Infographics offer new, creative online PR tools

May 22, 2007

I’ve been finding myself using the word ‘[tag]infographic[/tag]’ more and more frequently recently. The online medium offers PR new tools and areas of creativity previously just not possible. Increasingly, we’ve been finding that the best solution to communicating complicated messages and concepts online has been to use visual representations. These can be anything from still images or video content to widgets and interactive micro-sites.

Whereas in the past, PR traditionally relied upon words, images, interviews and the odd real-life stunt or event to communicate, online offers whole rafts of new, different ways to get across a message.

There are suddenly far more tools at our disposal. Our role is taking a client brief – understanding what they want to communicate – and translating this into the best online medium for the target audience group. The key aim being to create [tag]social currency[/tag]: Valued content for a specific audience group that inspires them to talk about and share it with friends and contacts online.

So we are always on the look-out for new and different ways to create social currency, to inspire conversation and debate. When fresh, new examples pop up I will run these on this blog – giving some insight into what is happening online and how it can be best used to support a company’s communications.

To kick this off, I’ve turned my attention across the pond to the recently updated USATODAY site – who seem to have experienced a Eureka moment in the past few months. There is now a dedicated ‘Interactivity’ section on the site, which uses all manner of different online tools to track news developments and provide entertainment respite. Have a play around and see what you find.

One infographic that particularly stands out is ‘Going Green’ a visual depiction of what can be done to lower the average home’s carbon footprint. This follows an earlier journalist article and invites user contributions, with readers being able to add their own suggestions and send on to friends.

Its great to see a traditional media site beginning to creatively play with the Internet as a medium – this is only the beginning…..

© USTODAY, Going Green, infographic, https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/graphics/going_green/flash.htm

Latest Posts

Content shared by your employees is getting shared far more than your branded content – so it makes sense to empower your staff to post more, right? The data is in – employee advocacy is a MUST. While only 3% of employees share content about their company, those shares are…

Oh, it’s so easy to talk Thought Leadership It’s not so easy to make it happen Thought leadership is how you build trust through expertise. You show your working, go deep on the messy bits, and nudge behaviour change over time. It’s the essential core of the way modern buyers…

Instagram has recently introduced a new feature called “Competitive Insights” within its Professional Dashboard. This update gives business and creator accounts another way to understand and compare how their profiles are performing on the platform. The new tool lets you compare your account with up to ten…