How To Create Killer Infographics In 4 Easy Steps

Who would have thought that the lowly infographic would be such an important content marketing tool this year? Three or 4 years ago, infographics gained popularity with its dynamic imagery and concise text aimed at educating audiences on varied topics.

Marketers predicted an increased use of infographics in 2016 and this year, more high-quality infographics are liked, retweeted and shared 3 times more than any other form of content.

Today’s popular crowd are more visually attuned that infographics can play a major role in engaging them. When properly planned and executed, infographics can become a writer’s best friend. One thing to remember though, your infographic should provide great value rather than receiving value, for example, promoting your brand.

But how does one go about creating that killer attention-grabbing infographic? These steps will hopefully demonstrate how – and you don’t need artistic capabilities.

1. Topic or concept choices

What then is the most engaging topic that audiences these days want to see?

It should either be actionable or informative. You’re either giving good advice to your audience in helping make their lives better (actionable) or you’re giving an in-depth explanation that’s easy to understand through your data, stats and other images (informative). At the end of digesting your infographic, your readers leave with deeper knowledge they didn’t have to begin with.

Too broad topics will entail a longer infographic and might not be easily digestible with our short-attention span audience. Your infographic may have more than one focus, too, leaving the readers confused. Too narrow and you’re left with longer research time.

Topics can come from old content that can be repurposed with gorgeous infographics that weren’t there before. Evergreen topics and customer surveys are great candidates for creating infographics.

1. Data and fact gathering

Good writers are also good researchers and Wikipedia is a good source for writers giving them an overview of what they’re writing about. It usually is loaded with statistics you can use or grab from. But remember to always cite your sources for the data. This is to show you’re not just making stuff up. When using quotes, always cite the writers especially if they’re industry experts who are relied upon. Quotes not only give a great impact, they also show the human side of your infographic.

1. Time to write

And so all data are in, topics are organized, stats are confirmed, now it’s time to write that powerful infographic text. Instead of thinking of the words, think of the images that will go instead of letters. Visually imagine how your narrative will look like with fewer text and more images. Texts should be concise but enough.

Your infographic can be any size but the most popular ones are the vertically skinny ones for better embedding. So organization of topics should be well-planned. You don’t want your readers to be scrolling back up and then down again if your topics do not flow smoothly.

Start with an impactful headline. It is the first thing that readers will see when they decide to give your infographic a second or third glance. And the most text-heavy part is the introduction. Make sure you only summarize and not give too much information.

Just like normal all-text content, the information you present shouldn’t be jumping from one topic to another. By the middle of the infographic, you should be elaborating more on your topic and building it up to your climaxing conclusion. Will you use a shocking fact, a funny anecdote or a rare bit of trivia? Or is it going to be a call to action?

1. Designing your infographic

The less graphically-inclined writer will come up with a wireframe of his ideas and pass it off to a real designer and work hand in hand. The designer will have great ideas on how to visually present your data, stats and other information.

The designer may give out his ideas of what you have in mind so it’s best to listen, too. You can come up with lots of texts, data and images that may drown the reader and lose its primary objective – to inform. The concept of negative space come into play here – be sure to use it. Not only will it be a great way to present the information, it will also be pleasing to the reader’s eyes.

As to the fonts and colors, a good designer will readily give you what’s more appealing, more popular and less straining. Consider it as good advice.

Conclusion

Promoting your infographic may well be out of your responsibility as a writer. Give it to your content marketing team and let them come up with promotional strategies. They know how to do it.

So for the humble writer who only wish is to convey and give his readers valuable information, infographics can be a really great ally.

Bottom line is to visually give useful material to your readers. Don’t just write it, show it! Give your readers a visual journey that will make them come out enhanced and better informed. So a great infographic is not just a good image. It’s actually thorough research, great writing, effective organization and a touch of artistic graphic design all rolled into one. With all these elements, readers will definitely better understand even the most complex topics.

Are you ready to test your mettle in infographics creation? Then why not join our content creation pool of writers at Iris Content. Even if you’re not into creating infographics, you can still write great content with us. Write for us today!

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