November 4, 2014
5 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Infographics
The use of infographics in marketing and on social media is nothing new but here are a few reasons why you should be using these incredibly versatile tools;
1) 90% Of Information Transmitted To The Brain Is Visual.
Your eyes have more sensory receptors than all your other senses combined, photoreceptors total about 70% of the sensory receptors in the human body and once that information gets to your brain it can process and recognise visual data in 250ms1. This means visual image data is absorbed 60,000 times faster than text2. Put simply, we understand visual information much easier than we do any other kind.
2) Publishers Who Use Infographics Grow In Traffic 12% More Than Those Who Don’t.
Good infographics are 30 times more likely to be read than text articles3.
Visual content and engagement go hand in hand, on Facebook, photos out-perform plain text, videos and links for both comments and shares4.
3) Infographic Content Is More Memorable.
People recall approximately 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read and a whopping 80% of what they see5. This is in part due to our need to remember faces and places, a skill that records information presented visually in a much more reliable way than any other type. Infographic content is the very definition of TL;DR (too long, didn’t read.)
4) Infographics Are Social Dynamite.
Combining relevant content and attractive visuals, infographics are a very shareable commodity. Pictures are tweeted 361% more than videos, and re-tweeted 128% more than videos6.
Global “sharers” across social media share Interesting (61%), Important (43%) and Funny (43%) things 7, so interesting information represented visually is a winning recipe for social sharing and brand advocacy.
5) Everyone Is Doing It!
OK maybe not everyone but the evidence shows that there is a huge increase in use of infographics globally. For example use of automated tools like infogr.am , piktochart.com and visual.ly has increased massively in 2014 despite the “templated” look that makes many infographics look the same.
According to the 2014 annual report by Shutterstock8, people searching for “infographic” increased 332% this year, showing a marked rise in use by designers.
This surge in popularity is part due to the versatile nature of data visualisation; from Social Media represented as Game of Thrones to Beards as Fonts, infographics can be used to convey information in a fun and memorable way that is easy to share, which is vital to the digital market and should be on your to do list for the coming year.
1 – Merieb, E. N. & Hoehn, K. (2007). Human Anatomy & Physiology 7th Edition, Pearson International Edition. – See more at: https://neomam.com/interactive/13reasons/#sthash.ztKzrbD2.dpuf
2 – https://www.webmarketinggroup.co.uk/blog/why-every-seo-strategy-needs-infographics/
3 – https://ansonalex.com/infographics/infographic-effectiveness-statistics-infographic/
4 – https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/photos-generate-engagement-research/
5 – W.H. Levie and R. Lentz, “Effects of Text Illustrations: A Review of Research,”Educational Communications and Technology Journal 30 (4) (1982): 195-232.
6 – https://www.quicksprout.com/2014/03/05/what-type-of-content-gets-shared-the-most-on-twitter/
7 – https://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx
8 – https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/infographic-shutterstocks-global-design-trends-2014