Infographics: Dead—or still a useful tool for communicators?
Some say the impact of the infographic is weakening and urge brand managers to look at other forms of content. Not so fast.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, are reports of the death of infographics greatly exaggerated?
In a Clutch news release, Rand Fishkin, founder of SEO software organization Moz, practically delivers a eulogy for infographics:
“The age of infographics is dying, and most of them are quite bad,” Fishkin is quoted as saying. “The ones that have success do so in a slightly manipulative way. The embed gets linked back with very particular anchor texts that take advantage of search algorithms.”
The Clutch report cites a study by Moz and Buzzsumo, provider of a content discovery tool, that makes the case for content marketers to re-evaluate their dependence on infographics. Why? Because content that garners social shares typically is geared toward entertainment—listicles, videos, quizzes—whereas content that secures backlinks and earned media is geared toward information, such as research-oriented articles and opinion-based journalism, the study says.
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