As clients become increasingly interested in producing different types of content, and as we expand our content functionality, we need to be able to use a variety of content effectively to promote brands and boost SEO results. Infographics and visual assets (such as charts, pictures, graphics, comics and cartoons) are a primary way of achieving success since they are relatively easy to produce, help diversify content, and are also simple to share.
So, Infographics. What are they?
In essence, infographics and visual assets are images that contain visual descriptors and written facts about a particular subject. These subjects can be anything, such as the different roles Bill Murray has played in film, or facts you’ve never wanted to know about your toilet. They are intended to be engaging and popular among internet users, and (depending on tone) can be factual representations, story focused or merely amusing observations.
Infographics as Content
Although infographics and visual assets have a number of uses, the basic premise is to display data in a visually compelling way in order to tell a story through an image. Infographics are brilliant at accomplishing this, as they are long enough to make the user need to scroll down the image, much like a vertical comic book of sorts. This also increases the time spent on site and help to lower bounce rate. Visual content appeals to people by both its ease of reading, comprehending, and sharing too.
It may be tricky to continue saying “visual assets and infographics”, so below are specific examples of each, with a little explanation of why they’re different:
- An infographic is typically a long form image, usually including different themes, topics or facts. They can tell a story, make a comparison or display data, and have been popular for years.
- A visual asset focuses on a single topic or theme. This type of content is generally newer, and appeals to a mobile focused generation who prefer to read smaller pieces of content. They are usually a single chart or graph that explains a pattern of behaviour, phenomenon, etc.
From now, I’ll refer to both as “visual content”, apart from the next two titles, which is…
Popular Infographics
So before we get into how to promote them, here are a few examples to get your imagination going:
3. From Kane to Nolan: Batman’s Evolution
These are popular because they usually hit on a topic that is informative or interesting to a wide audience. Although you might dismiss the batman example as a bit of fun, it’s also directly engaging with a big fan base (and in fact it is fan made, which demonstrates the power of the character).
Typically, the reason infographics can be as popular as they get is because of the quality of the content. Promotion can just be the icing on the cake.
How to Use Infographics
So, suppose you are now the lucky owner of a brand new infographic (glossing over the process of making one - that will be for another article!), what can you do with it?
For first steps, you should upload it to your site on a standalone page with accompanying text (300-400 words), ensuring you implement some best practices for optimisation. This includes editing alt text and alt attributes (both important for SEO), and including an embed code underneath the infographic in order to encourage easy and natural sharing. When that’s finished then you should be about ready for off-site promotion preparation.
Here’s what you might want to be thinking about:
- Sharing on social media and social bookmarking websites
- Promoting to bloggers
- Natural linking, with an on-site focus that ties in with a social media or wider strategy
Only three? Well, there are more, but your content strategy should focus on these three facets first, before exploring any less travelled avenues. Let’s go into a bit more detail about each.
Social Media
This can be relatively simple, and should be done soon after publication of the infographic, if not coinciding with the release. Social media promotion can attract many clicks to the page, which has been proven to boost search rankings. Images can be posted on Facebook walls, Twitter feeds, and (especially effective) Pinterest sites. Ensure your brands also tweet/share your content for a few weeks after it has gone to page, or discuss an overall strategy based on testing/observances.
Though these are the main ports of call with content, there are also social sharing websites such as Visual.ly. On Visual.ly, you can submit infographics (once registered) which will point to your image, and you may grab a few clicks along the way. This is just one of many infographic sharing websites, so it’s worth exploring various niches to find out what may work for you. Content posting is about testing, especially for social media and bookmarking websites, so do a little researching to find out what times may be the best for you.
Social Bookmarking
Websites such as Reddit, Digg and StumbleUpon are what are known as social bookmarking websites, or rather websites where users post content that others can see. Their mechanics are very different, and won’t be expanded upon here, otherwise to state that you can easily submit content to them for a broader audience to vote and comment on. Becoming visible is another matter, one that is quite tricky with the wrong content, or the wrong place. However, social bookmarking should be a thought when planning your content sharing.
Bloggers
Outreach is a business focused on bloggers. Working collaboratively with bloggers can be tricky, because after all what will make them want to link to clients’ sites? Infographics are a useful answer, because (as you may have heard before) creating great content that has the potential to be naturally shared will often do just that. By promoting an infographic, one relevant to your target audience, you will grow the amount of clicks and shares, because after all if it’s good, people will host it, particularly if it’s relevant to the time.
I realise I sound like a broken SEO record, so I’ll break it down some more. Make an infographic of excellence, or one that appeals to the now (current events content can do well, just look at Oreos famous Superbowl example.) Then, send it to bloggers as part of your outreach efforts. Ask them if they’d like to host the content on their website. They may only want to link it via social media, which should be encouraged, whether on top of a post or just an extra share. But if you’re after links, a blog post with embed code/link on the image will pass that all important link juice.
One more thing, merely owning an infographic can help outreach in the long term. Sharing content with bloggers acts as social proof, and helps sway influence and perhaps a link in future. Having evidence to back up your endeavors, and also positioning your campaign as forward thinking and relevant, even fun, can make outreach altogether a much smoother experience.
Natural Links
Natural linking is what we’re all after. Producing a piece of visual content that is strong enough to stand on its own is testament to your team’s content creation, and also of the lines of communication between client and agency, as well as confidence between stakeholders. You should spend as much time promoting your content as creating it; finding niches that will appreciate it is often half the battle. However, following the steps above can lead to natural sharing once the initial early adopters and influencers have their hands on it.
Visual content is a great link building tool, and you should actively encourage its use. Social sharing has already proven that image based content trumps written, not perhaps in quality but in ease of comprehension, so give it a try. With a bit of spend and the right angle you could have a infographic hit.
By James Haslam, Content Strategist, EMEA at Performics (part of the ZenithOptimedia Group).
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