3 steps to brainstorm buzzworthy infographics

Infographics convey complex information visually and are easier to promote on social media than normal text.

That’s why infographics are “liked” and shared on social media three times more than any other type of content, according to Hubspot.

Here are three steps to help you brainstorm and create low-cost infographics:

1. Explore relevant data using Google. “While keeping target audience interests in mind, I like to first think about what publicly available data is out there that I can leverage,” says Britt Klontz, marketing team leader at Distilled.

She advises conducting Google searches using the following formulas to explore stats and data sets related to your audience and brand:

· <keyword> statistics

· <keyword> infographic

· <keyword> data

· <keyword> dataset

Once you’ve conducted a search, filter results by Google’s news filter to see what’s trending. In addition, filter results by the date in Google to see what’s most recent.

Register for PR Daily’s June 24 virtual summit “Amazing Infographics: New Techniques to Attract Audiences with Visuals” to add powerful visuals to your content program.

2. Think like a journalist to conceptualize hooks. Another way to brainstorm strong infographic topics is to ask yourself what’s surprising about the data you find.

“This is exactly the same type of question journalists ask themselves when coming up with stories,” Klontz says.

She also suggests creating a buzzworthy headline for your infographic before you produce it. Macy’s “Most Instagrammed Fashion Brands” infographic is an example.

“We looked into the brands with the most hashtags and followers on Instagram,” Klontz says. “We were shocked to discover they weren’t legendary fashion brands like Prada.”

Instead, they were brands like Nike. This spoke to millennials’ use of Instagram and the recent trend toward workout selfies.

Klontz pitched the resulting infographic to news outlets with a subject line that read, “Nike tops the list of most Instagrammed fashion designs.” Results included over 90 online placements, over 14,000 Facebook “likes” and coverage in The Huffington Post.

Click image to open interactive version (via m by macys).

3. Use free DIY tools. You don’t have to spend a lot of money researching and producing infographics if you know where to look for free or low-cost tools.

Infogr.am is one of Klont’z favorites. It offers free and paid infographic templates.

“I like it because it lets you easily create spreadsheets of data, so you don’t have to manually input data,” she says. “It also allows you to add customizable interactive elements so your infographics aren’t static.”

Klontz also recommends Canva’s Drag-and-Drop Infographic Creator.

“It’s a great resource for static infographics,” she says. “There are multiple free elements you can use, and premium elements run only one dollar each.”

Brian Pittman is a Ragan Communications consultant and webinar manager for PR Daily’s PR University. Infographics experts and communications execs Britt Klontz, Bob Zeni and Laura King-Homan will share more infographics tips in PR University’s June 24 virtual summit, “Amazing Infographics: New Techniques to Attract Audiences with Visuals.”

(Image via)

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