Content comes in many different forms and shapes. For the most part, we have grown accustomed to traditional written-word style content. Whether it’s news, media, information, research, or other types of content — writing is what drives the whole thing forward.
But, writing alone isn’t the only popular content type out there. In fact, in recent history, there has been explosive growth in the consumption of video content. And, also, in content that’s easily accessible. Such as, infographics. And infographic is merely a condensed version of a large article or an informative column.
An infographic allows you to use design to convey critical information to your readers. It’s a well-known fact that the human brain is much better at consuming visual content than it is written.
But, that’s not the only reason to consider infographics for your content strategy. An infographic will oftentimes travel much further than a piece of text would. And, it’s great for gaining exposure on social media platforms where people have gotten used to “scrolling” through content.
Here are the ways in which infographics help you grown your brand:
- Backlinks. This is strictly for SEO purposes. Any time another blogger or media platform uses your work, they’re naturally obligated to include a backlink to your original page. As such, your rankings will see a significant boost depending on the success of your infographic.
- Social exposure. A thoughtfully designed infographic will captivate social media users upon the first contact. So, learning a few design principles is essential in this case. Make your infographics as shareable as possible.
- Branding. If you have an in-house design team, you can use infographics to create a global branding scheme. By deciding on a unique design and approach, people will naturally recognize your infographics from miles away.
Of course, there are many other reasons to use them in your content. Sure, it’s a little bit more work on your side. But seeing the benefits, it’s hard to resist the possibility of new opportunities. Besides, a lot of companies have given up on creating infographics because it’s such a time-consuming process. This could be an area in which your brands excels at!
Infographics actually come in different types, too. Meaning, the freedom of design allows you to tailor specific types of information to a unique presentation of an infographic.
If you’re talking about global issues, then you’ll most likely use a ‘map-based’ template. Likewise, if you’re narrating the top 10 benefits of something, then a ‘list-based’ template is the way to go.
How to gain the initial exposure for your infographics?
We’ll get to the tools to create infographics with, but first, how do you ensure that your work gets the right kind of exposure?
Certainly, it can be challenging to get your work in front of many eyes all at once. And nobody wants to invest hours of work into something that would get zero views in the long-term.
So, here’s a few strategies to keep in mind.
#1: Reach out to bloggers and influencers.
For this step, you really have to think about the quality of your infographic. Nobody wants to deal with low-quality stuff that looks terrible on their social media pages, or even their website.
So, if you are going to reach out to people, the most important thing to remember is that your infographics need to look good. And don’t forget about making the content itself good, too.
#2: Adapt your infographics to social media needs.
Although it can be tempting to go wild with design, it’s important to remember some basic rules. Most importantly, the rule of simplicity and readability.
Here’s an example:
First and foremost, imagine seeing this data published in text-format. It would be boring as hell! But, the added visuals and color contrast does make it that much more interesting.
Use an infographic maker to ensure your post stands out and reaches specific audiences. With its engaging visuals and sleek, easy-to-use design, It is the ideal way to capture attention and emphasize the attractive aesthetics of your vacation rental property.
However, I want you to focus on the simplicity of this infographic. It’s so well put together that you can use it on any social media site and people will understand what it is about.
Whereas if you go wild with design elements, it might break the entire message into something that doesn’t make a lot of sense.
And even if you do work on a large infographic with numerous sub-sections, make sure that it is easy for people to separate the said sections and post them on social media without it looking like an absolute mess.
The right tools for the job.
Actually, if you know how to use Photoshop or Illustrator, you probably don’t need this section. Instead, find some inspiring learning materials and try to experiment with creating your own infographics.
But, if you’d rather be given some specific tools, please keep reading. For this final part of the article, we’re going to highlight the best infographic tools available. Specifically, we are focusing on web-based infographic tools.
Lucidpress
Lucidpress is a widely recognized visual editing software you can use within your browser. It is every bit as dynamic as it is refined in its tooling and set of features. Users can use state of the art editing tools to create visually stunning images. Also, Lucidpress allows users to upload their own content, such as fonts and other stuff.
Actually, their platform provides more than 350+ unique templates. That’s more than a dozen templates for each major category. Every template can be used and edited as an individual entity, stitched together using drag & drop features.
Image management in Lucidpress is effortless. You can either upload images from your computer, or you can use external services like Dropbox, Drive or Flickr to import them that way. This seems to be a feature that most users see as the best.
Overall, this visual editing tool is ideal for people without much design experience. All the features and tools are made accessible even for the least experience. So, if you wanted to copy and paste a specific infographic design from elsewhere, with this software you absolutely could.
Adobe Spark
Adobe Spark started out as a small-time project for creating social media quote images. But, the app has progressed quite fast in the recent year or two. Now, Adobe has tuned Spark to include features like website making, video editing, and in-depth image editing.
It also has a dedicated part within the app tailored specifically to creating infographic content. And knowing how easy it is to use Adobe’s tools in general, you’re going to love working with Spark and all that it has to offer.
Best of all, you get 100% freedom to use whatever design assets you like. Whether it’s custom photos, text, filters, or anything else you desire. Adobe has gone out of their way to ensure that you’re getting great layout choices out of the box, too.
Last but not least, Spark ensures all your created content is shareable on social media. As it was their initial project foundation back then, you can count on their ability to render images in platform-specific dimensions.
Adioma
Adioma helps you transform your text-based data into stunning infographics using layers, icons, content grids, and much more. As an application that’s run by designers themselves, you can count on Adioma’s ability to easily impress.
Every layout option or editing feature is carefully tailored towards the creation of infographics. Think of it like being able to write a story using nothing but visual building blocks. This is precisely the vision that Adioma is trying to achieve.
Adioma allows you to quickly visualize your textual data and stories. To show how points relate to each other you can switch between the visual templates: timeline to show events happening over time, grid to show equally important points and tree for showing options.
In fact, you can get started by simply uploading a text document with all your data. The algorithm is intelligent enough to dissect your text document and transform it into a visual data presentation.
Kinzaa
So, technically, Kinzaa is something that people looking for work would use. However, I invite you to try out a different twist with this specific software. You could use it to create a large directory of professional resumes for all your existing employees.
The more you focus on creating diverse resumes, with intricate details and other information, the easier it will be to find the right people for a specific project. Especially, if the project is done on a more personal, refined level.
All the generated resumes can also be republished on the web. Giving you even more flexibility to have all your employees sorted in one place.
Biteable
Like mentioned in this article already, it’s not just photovisual content taking things over. Videos have exploded in popularity in recent years, and many people have prioritized video as their main type of content to consume.
With that said, video-based infographics are also becoming extremely popular. Just look at your average Facebook newsfeed. People LOVE to watch interesting and narrated videos.
And with Biteable you’ll have just the right tools to create similar video infographics. The algorithm and the layout options are already there. All you need is a few good ideas and the patience to type out all the content.
Biteable was built by real pros in the industry. Think exceptional video people, and people who know how to tell a story. As a result, you’re getting several amazing templates premade for instant use. Adding, removing, or editing elements is entirely up to you on how you want to approach it.
Templates are available based on the industry within which you work. And as for editing, simply move things/text around with the in-built tools. Of course, everyone has the ability to start a new project entirely from scratch. If that’s your plan, don’t hesitate to go ahead with it.
Conclusion
Creating any kind of additional content is always going to have a positive effect on your brand. It just so happens that visual content is one of the more sought-after types of content on the market. People love infographics and they love to share them with their friends, too.
And, infographics are great for longevity. They last a long time because oftentimes the data doesn’t change. It’s just facts. And unless there are groundbreaking discoveries, those facts tend to remain true for life. So, by working on promoting your infographics initially — you’ll be reaping rewards for many years to come.
Either way, it takes a little bit of practice to get it right. A good place to start would be to convert your existing posts into something visually appealing. Experiment with little snippets here and there, and monitor the kind of reaction you get on social media and elsewhere.
Other than that, we hope this is plenty of information on how to get started with creating infographics. It’s definitely worth the time investment!