Humans are highly visual creatures. It’s in our biology, at least according to the folks at MIT. Their research showed half of our brain is directly or indirectly devoted to processing visual information.[1] Considering the human head weighs 8 pounds (according to the character Ray from Jerry Maguire), that’s a lot of neurological power. Now contemplate how much information each of us consumes every single day. Between 2012 and 2013, IBM calculated that 90% of all the world’s data was created.[2] As technology advances, the sheer volume of information will continue to grow rapidly. Visual imagery accompanying your blog posts is more important than ever for your content to cut through all the noise. And infographics are an ideal way of captivating your audience.
Still not convinced? Here are the top three advantages (and an infographic) of adding infographics to your blog posts.
Infographics are Sharable
The best salespeople are your own brand advocates. Infographics provide individuals who trust you an easy way to share your information with their friends and colleagues. The simplicity of infographics allows them to be shared 3x’s more often than any other type of visual content on social media.[3] This means the same content that may have been shared ten times may be shared 25 times when an infographic is available to your audience.
Once shared, the recipients are more likely to read the infographic than if sending text-based content only. Adding to the power infographics already have is the fact we are 30x more likely to read blogs that contain visuals.[4] Simply put, including infographics with your blog post can extend your reach exponentially and may even result in your blog post reaching the holy grail – becoming viral.
Infographics are Engaging
As visual creatures, we are not only captivated by images, but our brains process visual information much faster. 3M (the company that invented Post-it notes) claims we process visuals 60,000 times faster than text.[5] This suggests your content will be consumed and understood quickly, which is important when our time is at a premium.
Just getting your blog read is a difficult task by itself. While there is some debate over 3M’s claim, there are no doubts articles, and blog posts with images get more views. Side-by-side, a post with an image will be viewed nearly twice as much as a post without any images at all.[6] As images themselves, infographics will draw readers in even before they read a single letter.
Continued after infographic:
Infographics are Recallable
Getting your audience to click and read your blog post is tough work. But even if you can drive traffic to your post, it would all be for naught if your reader doesn’t remember any of your content. For as adept as your writing skills may be, recall rates from reading text are dreadfully low. This is the third reason infographics might just be the king of content.
Imagine creating two pieces of identical content. However, when published, one piece is presented in a text-only format while the second piece includes an infographic. After a few days, which piece do you believe would still be remembered by the audience? If you guessed the piece with an infographic, you would be correct.
In fact, people are able to recall 65% of the visual content they see nearly three days later. Compare this rate to text-only content, where only 10% of readers recalled what they read.[7] And if you want to move your audience toward a particular conclusion or product, an infographic can help persuade them 43% more than if you relied on just the written word.[8]
Including Infographics
Our world craves content and wants that content provided in the most consumable way. Infographics are the perfect vessel to deliver information in a fantastically condensed way without compromising your message. There is no shortage of infographic design options. Choose one that works with your content and melds with your brand – and watch your reach soar!
And if you are too busy to find a designer, contact the professionals at Full Circle SEM. Our team of graphic designers is ready for your next project.
Sources:
[1] http://news.mit.edu/1996/visualprocessing
[2] https://www.storagenewsletter.com/2011/10/21/ibm-cmo-study/
[3] https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/visual-content-marketing-strategy
[5] http://web.archive.org/web/20001102203936/http%3A//3m.com/meetingnetwork/files/meetingguide_pres.pdf
[7] https://www.jeffbullas.com/visual-content-marketing-statistics/
[8] http://misrc.umn.edu/workingpapers/fullpapers/1986/8611.pdf
