If there’s one thing that marketers get wrong about infographics, it’s that it’s all about the visuals. It’s a big part of it, of course. However, it’s effective only because the combination of engaging, well-written copy is complemented by creative visuals and informative, well-researched content.

Still, marketers—myself included—need a little guidance when it comes to crafting infographics. In my years in the industry, here are some of the best ones that I’d love to share with you:

1. Always keep your audience in mind when creating your infographic

We get so focused on the idea of creating beautiful visuals that we forget one important element when it comes to infographics—it has to be something that our audience wants.

Infographics that get the most shares and the most engagement — the ones that go viral and grow in popularity — don’t achieve all this simply because it looks pretty. It gets traction because it answers something specific for a targeted audience. To that end, it means you created something relevant and informative for your chosen readers.

2. Don’t overcomplicate things

Resist the temptation to add everything that you could possibly think of in your infographic. The whole point of an infographic is to compress information into an easily digestible visual form.

Like a lot of things in marketing, infographics are better when they are kept simple. If you notice that your page is peppered with too much text, if it’s looking cluttered because of all the graphics, consider taking another look and whittling everything down into something more streamlined.

3. Don’t lose focus

Infographics are not just about a visual representation of cool facts and statistics. Numbers are great of course, but it’s nothing without context. Be sure to focus your infographic on a single topic.

4. Remember that infographics are meant to be visual

While some marketers tend to focus too much on the visual part of infographics, others tend to put too much attention on the content—completely overlooking the fact that infographics are meant to be visual.

For an infographic to work, it must have visually appealing graphics to go along with it. Don’t just state your statistics, illustrate to have one cohesive and informative flow.

5. Don’t forget to back your efforts with promotion and marketing

Infographics don’t become popular without a little help from marketing. If you want people to see your infographic, make an effort to promote it. Treat it as you would any other piece of content you develop. Post on your social media platforms, link it to your blogs, and share it with your network.

6. Make sure it’s easy to view

Marketers make this all too common mistake. They do everything right, create their infographic following best practices, but forget to resize the infographic when they finally share it. This means your infographic takes ages to load and will, most likely, put off any potential readers.

Did I miss anything? If you’d like to share any tips on how to create great infographics, feel free to leave me a message below. You can also reach out to me to discuss how we can use infographics to boost your online marketing strategy.