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Are infographics better than written articles?


Freddie Wassell - 22nd August 2017 - 0 comments

 

When thinking about how to deliver the point you want to convey in a way that will capture your audience’s attention, it’s perhaps wise to think about who that audience actually is. Nowadays, the chances are that they’re used to being able to access the information that they want whenever they want and in an instant. Chances are that they’ll be looking at it on a mobile. And chances are that if it doesn’t capture their attention in the first few seconds, they’ll move onto something else. With all that considered, infographics start to look like the most suitable piece of content for the job.

Graphics are proven to receive three times more engagement on average than plain text posts on social media, and in today’s landscape of Instagram timelines and ever-shortening attention spans, the visual rules all. The fact is that infographics are simply far more digestible than a load of text.

Infographics also provide an opportunity to stand out on first glance that written articles can’t match. A unique and eye-catching design can jump out at the observer in a much more immediate way than a written piece would ever be able to, and will get you noticed through being different. Personally, I save well-designed infographics for future inspiration or reference much more than I bookmark articles to look at again, which shows that they have a much more lasting effect.

Articles certainly have their place – in fact, long-form written pieces are taking increasing hold in what is almost a backlash against throwaway bitesize content, a celebration of the traditional over the unsettlingly modern – and there is often nothing better than a well-crafted piece of writing.

Ultimately it depends on what you are trying to achieve. If time is of the essence and you are keen to get your point across instantly to a lot of people, an infographic may be the best way to go. On the other hand, if you’re keen to tell a story and really engage your audience with a longer piece of work, a written article is often more relevant. The most sensible thing to do is perhaps to combine the two: an infographic embedded in an article is the best of both worlds and will keep your audience coming back to discover more.

 

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Freddie Wassell

Freddie is an Account Executive at Snack Media. Follow him on Twitter: @FredTJWassell

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