by Sharlene Boodram
Since the release of our very first infographic two years ago, this media type has grown in popularity. The digital presence of infographics wasn’t as common at that time, but the demand for them was great even though the ROI wasn’t fully understood. As millions of infographics surfaced on the Internet over the years, they started out as “trending” digital media used mainly as link bait, and flourished into a legitimate source used by many brands to share information with a social audience.
As discussed in detail in our Rethinking Infographics webinar, the story being told is only one factor to consider when producing infographics. Other considerations include the value of the publication to the brand (defined by KPIs and CTAs), the targeted personae with whom the publisher wishes to build a relationship, the value of the message to the reader, the on-page execution (including CTAs, opportunities for connecting and links to other top and middle of the funnel content) and the placement and promotion strategy aimed at reaching the intended audience.
Through performance analysis using Google analytics, we are constantly working on revolutionizing infographics, and we recognize their ability to achieve identified business goals if properly used as community building tools. Infographics 3.0, or Mixed Media Posts as I like to call them, are strategically designed vehicles of information that encourage engagement between consumers and brands.
The Anatomy of an Infographic 3.0
An Infographic 3.0 combines smaller infographic images with a full-length guest article. It appeals to two types of social audiences, including those interested in research-based articles and those partial to data driven infographics and images. The interplay between the images and copy makes infographics 3.0 easy to read, as the content is broken up into digestible pieces.
The inclusion of multiple rich snippets and a full-length article provides a greater opportunity for strategic optimization of HTML elements including social markup (schema and Open Graph) and co-occurrence terms. This makes the post more searchable and shareable, and adds additional contextual relevance.
Outbound links to reputable topic relevant sites and clickable links to research sources increase the validity and authority of the post.
With a growing concern about some image links being misleading to readers, infographics 3.0 exclude image links and the embed code traditionally included on infographic landing pages. This should not affect the social capability of the post, since most readers share posts using social buttons rather than actually using an embed code.
Infographics 3.0 Results
Let’s look at an overview of the performance of an infographic 3.0 released in July 2012, measured just one month following initial publication. To date, this Backpacking Tips & Destinations post continues to garner leads through growing social engagement and traffic to the landing page.
Campaign tracking suggests that the placement and promotion of the post was spot-on, given the abundance of traffic from targeted communities. The high level of engagement with the content reflected by low bounce rates and longer than usual average time on page suggests that the post was very relevant to the targeted communities. Funnel visualization reports and navigation paths suggest that the calls to action and related information linked to in the post were well suited to the incoming traffic. The organically achieved social popularity suggests that the post was fitting for branded communication in the social space.
Don’t be afraid to try new things with the information you learn through observing your target audience. Communication involves listening so that you can respond appropriately. Identified KPI’s make it easy to measure success of your efforts, and historic data makes it easy to see progress and trends. In the spirit of constant learning and growing, feel free to drop me a line in the comments with any new and exciting tactics and strategies that you have adopted.
For more help with infographics, check out our free Guide to Infographics: Getting the Most Out of Search Media.
Sharlene Boodram
Viral Media Coordinator at Slingshot SEOSharlene Boodram is Viral Media Coordinator at Slingshot SEO. View her rich media releases at http://theviralmedia.tumblr.com/. She is also an internationally-recognized recording artist. You can listen to her music at www.soundcloud.com/sharleneboodram.
@SharleneBoodram
Caribbean born singer/songwriter, with education in entertainment business. Passionate about international cultures & a dog lover with a social media addiction!#news How Valuable is a Social Media Audience, Really? – There are key market principles driving a social media audi… http://t.co/qnHUfSRq – 5 hours agoFollow @SharleneBoodram
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Latest posts by Sharlene Boodram (see all)
- Infographics 3.0 – The Next Generation of Rich Media – November 27, 2012
- A 5 Step Social Strategy That Converts – October 30, 2012
- Saving the Infographic: An Endangered SEO Tool with Marketing Benefits – February 2, 2012