Why do infographics fail?

What is an infographic?

Visualization has been used to interpret and present data for millennia, as evidenced by the stone carvings at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. People have long known that using graphics or other visual aids facilitate comprehension and retention of information provided.

But how can we best present such data for marketing and communication purposes? What makes a great infographic? Some time ago, I noted:

“The question is, can viewers see the overall shape of the data more easily and quickly with infographics than any other visual aid? Most infographics fail this acid test.“

Type 1: Datagraphic

When presenting data, illustrating it with a graphic helps most readers grasp things quicker. I am sure you have used them in business presentations:

• pie charts,
• line & bar graphs, and
• a ratio with a description next to it (e.g., Twitter vs. Facebook).

The basics

Below are six basic issues you need to address before designing and producing your infographics. If you do not want to miss the next installment of tips for better infographics, register with your email.

1. Never waste ink

Always remember the KISS principle, or Keep it simple, Stupid! This is about more than just making your images beautiful – unless your picture is really worth a 1,000 words, it may confuse more than it clarifies.

The more time people need to figure things out, the less likely they will be to share your infographic.

2. Context matters

What is your topic, business or mountain climbing? Clearly the latter will benefit from embedding one or two nice pictures in the infographic.

Telling me that 80 percent of female blog readers are influenced by the content they read when making a purchase is even more interesting. However, pointing out that 48 percent of all US or French women are influenced by blog content when making a food or beauty purchase puts this into a larger context, helping the reader to grasp the significance faster.

3. Determine your target

Are you interested in reaching teenagers or older people with your infographic? Can the latter easily read your material or do they have to use a magnifying glass or stand on their head to get the message? Will they be willing to take two minutes to understand your infographic?

4. Usability over design

Does your infographic appeal to your target audience? First impressions matter.

A dark black background is probably not ideal and strains the eyes. Make it appealing and easy to find your way – great design alone will not convey the message.

By the way, DO listen do your graphic designer, but remember their preferences may not necessarily be your target audience’s!

5. Avoid resizing

Pinterest resizes anything beyond 554 pixels and going beyond 500 pixels is diffcult with most blogs. Worse, a resized infographic may sacrifice quality – and when the visual is everything, you definitely want to avoid compromising it in any way.

Ensure your graphic is no bigger than 475 pixels wide, thereby including side margins as part of the infographic without exceeding about 520 pixels, allowing more people to pin it or embed it on their own site.

Careful, do not go smaller than 300 pixels! Fewer people will share it on Flickr or Pinterest for no other reason than it will not look good.

6. How much scrolling?

Some suggest an image should be no ‘longer’ than 5,000 pixels, but I try to stay under 3,000 (about three pages). Too much scrolling limits the chances of someone taking the time to re-post on a blog or pin it on Pinterest.

7. Remember keywords

Use keywords to title your infographic, and ensure your URL and description also include them. A link such as http://ranking.DrKPI.ch/2012-08-08-.png will not do as well as http://ROI.DrKPI.ch/12-infographic-01-beauty-blogs.

Bottom line

On principle, a graph must quickly convey complex information so we can easily understand it. Experts agree that over 80 percent of business data analysis can be done using simple graphing techniques, however the current infographics craze might lead one to conclude exactly the opposite. Namely, that 80 percent of data analysis requires complex graphing to communicate core information.

Sometimes, instead of following the more effective KISS principle, a good idea is made into a convoluted waste of ink. As our guest blogger Carla Gentry stated last week, “Think first, collect second.”

A question for YOU

What is your experience with infographics? Which ones do you like – list your favorite one in a comment below. The person with the link to the best infographic gets a free copy of my latest book. Please leave a comment and a URL to your favorite infographic!

Tip: Search for more ComMetrics and CyTRAP sources on ROI, KPIs, benchmarks and measurement of social networking efforts (click to query).

The author: This post was written by social media marketing and strategy expert Urs E. Gattiker, who also writes about issues that connect social media with compliance, and thrives on the challenge of measuring how it all affects your bottom line.
His latest book, Social Media Audit: Measure for Impact, is scheduled to appear from Springer Science Publishers in late summer, 2012.
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Tagged as: data visualization, infographic, KPI, measurement, media metrics, ROI, sCRM, SEO marketing, social media benchmark, social media best practice, social media marketing, social media measurement, ultimate guide