Is This The Future of Infographics?

You've probably noticed a massive shift in the online world from text-based content to visual content.

There's no denying the power that visuals have on the Internet, as well as in our everyday lives. YouTube and Instagram dominate the visual landscape, with YouTube the 3rd most visited site on the web and Instagram boasting about 80 million photos shared everyday.

Blog posts and articles are 80% more “consumable” when they have a colorful image, header, or thumbnail, and people will only spend about 15 seconds on a website if a visual doesn't catch their attention first.

And infographics, the favorite among audiences and marketers alike, have been searched for 800% more today than in 2012.

Image Source

On top of all that, content is being created at an alarming rate – 60% of marketers create at least one piece of new content each and every day!

As more and more people begin creating, one thing becomes clear: To be seen, you have to stand out.

Naturally, content marketers are already looking to the future of visual content, seeing what they can play with now, what they can implement, and what new technologies are just on the horizon. This forward thinking is what can make or break your content marketing efforts; you have to adapt or you'll be drowned out.

With visual content like infographics, marketers have the unique position of seeing the future as it approaches. Businesses, graphic designers, and marketers are all starting to play with infographics – update them to make them even more appealing to audiences. Even if you “just got the hang of” regular infographics, it's never too early to see which trends are starting to develop, nor is it too early to learn how to implement them in your own content marketing strategies.

If you want to get a glimpse into the future, and maybe even learn a few tricks before everyone else jumps on the bandwagon, now is the time!

Here are three types of infographics that are going to be most common in the (very near) future.

If you're looking for a great tool for creating infographics, I recommend checking out Visme. They offer a free account to get you started and have some amazing features for non-designers. Get your free account now.

1. Interactive Infographics

While we've seen the beauty of interactive websites and user-friendly games, interactive infographics are still fairly new on the block. As infographics, they obviously contain some sort of information and are visually dynamic, but throwing the interactive element allows users to connect with the information and make it their own.

Regardless of your business, product, service, or message, you can create an interactive infographic that allows people to evaluate themselves (like the “Calculate your own BMI here” link in the image below). Users can also click on relevant information that sends them to more in-depth sources or back to your landing page, thus generating traffic. This is a highly adaptable and fun way to engage your audience.

A number of marketers have already adapted to this style of infographic, and it's catching on quickly. But while other people have focused on simple interactions:

See the full interactive infogaphic here.

….think about what else you could do with an interactive infographic.

You might try:

• Including scroll-over tactics that make images or figures stand out larger than the background


• Building in “pop-ups” that expand sections of text


• Connecting images or statistics when they get clicked on


• Making your infographic into multiple pages that users can click through

For a great example of an interactive infographic, check out this one:

To make an infographic highly interactive (with scroll-overs, pop-ups, etc.) you will need to learn a little bit of coding in HTML5 or CSS, or hire someone else to manage that aspect of it for you.

Despite that additional effort, you'll be rewarded with a unique, engaging, and effective piece of content.

Why should you try to incorporate interactive infographics in the near future?

• It encourages your audience to engage with and share your content


• It generates traffic (through links)


• It proves to your audience that you are innovative, resourceful, and intent on providing content that is relevant and intriguing


• There are levels of interactive infographics, which make this a manageable progression of resources and effort

2. Embedded video and GIFs

This is another type of infographic we are seeing more and more today. Infographics that possess short video clips or even GIFs (which means Graphics Interchange Format) are a great way to attract attention and to separate your infographic from the crowd. While it limits the platforms you can currently share your infographic on, it makes up for it in ROI.

A number of simple infographic creation tools, like Easel.ly, offer an “Embed video from YouTube” option, or you can add video to an infographic you create in Photoshop with a video layer. You can even add video to a Powerpoint slide, which you can design into an infographic.

You can also find virtually millions of GIFs and insert them in a similar fashion. The key here is that you now have to share your infographic as a URL, or make sure it is properly embedded into your website. You can't save or share these infographics as .jpeg or PDFs.

Undoubtedly, as this becomes more popular, other tools will pop up allowing video and GIF insertion to be an even easier process. But if you'd like to use this style of infographic before everyone and their dog has the ability to do so, start now with the tools that are already out there.

If you want to take it to the next level, though, you can even make a video out of an infographic you already have. This is a great way to get seen on YouTube, Instagram, and even other video platforms like Vimeo, Snapchat, and more. The video below is a great example of how to turn your infographic into a video.

Why should you embed video or GIFs into your infographics?

• It gives you the element of surprise – people don't expect images to move!


• It is highly entertaining and novel, which increases the odds that people will interact and share your infographic


• It's a great way to establish brand identity

3. Animated Infographics

Animated infographics have an extreme amount of visual appeal and demand a lot of attention. When a user is viewing an image, they don't usually expect it to move – this is the beauty of learning these techniques before everyone else does.

While animated infographics are slightly more complex, and may require some graphic design, coding, and/or editing software knowledge, they are highly valuable.

Here is an example of what I am talking about:

 

If you'd like to learn exactly how to make animated infographics, check out this infographic from Tabletop Whale. You can also find a graphic design service that caters to this type of creation. Either way, this is one of the most involved processes in the evolution of infographics.

Why should you invest your time, energy, and/or money into creating animated infographics?

• This is going to truly set you apart from the crowd because not everyone has access to this sort of software or content


• It will be commonplace in just a few years – you want a head start!


• The animation will make the information within the infographic more memorable


• It will encourage your audience to engage with your Call to Action

This isn't science fiction

While this may all sound fairly technical and maybe even out of your range of abilities right now, odds are that these types of infographics are going to be commonplace in barely 2 to 3 years from now. We're already seeing a massive push towards animated and GIF-style infographics, especially as the popularity of GIFs continues to rise.

Infographics are becoming one of the most consumable and most created types of content on the Web right now. Why? Because it only takes about 250 milliseconds for a brain to process and assign value to an image or symbol.

If the average person spends about 15 seconds on a website before getting bored, it stands to reason that you'll want to pull out all the stops to make them stay – or at least get the message across in 15 seconds or less. Some studies even find that humans have 8 second attention spans, and it's decreasing every year.

This is the reason for, and possibly a byproduct of, our consistent need to consume content. We are in the Age of Information, and we have everything accessible to us. But that also means, as more people try to share their message and to answer as many questions as possible, that most of the content produced is becoming background noise.

If the direction of infographics today is any indication, they will soon be everywhere. This means that your job is to innovate. No marketing campaign in history has succeeded by doing the same thing forever.

The idea here is to see infographics as more than just a .jpeg image. They can be adapted to many different mediums and used on a variety of platforms. Entrepreneurs and marketers are already starting to see the potential here. Do you?

Guest Author: Latasha Doyle, discusses all things “infographic” on Easel.ly's blog. If you are looking for more information on creating infographics, you can also check out Easel.ly's free ebook, “Infographic Crash Course.”

If you're looking for a great tool for creating infographics, I recommend checking out Visme. They offer a free account to get you started and have some amazing features for non-designers. Get your free account now.

The post Is This The Future of Infographics? appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

from Jeffbullas's Blog http://ift.tt/2fg5QKX

rgh–

Make Money Online posting articles, videos like this
Is This The Future of Infographics?

How To Make Complete Strangers Fall in Love With Your Blog

Whether you're having a face-to-face meeting with prospective clients, or trying to market your brand with blog content, first impressions count.

In fact, in the digital world brands often don't get a second chance, because online consumers have short attention spans and they're already bombarded with hundreds of blog posts, emails, social media posts and advertisements every day.

According to research published in Psychological Science, it takes an average person a tenth of a second to form an impression about a stranger based on appearance and looks.

However, as a blogger, it's not just about making a strong first impression. Keeping your readers engaged and converting them into subscribers and customers is equally important.

Which is why, the moment a new visitor comes to your blog, you need to take them from one level of excitement to another.

Sounds difficult right? Let me simplify this for you.

Here are a few ways you can make complete strangers immediately fall in love with your blog and come to you every time they need help.

1. Make a strong first impression with powerful branding

Excuse me for using this word repeatedly, but first impressions are just so important.

What's the first thing that shapes your blog's perception when a stranger lands on your homepage?

Your website design, logo, the color theme – in short, the look and feel of your blog.

According to Reboot Online, 65% of people are primarily visual learners who perceive things by looks before exploring them any further.

So make sure your blog has a modern outlook and is compatible across different devices and platforms. You can use a premium responsive WordPress theme or hire a freelance designer from UpWork or 99Designs (especially for logo design) to get started.

Here's what a good, clean and professional design looks like.

“But Jawad, why should I listen to you? Seth Godin, Google and so many other influencers and brands have ugly blogs and they still get millions of readers”.

I know that voice in your head.

Seth Godin is a well-known celebrity author and an authority marketer. He doesn't need a good looking blog to make an impression on his followers. They already know what he has to offer.

You're no Seth Godin and in this post, I'm talking about making an impression on complete strangers not people who already know you.

But one thing that shapes your brand image, even before a visitor looks at your design, is your domain name. If you're trying to build a long-term business, choose a URL that resonates with your brand name.

You can use this really useful business name generator tool by FreshBooks or go through different domains listed on a branded domain marketplace to find ideas for your URL.

An ugly design can quickly turn away visitors from your blog, even before they hear what you have to say.

Here are some fabulous blog designs to give you more inspiration.

2. Offer premium content for free to win people over

Do you know the secret to winning the hearts of your readers?

Let me say this loud and clear: offer unbelievably useful content for free.

Yes, I said free.

And I'm not talking about good content. I'm talking about insanely useful and jaw dropping content.

“Why the hell would I do that?”

Because doing that even once can give you dozens, if not even hundreds of loyal subscribers.

Your content can be an eBook, a video series, a blog post, a knowledge base or anything useful really.

Shopify is a brilliant example to follow.

They not only create mind blowing blog content regularly, they've set up a huge encyclopedia for small businesses which contains everything a small business owner needs to know about doing business online.

Neil Patel, another great example, creates 5000-6000 word blog posts every other day. Every one of his blog posts can be sold as a premium eBook, but he gives them away for free.

Why wouldn't people love him for doing this?

But just because a piece of content has 5000-6000 words doesn't mean it has quality as well. As a blogging consultant, I regularly see business blogs with really in-depth blog posts that fail to generate any engagement.

Why? Because they write about the wrong things.

You can't write a billion words praising your own products and expect people to take you seriously. Blogging isn't about directly promoting your own products or business.

It's about solving the problems of your ideal customers and offering them free actionable advice.

Here's a really good example of a conventional business, a medical supplies company to be exact, using its blog the right way.

Image Source: Vive Health

Instead of writing about their products, they're blogging about the problems of their ideal customers and offering free solutions in their content.

If this piece of content helps a blood pressure patient find relief, guess the first company they'll contact when they need medical supplies or instruments?

That's how you win people with great content.

3. Win the trust of your readers with social proof

You land on the blog of a digital marketing consultant and the first thing you notice of their blog is the “Featured In” section that mentions names like HubSpot, MarketingProfs, Search Engine Journal and Moz.

What's your first impression?

Must be an expert, right?

That's what social proof does to your blog visitors.

Even if they've never heard your name before, a testimonial from a leading industry figure or a publication will force them to take you seriously. They'd assume you're an expert and give your content much more respect.

You'll find this strategy in action on almost every influencer's blog (including Jeff).

If you look closely, however, you'll notice another subtle social proof used on Jeff's blog

16 million readers! What else does a stranger need to take him seriously?

There are several ways to get your name on other authority sites.

The most common, and the most effective one, is guest blogging. Simply identify the top blogs in your niche, study their content style, create an epic blog post and offer it to your target blogs for free.

Easy, right? Not really.

Top-tier blogs receive hundreds of guest post pitches every single day, but they accept only the best ones. So to make it through to their editorial calendar, you need to create a high quality article – which of course requires a lot of time and effort.

An alternate approach is to connect with influential bloggers who are already writing for these authority sites and ask them to feature you in their articles. You can do this on platforms like Get Reviewed, which connects advertisers with influential bloggers.

MyBlogU and HARO are also great platforms to connect with brands and influencers who can help you feature on the top blogs and get the word out about your brand.

4. Create more infographics and video content to differentiate yourself

More than 2 million blog posts are published on the web every day.

You're not competing with all of them, of course, but that still gives you an idea of the amount of content, mostly useless, being published on the web.

So even if your blog post has lots of value, a random visitor might never read that far to find the hidden gems in your content.

Which is why you need to use more visual content to get noticed and get your message across quicker.

Research shows that content with visual gets almost 95% more views.

Infographics and videos, however, are two visual content forms that not only receive the highest engagement but also go viral more frequently than plain text based posts. However, creating viral infographics and videos is a science that involves lots of different factors. Thankfully, though, with so many free design tools like Canva, Visme etc. creating a high quality infographic isn't very difficult.

The same, however, can't be said about video content which still requires significantly more time, budget and effort.

But even if you don't have a large budget, even simple smartphone videos are good enough as long as you have something valuable to say.

In short, visual content could immediately put you ahead of your competitors and help you make a stronger impression on your audience.

5. Grow your own Facebook Group to create brand advocates

Ever since Facebook changed its algorithms and limited the organic reach of Facebook Pages, marketers have started focusing more on starting and growing their own Facebook Groups.

According to the recently released Facebook community updates, more than 1 billion people are now using Facebook Groups every month.

This approach has several advantages.

• You can create a Facebook group and use it to position yourself as an expert.


• You have complete control over the content and discussions in the group.


• There's no limit on the organic reach of your posts – all group members see them.


• You get a much better opportunity to directly engage with your readers, answer their questions and convert them into loyal followers.

But above all, a Facebook Group is a great place to build a tribe of raving fans for your brand. They're the brand advocates who will spread the word about your content and bring in more people to your Facebook Group and blog.

According to research, more than 82% of Americans seek recommendations from friends and family when making a purchase, making referrals and word of mouth one of the most influential forms of marketing.

The referral traffic generated from your Facebook Group already considers you an expert so there's a much higher probability of them taking action after reading your blog content.

You should also make a conscious effort to promote your Facebook Group on your blog. This will allow you to route the visitors coming from search engines to your group and engage them more regularly.

And, of course, a thriving Facebook Group adds to the social proof of your brand (which I mentioned earlier in the post).

Managing a Facebook Group requires time and effort so you'd need to use different social media automation tools to minimize manual work as much as possible.

Wrapping up

With so many new blogs popping up on the web every day, your target users are already overwhelmed with the content that's being thrown at them from every angle.

To stand any chance of catching their eyeballs, you need to convert your blog into a strong brand that not only contains supreme quality content, but also looks pleasing to the eye and is backed by tons of social proof.

That's the only way to stand out in this overcrowded blogosphere.

Guest Author: Jawad Khan is a content marketing consultant, a certified inbound marketer and a freelance blogger for hire. You can follow him on his blog, WritingMyDestiny and Twitter.

The post How To Make Complete Strangers Fall in Love With Your Blog appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

from Jeffbullas's Blog http://ift.tt/2enHZtS

rgh–

Make Money Online posting articles, videos like this
How To Make Complete Strangers Fall in Love With Your Blog

How Can I Help You Get More Customers?

The 2017 Media Kit from Jay Baer and Convince & Convert Media has been released with robust options for partnerships with companies and brands.

       

How Can I Help You Get More Customers?

from Convince and Convert Blog: Social Media Strategy and Social Media Consulting http://ift.tt/2fetaJr

via
rgh–

7 Smart Ways to Start Using Facebook Live for Your Business

Facebook Live's video streams engage your audience in ways pre-recorded content can't match. Here's how to add it to your social strategy.

       

7 Smart Ways to Start Using Facebook Live for Your Business

from Convince and Convert Blog: Social Media Strategy and Social Media Consulting http://ift.tt/2faH13d

via
rgh–

Holiday Marketing: Here's How Shopify Plans All Its Holiday Content (and You Can Too!) – Casandra Campbell [SSM014]

What does it take to put a great holiday marketing strategy into place?

Whether you're looking to increase sales this holiday season or simply create fun and engaging content online, it all starts with having a strategy in place with what you would like to accomplish and why.

We had the privilege of speaking with Shopify Content Marketing Lead and Managing Editor Casandra Campbell about the specific ways her team approaches holiday marketing and how they strategically help their huge community of businesses – both big and small – find success with content and sales online.

A huge thank you to Casandra for packing this episode with great insights and actionable takeaways for social media managers and marketers looking to implement a holiday marketing strategy that engages customers online and increases sales.

How to listen: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS

This episode is available on:

• iTunes


• Google Play


• Stitcher


• Sound Cloud

In this episode, here's what you'll learn:

Casandra Campbell shares her unique approach to how her team at Shopify creates and implements a successful holiday marketing strategy year after year – and how you can too! You'll also learn some more great things like:

• How early Shopify starts planning for the holiday season


• The importance of exclusivity and social proof during the holiday season


• How retargeting and remarketing are full-proof strategies to convert customers


• The importance of customer service before and after the holidays


• How to get people to hit “purchase” and not abandon their carts

3 Takeaways for Marketers Looking to Create a Solid Holiday Marketing Strategy

In Casandra's Words…

1. Make sure to really market your promotions

If you're running any kind of promotion – make sure you tell people! It's always so sad when a company has a great deal and they just forgot to spread the word. Email your customers, share it on social and in any relevant communities. Make sure people know.

2. Don't ignore customer service

Don't ignore customer service, it's incredibly important. It can really make or break your business and so make sure that you're providing a really great experience. That will keep people coming back after the holidays

3. Keep in touch

As much as possible, look for ways to keep in touch with those people that have purchased your product or not. Whether it's capturing email addresses or retargeting – just make sure that you're thinking about the next step as well. It could be upselling or abandoned carts or the next purchase.

Mentionable Quotes and Shareable Snippets

In Casandra's Words…

“Any kind of social proof that you can include that shows that other people have purchased the product and other people have loved it, that can be very powerful as well. On a conscious level, we all think we won't be swayed by that, but we really are.”

Show Notes and Other Memorable Moments

Thanks a million for checking out this episode! Below are the websites and other tidbits that were mentioned in today's podcast about personal branding on social media. If you have any questions for us, feel free to drop us a line in the comments and we'll respond right away!

Other Great Quotes from the Show

• “We really start thinking about holiday marketing towards the end of the summer and the fall. Figuring out what gaps we need to fill, how we can support our merchants, and the initiatives we have coming up.”


• “Social media is probably still the best way to be talking to your community and talking to your audience. So whatever you have planned for the holidays it's a great way to spread the word and help them.”


• “I see a spike in keyword searches around the holidays and in many cases it's the same keywords we see throughout the year. But it can be really hard to rank for those keywords in such a short period of time and so it's super important to start early in your content process.”


• “We see shipping as a huge barrier. One of the best things you can do is figure out at which price point you can offer free shipping.”


• “Exclusivity always works really well in driving clicks… When people know they're not going to be able to get it late that can be really powerful.”

How to Say Hello to Casandra (and us)

Casandra Campbell is super active on Twitter and would love to say “hello” at Casandra_Camp and you can read more about Casandra at casandracampbell.com (Minimalist Marketing)

Thanks for listening! We'd love to connect with you at @buffer on Twitter or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It'd mean the world to us if you'd be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!

-

About the Show

The Science of Social Media is a podcast for marketers and social media managers looking for inspiration, ideas, and results for their social media strategies. Each week, we interview one of the very best in social media marketing from brands in every industry. You will learn the latest tactics on social media, the best tools to use, the smartest workflows, and the best goal-setting advice. It is our hope that each episode you'll find one or two gems to use with your social media marketing!

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.

from Social http://ift.tt/2fe4leX

rgh–

Make Money Online posting articles, videos like this
Holiday Marketing: Here's How Shopify Plans All Its Holiday Content (and You Can Too!) – Casandra Campbell [SSM014]