
4 – Be unique
In short:
Share information that hasn’t been tackled yet, instead of creating another version of an infographic!
Just be sure that it’s relevant to your target audience. Choose a topic that’s on everyone’s mind. Add a twist to it if you’d like.
Here’s an example of the taxonomy of rap names:
The infographic should initially fascinate rap music fans. However, looking at how the information is presented, not to mention its topic, this unique infographic should pique the interests of everyone, whether you’re a fan of rap music or not.
Action item: Most infographics are presented from top to bottom. I suggest that you think outside the box and find a different way on how to present information on your infographic.
5 – Have variation
You don’t want to create the same kind of infographic over and over.
Really, if you’re covering the same infographics that others already have, then what’s the point in recreating them?
This doesn’t only mean having a different design, but you also need to have a different approach. Are you discussing conspiracies?
If so, then having an “Agree or Disagree” format works. Do you need to compare two political parties? Then have a side-by-side comparison of relevant facts and figures. Answer your reader’s questions with an infographic.
You can also create a “Timeline” format if you wish to educate your readers fast.
Another way to create a more varied infographic is by helping readers take action. It’s what this infographic about productivity aims to do:
People are all for making their lives better. By showing multiple ways on how one can be productive, people can pick and choose which applies to them the best.
Action item: Create infographics with a clear call to action in mind. It’s not just about sharing information – you can use infographics as vehicles to promote your business at the end!
BONUS: Share to social media
Of course, your infographic won’t gain traction if you won’t promote them on different platforms.
For starters, you can start with social media.
You want to share it to influencers to get the most coverage. Not only does this save time and effort, but your infographic will also be more credible.
Make it relevant to your target audience. Pinterest is one of the best places to promote infographics due to the platform’s visual nature. Also, share it on your blog. Share why you created it and what the infographic means to you.
This makes it more valuable and important that viewers feel compelled to share it.
Wrapping it up
Creating great infographics that readers want to share is a learning process. It isn’t learned overnight. However, you can start as early as now. You’ll also improve making one as you go along.
Just see which infographics convert well so you’ll know which ones to create next. Also, get feedback from your readers to know the trend. When you do, then you’ll surely be having a viral infographic in no time.