HOWTOCREATEANDUSE

BEAUTIFULINFOGRAPHICS
INYOURMARKETING

Introduction
Infographicsarenothingnew;why,then,doesitseemlikeinthelast5yearsmarketershave
beenusingthemtopromotecontentthatspreadslikewildfire?Well,becauseinfographics
work.Theyregreatasstandaloneblogposts,theydazzlereadersofebooksandcontentall
overtheinternet,andtheyreeasilyshareablebecausethebrainprocessesvisuals60,000x
fasterthantext.Thebrainlovesvisuals,especiallywhentheyreintheformofabeautiful
data-tellingstory.

Asmarketersadopttheinboundmarketingmethodologyofwritingandsharingexceptional
contenttoattractanddelightcustomers,infographicshaveweavedthemselvesintothe
threadsofabusinessscontentstrategy.Sharingthesebeautifuldatapresentationsiseasy;
thechallengingpartishowtocreateyourown,manipulateyourowncompanysdata,and

translatethatintoabeautiful,shareable,informativeandengagingpieceofcontentthatwill
increasetrafficandleadstoyourbusiness.

Inthisebook,VenngageandHubSpothavejoinedforcestoteachyoueverythingyouneed
toknowaboutcreatingvisuallystimulatingandinformativeinfographicstouseinyour
marketingefforts.Youllalsolearnhowandwheretopromoteinfographics,measuretheir
performance,andensureyoureseeingROI.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Deciding What Data to Represent

Chapter 2: How to Visualize Your Story
1. StatisticalInfographics

2. TimelineInfographics(Time-Oriented)

3. ProcessInfographics

4. InformationalInfographics

5. GeographicInfographics

6. Compare/ContrastInfographics

7. HierarchicalInfographics

8. Research-BasedInfographics

9. InteractiveInfographics

10. WordCloudInfographics

Chapter 3: Choosing Charts and Finding Data

Chapter 4: Elements of Beautifully Designed
Infographics
Chapter 5: How to Market Your Infographic
Conclusion & Additional Resources

CHAPTER1:DECIDING
WHATDATATO
REPRESENT

(Hint: Dont Use It as a Starting Point)

The#1mistakemostpeoplemakewhentheywanttocreateinfographicsistousetheirdata
asthestartingpoint.Readersdontexactlycareaboutyourdata,theycareaboutthestory
youaretelling.Creatingagreatinfographicisaboutansweringquestionsandsolving
problemspeoplehave.Usingyourdatatothinkaboutinfographicstorieswillimpedeyouin

theselectionofinterestingtopicsandinevitablybiasyoutowardswhatVenngagecallsa
dataforthesakeofdatainfographic.

Trynottobrainstormwithyourdatafirst.Infact,dotheopposite-takeyourdataandlockit
up.Dontlookatit.Forgetaboutyourdatafornow.Thinkaboutwhatyouwantpeopleto
learnandtakeawayaftertheylookatyourinfographic.

Theinfographicbelowisagreatexampleofhowalargenon-profitorganizationfighting
MalariainAfricawoulduseaninfographictogetthewordoutaboutthedireeffectsof
Malariaandhowtheyareprogressingagainstit.Thedatatheyhaveiswhatyouwould
expect:baselinedataonhowterriblethediseaseis,thefundstheyhaveraised,thenumber
ofmedicationtheyprovidedtochildren,thenumberofdoctorsperpopulationsize,the
numberofMalariacases/deathsandtheirlocationsandsoon.

Letssaywedowhatmostpeopledoandstartwiththisdatasettodesignourinfographic.
Wemightbetemptedtocreateaninfographicwiththefollowingstoryline:Malariakillsalot
people,andoureffortsagainstitisshowinggreatresultsasevidentinournumbersthe
decreaseincases/deaths,theimprovementinthenumberofdoctors,bettertreatment,and
perhapssomeeconomicimpact.

Hereswhatitwouldlooklike.Itsaveryrunofthemilltypeofinfographic.

Thisisnotabadinfographic.Butitsnotgreat.Itsyourbasicdata-driveninfographic.The
problemis,thisinfographictriestoohardtofitallthegreatdatathenon-profithadcollected
anddidnotfocusonwhatthepotentialaudiencewouldbeinterestedinlearning.Agreat
infographicnotonlyanswersquestionsthatpeoplearecuriousabout,itreframestheminan
unconventionalway.Itchallengesusandsparksnewinsightstooldproblems.Itshouldhave
animpact,andleaveyouponderingonyourexistence,notunlikeagoodbookoragood
movie.

So,howwouldwecreatethatinfographiconMalaria?Fortunately,thetalentedpeoplefrom
theGatesFoundationdidexactlythat.Theycreatedaninfographicentitled,Worlds
DeadliestAnimals.Illlettheinfographicspeakforitself.

Inthisinfographic,theresnoquestionthestorybeingtoldisntaboutdata.Itsaboutthe
impactofhowitsrepresentedinastory:theanimalswethinkarekillersarentevencloseto
comparingdeathscausedbymosquitos.

CHAPTER2:HOWTO
VISUALIZEYOURSTORY

Youvegotyourstory.Nowyouhavetochoosethetypeofinfographicyouwanttouse.
Thereareloosely10differenttypesofinfographics(listedbelowwithexamples).Basedoffof
thestoryyouaretelling,oneofthesetypesofinfographicsshouldjumpoutatyouandyoull
knowthatsthetypeofIGthatwillbestrepresentyourstory.Remember:thestorycomes
first,dataalwayscomessecond.

Ifyourestuckontwotypesofinfographicstotellyourstory,gowithasimplerversion.
VenngagesPinterestResearchstudyshowedthatPinterestuserslikedandsharedmore
infographicsthatweresimplerandhadlesscolors.Butwellgettothislater!

Belowarethe10typesofinfographicstohelpyouvisualizeyourstory.

 1)STATISTICAL

INFOGRAPHICS
Thisinfographicshowsasummaryoroverviewofdatawithoneormoregraphs,tablesor
lists.

2)TIMELINE

INFOGRAPHICS

Thesetime-orientedinfographicsshowprogressofinformationoverachronologicaltime

period.

3)PROCESS

INFOGRAPHICS

Theseinfographicsdemonstratealinearorbranchingprocess.Theyteachtheworkingsofan
objectorflowchartshowingchoicesinadecisionprocess.

4)INFORMATIONAL

INFOGRAPHICS

Theseinfographicsaremostlikelyaposterthatsummarizestopicwithsomeextrabitsof
information.

5)GEOGRAPHIC

INFOGRAPHICS

Theseinfographicsdisplaydatawithalocationmap.

6)COMPARE/CONTRAST

INFOGRAPHICS

Theseinfographicsillustratenotablesimilaritiesordifferencesasathisversusthat
infographicorasatableorsimplelist.

7)HIERARCHICAL

INFOGRAPHICS

Thistypeofinfographicdemonstratesachartwithlevels.

8)RESEARCH-BASED

INFOGRAPHICS

Theseinfographicsaresimilartostatisticalinfographics,butbasedonresearch.Thesecan
beusedtocompareunlikeitemswithpopularsetsofdata.

9)INTERACTIVE

INFOGRAPHICS

Thistypeofinfographicgivesviewersthecontroltomodifytheinfographicandiswebbased.

10)WORDCLOUD

INFOGRAPHICS

Theseinfographicsdisplayaclusterofwordstoshowassociationsbetweenwordsand
concept.

Afteryouvedecidedonastorytotellandthebesttypeofinfographicthatwillshowcasethat
story,itstimetoturntoyourdatapointsandrepresentingthemincharts.

CHAPTER3:CHOOSING
CHARTSANDFINDING
DATA

Oneofthemostimportantstepsincreatinginfographicsischoosingtherightchartstotell
yourstory.Howdoyoupickthebestchartstorepresentyourdatainauniqueandeyecatchingwaytosuccessfullydeliveryourmessage?Whatarethetechniquesyoucanuseto
visualizeyourinformationsothatyourdataspeaksforitself?Herearesometriedandtrue
tipsfromthefrontlines:

HowtoConveyaSingleImportant
Number
Sometimes,youjustwanttoconveyasingledatapoint.Averyimportantnumber.Like
breaking100mworldrecordin9.2s.Orreachingthe1MusersmilestoneonyournewiPhone
app.Orwinningarecord10thWorldChampionship.

Howtodotellthisstory?ThisisthetimetoemploytheGoBigorGoHometechnique.And
bythatImeangobigwithyourfontsortext.

Use large fonts and labels

Thereisnoneedforfancychartshere.Plainoldtextworksthebest.Makeyourfontsand
labelsbig.Makethemstandoutcomparedtotheothertextontheinfographic.Bignumbers

usuallylookimpressivebythemselves.LikeSlacksinfographicabove,thelabeliswhat
drawsyourattentionasitdominatesoverthelinechart.Hereareotherexamples:

TogetaWowreactionwithonenumberordatapoint,itsoftenbettertotellyouraudiencein
plainlargetext.Thisismoreeffectivethanusingachartbecauseyougetrighttothepoint
andthereisinterpretationneeded.

Use pictograms or icon charts to complement

percentages
Althoughdisplayinglargetextworksmostofthetime,havingavisualtodrivethepointhome
canreallyhelp.Inthecaseofanimportantnumberthatcanbeconveyedinpercentageora
ratio,apictogramvisualizesthenumberandreallycomplementsthetext.

Similarly,youcanuseaniconchartwhichisjustaniconthathastwodifferentcolortones.
Thepercentageorheightofonecolorrepresentsthepercentageorratio.Allofthesecharts
areavailableintheVenngagesfreeinfographicmaker.

Howto
Compare
Multiple
Numbersor
Things
Themajorityofdatavisualizationdealswithcomparingasetofdatapoints.Therearemany
differentchartsyoucanusetoshowcomparisonsandwhichoneyoupickdependsonyour
goalandwhatyouwanttoemphasize.Letsgooversomeoftheseoptions:

Use a bar or column chart for basic comparisons

99%ofthetime,youcanuseabarorcolumncharttoshowcomparisonsofdifferentdiscrete
thingsorcategories.Mostmultiplechoicesurveyanswerscanbevisualizedusinga
bar/columnchart.Anythingthatcanbecountedandcategorizedcanbeeasilyvisualized
usingabarorcolumnchart.Forexample,thetotaltwitterfollowersofdifferenthockeyteams,
thetotalsalesofdifferentproductsyousell,thenumberofwindowsineachroom,..etc.

Use a bubble chart or tree map to highlight outliers

Whatifyouwanttoemphasizeaparticularvaluethatisanoutlier?Oryouhaveonevalue
thatissomuchlargerorsmallerthatyouessentiallywanttocompareittoalltheothervalues
inonevisualization?Useanareabasedchartsuchasabubblechartoratreemap(which
usesareatovisualizethevalueasopposedtoheightorlengthasinthecaseofabaror
columnchart).Usingareastovisualizenumbersbringsoutthecontrastwhenthereisa
dominantcategoryorvalue.Thisonlyworksifthereisanoutlier,whosevalueisalotlarger
thantheothers.EdwardTuftehasfamouslydismissed2D(areabased)chartsasan
ineffectivemeanstovisualizedataaswecannotdiscernareadifferencesaccurately.Ifall
yourvaluesonlyvarybyalittlebit,thensticktothebarorcolumnchart.Butifyouhavean
outlier,thenvisualizingtheareadifferencesreallyamplifiesthecontrast.

Hereisanexampleofafamousinfographiccomparingdiseasedeathsandfundingthatuses
abubblecharttoshowthecontrastofthehowmuchwedonatevstheactualdiseasesthat
killus:

Hereisanotherexampleusingamodifiedtreemap.Inthiscase,itsshowinghowbigofafine
Pfizerhastopaycomparedtoitsprofits.

HowtoShowTrendsOverTime
Themostcommoncharttodisplaytimeseriesdataisthelinechart.Ifyouhavemanydata
points,thelinechartisthemosteffectivecharttoshowtrendsovertime.

Use a column chart to emphasize distinct values

Youcanalsouseacolumnchartiftherearenottoomanydatapointsinthetimeseries,
especiallyifyouwanttoemphasizethevalues(asopposedtothetrendingovertime)

Special case: showing periodical changes

Inbusinessreports,itiscommontoshowmonthovermonth(MOM)oryearoveryear(YOY)
changes.Infact,formanydatavisualizationsabsolutenumbersaremeaninglesswithoutthe
percentageofchangeorsomeotherpointofreference.Howdoyoudoasimpleperiodical
comparison?First,youhavetoaggregateyourdataintomonthsoryears.Thenyouwillneed
tocalculatetheMOM/YOYchanges.

Thetablewilllooklikethis.TheMOM%columnismerelythechangefromthecurrentmonth
vsthepreviousmonth(thequickformulaiscurrent/previous-1)

ThewayIliketodisplaythisistojustoverlaybothchartsontopofeachother.Inthe
examplebelow,IveusedacolumncharttodisplaytheMOM%andalinecharttodisplaythe
monthlywidgetsales.Hereyoucanseethatthemonthovermonthsalesfluctuates
drastically.

Special case: Show Non-Numerical Trends with a

Visual Timeline
Whataboutshowingtrendswhenyoudonthaveanynumbers?Simplydisplayatimeline
chartandaddimagesforeachtimeperiod.

Timelinechartsareoneofthemostinterestingchartsaround.Tocreateone,youcanusea
verticallinetocreateacentralcolumnandhorizontallinesasticksforeachtimeperiod.
Thenaddyourowntextandimagestoeachtimeperiod.Likethis:

Youcanalsocreateahorizontaltimelineusingacolumnchartasabase.Simplyaddallthe
timelabelswith0asvaluesandturnontheYaxis.Thenaddyourimagesandtext:

HowtoShowComparisonorShareof
Total
Howdoyoushowtheshareofonevaluecomparedtoallothervalues?Thereare3basic
chartsyoucanuse:

Use pie chart for most compositions

Despiteitsdetractors,thepiechartoritscousin,thedonutchartisoneofthemost
recognizablechartstodayandcanbeeasilyinterpretedbymostpeople.Uselabelsand
showpercentagesifyouwanttoconveytheactualvalues.

Or a Column/Bar Chart
Theuniversallyusefulcolumnandbarchartisperfectforthisscenario.Youcanstackemor
younot.Infact,notstackingthemimprovesreadabilitywhenthevaluesareclosetoeach
otherasyoucancomparethedimensionseasilywithasingleglance.

HowtoDisplayRankingsorOrder
Themostsimplewayofdisplayingcategoriesthatarerankedororderediswithabarchart
(withthecategoriessorted).Forexample,heresthetop10travelreviewsites:

Youcanalsouseasimplelistortableoracombinationofalistandabarchart,likethe
examplebelowforthetoppayingengineeringmajors:

HowtoEmphasizePatternsor
Relationships
Mostexpertswilltellyoutouseascatterplotoralinechartorsomethingmorecomplexlikea
networkchartorchorddiagramtoshowrelationshipsinyourdata.Mytakeonthisisthat
mostpeoplewillfinditreallydifficulttodiscoverrelationshipsthemselvesinanychart.Your
audiencewilllikelygiveyourchartatwosecondglance,whichisntenoughtimetofigureout
whatyouretryingtosay.Youcannotexpectyouraudiencetointerprettherelationshipsthat
yourchartsareconveying.Unlessitsreallyobvious,whocanreallyrecognizepatterns
lookingatahundredsorthousandsofplotpoints?Myunconventionaladviceisthatthebest
waytoconveyapatternorrelationshipbetweentwovariablesistojustexplainitinplain
language,inalabelorheading.Itworksalotbetter.

Heresanexampleoftwolinechartstoshowgenderandcreditsearnedandgradepoint
averageinmathandscience.Canyoutellmewhattherelationshipisbetweengenderand

performanceinmathandscience?(Keepinmind,thisexampleonlyhas4datapoints.Most
line/scatterplotshavemanymorepoints)

NowlookatthesamechartwiththerelationshipsexplainedinplainEnglishbelow.Isitmuch
clearer?Infact,youshouldjustdisplaythe4datapointsinatableanditwouldntmatter.
Peoplewillreadthetextandthenlookatthecharttoreaffirmwhattheyread,nottheother
wayaround.Frommyexperience,itsbesttojusttellyourreaderswhatthepatternis.

HowtoShowDistribution
Therearetwogeneralwaysofshowingdistribution:Columnchart(oraHistogram)anda
Scatterplot.

Use a scatterplot when you have unaggregated data

points
Ifyouhaverawdatasuchasexacttimeofallsupportcalls,orthenumberofproductsa
personbuysduringtheyear,ortheNPSscorefromhundredsofclients,thenascatterplotto
ploteachdatapointisthebestapproach.

Use a column chart when some of the data has been

aggregated into groups or bins
Ifyouvetakenthetimetoaggregateyourrawdataintogroups,thenacolumnchart(ora
histogram)isagoodwaytoshowingdistribution.Howdoyouaggregatedataintogroups?
Withtimebaseddata,youpickaninterval,say3hours,andlumpallthedatapointsinto
groupsbasedtheinterval(ie,group1wouldbe12-3am,group23:01am-6amandsoon).
Similarlyforvalues,youcreategroupsforarangeofvalues(i.e.,1-5,6-10,11-15)andthenadd

upthenumberofrecordsthatfitintoeachgroup.Youllendupwithacolumnchartlikethe
onebelow:

Aswiththepreviouspointifthereisaclearpatterninthedistribution,youshouldwriteit
downandnotleaveittothereadertointerpret.Forexample,mostsupportcallsoccurlatein
theafternoon.Youshouldaddalabelinplainlanguageforyourreader.Thetext
complementsthecharttogethertoreemphasizethepattern

Insightinplaintext+chartisfarmoreeffectivethanjustdisplayingthechart.

AvoidComplexCharts
Lastly,ifyoureevertemptedtoincorporateaverycomplexchart,orifthemarketingagency
orconsultantyouvehiredtellsyouthatyouneedalargeandcomplexchart,stop.While
largecomplexchartsmaylookcoolorbeautiful,youshouldkeepreadabilityinmind.How
manypeoplecanactuallyunderstandachorddiagramorasunburstchartwiththousandsof
datapoints?

Keepitsimple.Summarizeyourdataintoabitesizethatiseasilyreadable.Sticktostandard
chartsthata6thgraderwillunderstand.(Incidentally,newspaperwritersusuallywriteata
5th-7thgradeliteracylevel.)Unlessyouraudienceareacademicsorresearchers,ourgeneral
recommendationistousestandardchartsandtouselabelstointerpretthechartsasmuch
aspossible.Ruleofthumbifyouneedtozoomintolookatachartanditslegendsmore
thanoncetounderstandwhatsgoingon,itsprobablytoocomplicated.

HowtoGetRelevantDatatoTellYour
Story
Thereare3approachestogettingyourdatatomakeyourinfographic.

1. Yourowndataifyoutookthedatadrivenapproachtoinfographics,youare
probablyusingyourowndata.Evenifyoudidnt,yourorganizationorcompanymay
havedataonthesubjectorstoryyouwanttowriteabout.Askaround.Sendsome

emails.

2. Originalresearch-OC(originalcontent)isking!NothingbeatsOC.Youdontneeda
researchteamoradatascientistforthis.Andunlessyouvegotabigbudgetdont
eventhinkofpayingaresearchormarketingfirmforthis.Youcanrollyourown
surveyresearchwithatoollikesurveymonkeyorGoogleForms.Orwithmanual
codingofdata.Werewritinganarticleabouthowwedoourownresearch.Illadda
linktoithereonceitsdone.

3. Datasourcesthereareplentyofpublicandprivatedatasourcesoutthere.Hereisa
shortlist:

Data.govthisistheUSgovernmentsopendatawebsite.Youcansearchforall
kindsofpublicdatafromhealthcaredatatoeconomicdata.Ittakesabitofdiggingto
getthedatasets,butworthexploring.
UNdataUNdataisinternational/worlddataonavarietyofsubjectssuchas
employment,poverty,population,export/importnumbers,growth,..etc.Thereare34
databasesintotalandyoucanfilterbycountry.
GooglePublicDataGooglehasasearchenginespecificallyforsearchingpublicly
availabledata.Thisisagoodplacetostartasyoucansearchalargeamountof
datasetsinoneplace.
PewResearchData-PewResearchisthinktankthatdoesalotofresearchand
pollingintheareasofpublicinterestsuchasinternet,scienceandtechnologytrends,
globalattitudes,religionandpubliclife,andsocialanddemographictrends.Thisis
oneofmyfavoriteplacestovisit.Theyalsopublishexcellentreportsandmakeall
theirdatasetsavailablefordownload.
WorldBankTheWorldbankhasalotoffinancialandeconomicdata.Greatifyou
wanthighleveldata.
WorldEconomicForumWEforumhasmorenuanceddataonavarietyoftopics.
Theirdataareembeddedintheirreports.
Statistathisisdataaggregatorthathasthousandsofdatasets.Itisapaidservice
thoughyoudogetsomeinterestingdatasetsunavailablepublicly.
Theroughguidehereistofindatleastonedatasetornumberperstorypoint.Attheendof
thisstep,youshouldhaveallthedatayouneedtostartputtingyourinfographictogether.

CHAPTER4:ELEMENTSOF
BEAUTIFULLYDESIGNED
INFOGRAPHICS

Okyouvegotthestory,thetypeofinfographicandthedata.Nowyoucanputthemall
togetherintoanattractivelookinginfographic.Foranon-designer,creatingabeautiful
infographicfromscratchisnoteasy.Howdoyougetbetter?Bylookingandcopyingthebest
infographicsoutthere,andbyusingreadymadetemplates.

CTAtoVenngage,CTAtoHubSpotfreetemplates

ORheresahack:

1. GotoPinterestandsearchforInfographics.

2. GototheTemplatespageofVenngage(youhavetobeloggedin).

3. Pickoneorafewyoulike.Thenusethatasthebasestyle.

4. Createanoutlineoftheinfographicwithallthechartsandelements(onpaper)

5. CreatetheinfographiconatoollikeVenngage(usingtheoutlineandtemplate)

6. Changethecolor,fontsandotherelementstocreateyourownstylederivative.

On color schemes:
Thebestwaytopickagoodcolorschemeistolookatotherinfographicsforinspiration.Orif
youlikeaparticularcolor,youcanuseColorLoverstofindcolorschemesthatmatcha
particularcolor.Itsagreattool.Iuseitallthetime.

On fonts:
Imnotabigfanofusingmanydifferentfonts.Twoisoftenenough.Sticktoonetypeoffont
eitherSansSeriftypesorSeriftypefonts,forconsistency.Whatsthedifference?

AlotofpeoplewilltellyoutouseSansSerif
fontsforamoremoderndigitallookandSerif
fontsformoretraditionalprintlook.Ithinkit
dependsonwhatyouwantandyourstyle.My
go-tofontisHelveticaorArialbutthatis
becauseImaminimalist.ButIrecentlyreadan
articleontheNYTabouthowSansSeriffonts
makesusbelievesomethingistrue.People
trustoldschoolfontsmoreforconveying
information.Gofigure.

On layouts:
Pickalayoutandputeverythingtogether.Stickwithasimplegridforsymmetryandeaseof
reading.Imasticklerforsymmetryandunevenmarginsbothermemorethantheyshould.
Theinfographicshouldbewellbalanced.Ifyousticktoagridsystem,youshouldbefine.If
youvecreatedanoutlineorpickedatemplate,youshouldjustfollowthatlayout.

Oncharttypes(seechapter2forextensivelistofcharttypes)

Mostpeoplehavethetendencytothinkthatdatavisualizationhastobebigandcomplexin
ordertodeliveranimpact.Howmanypeopleactuallyknowhowtointerpretadensenetwork

diagramorsomethinglikeachorddiagram?

On outlines:
Beforeyoudiveintoactuallycreatingtheinfographic,itisagoodideatocreateanoutlineon
paper.Ithelpswithorganizingtheflowofthestory.Heresanexampleofonewerecently
did.(Thisonehasabitmoredetailthantheusualoutline,butyougetthepoint)

Lastly,youuseadigitaltooltogetitalltogether,withaproperheadline,subheadersand

additionalinformationsuchassourcesandacalltoaction.Forexample,fromtheoutline
above,wecreatedthis(clickonittoseethefullinfographic):

CHAPTER5:HOWTO
MARKETYOUR
INFOGRAPHIC

Chancesare,ifyourereadingthis,yourecreatinganinfographictouseonsocialmediaora
marketingcampaign.Ifyourecreatingtheinfographicformarketingpurposes,youvegot
onemorestep,andthatspromotingit.Afterall,thereisnopointcreatingcontentifnoone
seesit,isthere?

Herearesomemethodsonhowtopromoteyourinfographics:

Makeitintoablogpostandshareonallyoursocialchannels

Sendoutanemailnewsletter.Checkouthowtomakeemailsmoreengagingwith
infographicshere.

Askyouradvocatestoshareexplicitly.

PostitonsocialdiscoverysiteslikeStumbledUpon,Reddit,Imgur..etc.

Outreachfindbloggerswhowillbenefitfromsharingyourinfographic.

Ifyourenotabigbrandwithalargefollowing,youllgetlimitedmileageonmostofthese
methodswithoutdeterminedeffortonoutreach.Outreachisanunavoidablenecessity.Its
likecoldcallinganddoortodoorselling.Itworks,butusuallynothowyouwouldexpectitto.
Youhavetostartsmall,atthebottomoftheinfluencerpyramidandworkyourwayup.

VenngageLabsResearchStudy:WhattypesofinfographicsgetmorelikesonPinterest?

WithsomuchcontentonPinterest,howdoyoumakeyourinfographicstandout?Whatare
thecharacteristicsofhighlypinnedandlikedPinterestinfographics?Toanswerthese
questions,Venngagelookedatover200popularPinterestinfographicsandevaluatedthem
basedonaseriesofqualitativeandquantitativecharacteristics.Theresults?A
comprehensiveguidetowhattypesofinfographicsgetmorelikesthanothers.Basedon
theirresearch,6factorswereidentifiedforagreatPinterestinfographic.

Topic
Doesthetopicorsubjectmatterofyourinfographicmatter?Yes,itdoes.OnPinterest,the
toptopicsweretravel,foodandmarketing.ThisisnotreallysurprisingifyouusePinterest
regularly.TravelandfoodimagesdoextremelywellonPinterestgiventhedemographicof
theirusers.Thesethreetopicsperformedalotbetterthanalltheothertopics.

Herearesomeexamplesoftopinfographicsfromthetravel,foodandmarketingcategories:

Mood:Funny,Challenging,orUseful
Oneofthemostimportantaspectsofanycontentisthereactionisgarnersfromitsaudience.
Didthecontentleaveanimpactontheperson,whetheritwasagoodlaughorsomething
usefultheycoulduseinlife?VenngagelookedatoursampleofPinterestinfographicsand
codedeachonewithwhattheythoughtwouldbethereactiontheinfographicproduced.

Theresultsareconsistentwithalotofotherliteratureandresearchoncontent.Thewinners
areinfographicsthatarefunny,challengingorpractical.Theseinfographicshavethehighest
pins.

InformationisFunnyORUsefulORInteresting=HigherPins&Likes


SimplicityofInformation
Oneofthebiggestmisconceptionsoutthereisthatyouneedtohavealotofdataanda
complexinfographicforittobesharedandlikedalot.Venngagesresearchshowsthat
simpleinfographics,suchasinformationalandtextbasedinfographics,performthebest.
Simple=Win.

Theothercharacteristicexaminedwasthedominantstyleoftheinfographic.Venngage
classifiedIGstyleintooneof5stylestextbased,imagebased,illustrationbased,ora
combination.Theresultsshowedtextbasedinfographicsperformedthebest.

SerifFonts
Whilethemajorityofinfographicfontsweresansseriftypes(themoremodernlookingfont),
seriffontsperformbetter.Why?Hereisoneplausiblereason:peoplebelievetextwrittenin
seriffontsmorethanthosewritteninsansserif.Therewasapopularstudyhighlightedbythe
NewYorkTimesabouthowpeopletendtofindstatementswritteninseriffontsmore
credible.


2-3Colors
Colorshaveaneffectonpeople.Marketersknowthisandhavebeenusingittoincrease
salesandconversionsforalongtime.Itturnsoutwhenwelookedatthenumberofcolors
usedintopinfographicsandwhichprimarycolorsaredominant,weseeaverydistinct
pattern.

Lessismore.Infographicswithonly2colorsperformedthemost.Infographicsthathave
morethan5weretheworst.


Longformvs.Shortform
Ifyougrouptheinfographicsbasedontheirlengthtowidthratio(aratioisusedsince
infographicshavevaryingdimensions)andchartthedistribution,youllnoticethatwhile
shorterinfographicsdowell,theonesthatperformedreallywellhadbetween5-9lengthto
widthratio(theinfographicslengthwere5-9timeslongerthatitswidth).Iguessthatis
consistentwithotherlongformcontentsuchasblogarticles.Buttoolongisnotnecessarilya
goodthingasyougobeyondthe9xratio,theperformancedrops.Sodontoverdoit.

CONCLUSION&
ADDITIONALRESOURCES

Infographicsarecertainlyagreatwaytomarketyourbrandandthestoryyourcompanyis
telling.Thisebookisaguidelineforyoutousewhenthinkingaboutorrevampingyour
marketingstrategytoincorporateinfographics-useitasareferenceandinspirationtostart
creatingbeautifulinfographicsandpromotingyourbrandthroughinformational,interesting,
andengagingimagery.

Wehopeyoutakethesebestpractices,tipsandtrickstomakingandusinginfographicsin
yourmarketingtogeneratemoreleads,business,andhappycustomers!

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