Image Courtesy of Lunchbreath: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lunchbreath/5386623023/
Do you appreciate the brevity and precision with which a chart or graph relays information? You might not even notice it, but a bar graph or pie chart can give you a lot of info in the fraction of the time it takes for a block of text to say the same thing. This core value of speedy and efficient data communication is what makes infographics the unique content they are.
Infographics go beyond banal visual representations of data. They add chic, trendy, and interesting twists to their messages. In retrospect, the fact that it takes one look for a reader to consume all the data in an infographic should be enough reason for you to consider using these visuals as part of your content strategy.
And this is the first and foremost reason why you should use infographics:
1. Graphical Data Representation
The very nature of an infographic gives it an advantage over typical forms of web content. An infographic is a visual or graphical representation of data, or in a broader sense, a message in an image. The image itself may be a combination of several other images and elements.
What this means is that when you use infographics as content, you provide your readers the data they want in as little time possible. If you’re still not convinced, here are 6 more reasons to use infographics as part of your content strategy:
2. Infographics leverage the nature of the human eye
As marketers, we’ve leaned that our eyes naturally gravitate towards shapes and colors, or anything graphical in nature. The visuals used in infographics capitalise on this fact, and can draw in readers more effectively.
3. Fast information relay
How many words would it take to describe a picnic scene? What about if you just show a picture of a picnic? Typical web content already incorporates related and value-adding images to text – infographics take it a step further by merging the two. This makes for faster information relay.
4. Visuals help people understand better
Humans by nature are “visual learners”. We learn better with visual aids. Visuals make up a large chunk of the data we use to analyse and understand a situation.
5. Infographics are more readable and scanable
Readability and ‘scanability’ are important factors in web content. Infographics are much more readable and scanable than common articles.
6. Infographics are more entertaining than blocks of text
It’s simple really, would you rather consume lots of complicated data and information from an interesting/entertaining picture or from blocks of text?
7. Infographics leverage the influence of colours and their meanings
Compared to text -most typically only formatted to be bold, italicised, or underlined- images make full use of colour and its psychological effect on people. For instance, more shades of red relay a sense of urgency and importance, while blue makes for a more relaxed atmosphere and better perception. Orange, action.
In a Nutshell…
Typical “Netizens” (digital natives) do not read, they scan, make it easier and more convenient for them to digest the content and data you provide. Infographics are an effective form of content to accomplish this goal.
It’s a bit of a stretch to say that the infographic is the next standard of web content, especially since optimising images is not yet a refined art or science. What is certain though is that if you don’t use infographics in your content strategy, you’ll be missing an opportunity for your message to be spread far and wide.
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