Unless you’ve been asleep for the last twelve months, you’ll know that the web has gone visual. And that marketing infographics sell!
According to the 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, 37% of marketers said visual marketing was the most important form of content for their business, second only to blogging (38%).
From images and photos to videos and live streaming, the written word seems to be losing its appeal, at least on its own. In fact, according to MassPlanner, marketing infographics are “liked” and shared on social media three times more often than other any other type of content.
Add an image and if that attracts us, then we might start by reading the headline and subtitles. Only then, if they all add to our curiosity, will we go back to the beginning and read the whole article.
You can no longer ignore images and videos in your content, so here are the best marketing infographics we’ve seen in the last twelve months or so. (Just click the image to see the infographic in full or the article which contains it)
Your 2017 Marketing To-Do List
Every list should have a list!
This one from IBM shows what every marketer needs to include on their to-do list this year. I thought that would make a great introduction to my own list of some of the best marketing infographics of 2016.
This list includes why each item should be on a marketers list, so provides useful statistics as well. Although the list may not be ground-breaking in its contents (stories, experiences, technology, content) it is a timely reminder of why we need to pay more attention to them.
6 Social Media Trends That Will Take Over 2017
This infographic was first shared in January 2017 on SproutSocial. As well as the image itself, the article provides a wealth of information on each of the six trends covered and highlights the actions marketers need to take to benefit from the changes coming this year. The six trends they cover are:
1 AI Lenses for Facebook & Instagram.
2 More Customer Service Chatbots.
3 Paid Content Continues to Reign.
4 Priority on Business Features & Analytics.
5 Move Away from Automation.
6 Social Shopping & Instant Purchases.
If any of these topics sound new to you or you are curious to learn more, then you should check out the infographic AND read the article. These six trends certainly sound valid to me, as do the reasons why they will become so important this year; what do you think?
The Top SEO Trends to Watch in 2017
I couldn’t talk about marketing and social media without also referring to SEO. It is after all, the primary requirement of great content that attracts and engages.
SEO saw numerous changes in 2016, including adapting to a mobile first indexing and the penalisation of popups, smarter search results from longer search phrases and a push for SSL and HTTPS-based websites.
As a result, 2017 is expected to be the year of user experience optimisation. There is likely to be an emphasis on load speeds and content density and “per word value” will become standards to measure the value of search results.
Top 8 Customer Experience Expectations for 2017
According to research from Walker, by the year 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. If it isn’t already a key element in your strategy, then your new year’s resolution has to be to start measuring and improving how your customers feel.
Oracle already showed us in their Customer Experience Impact (CEI) 2011 Report that 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience. (>>Tweet this<<) Things have certainly changed since then; I believe customers are even more demanding today so the figure is likely to be even higher! Can you afford to continue ignoring how they feel about the experience you are offering them?
How to Market to Each Generation on Social Media
It’s estimated that more than two billion people around the global have social media accounts. In addition, more than 90% of retail brands do too.
Social media marketing is valuable for both awareness and connecting companies with current and potential customers. However, it is vital to know and understand their preferences and habits.
Generations are getting shorter, at least in terms of marketing to them. According to Wikipedia, a generation is “all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively.” It can also be described as, “the average period, generally considered to be about thirty years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and begin to have children of their own.”
However, in recent years the term social generation is used to mean those with a similar life experience and as such, the group length in years is getting shorter:
- The Baby Boomers are the generation born following World War II, generally from 1946 to 1964, about 18 years.
- Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation following the baby boomers, born between the early-to-mid 1960s and the late 1970s to early 1980s, around 15 years.
- Millennials, or Generation Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X, from the mid-1990s to early 2000s, less than 10 years.
- Generation Z includes those born after the Millennials, born from the mid-1990s to early 2000s, while there is little consensus yet regarding ending birth years, so 10+ years.
Each group has had a very different childhood, particularly in developed markets, so there attitudes and behaviours are surprisingly different even between those with just a few years difference in age.
In other markets, there are of course some specifically named generations but are not part of a continuous flow as in developed markets. You can find out more about them HERE.
For marketers targeting them, it is, therefore, vital to both understand them and their social media preferences. This is why we included the infographic here, as it is a valuable source of information.
10 Laws of Social Media Marketing
Following on from the previous, more targeted information this marketing infographic highlights the ten essential elements of social media.
From the importance of listening and reciprocity to the must-have details such as quality and focus, these ten laws are sensible reminders for any business using social media to grow their brand and following.
Nine Small Steps to Making Customers Happy
Customer satisfaction has become one of the most important metrics to follow for a brand. This infographic gives nine ways you can make your customers happy and more importantly why you should.
As was mentioned above 86% of customers will happily pay more for superior service. Making and keeping them happy can be as simple as these small steps proposed here, but they can have a big impact on your customer satisfaction levels.
Try one or try them all!
The Ultimate Social Media Image Sizes Cheat Sheet for 2017
OK, so we know that social media cannot be ignored and that the visual element is as important as the headline.
This infographic is a great cheat-sheet to have at hand for every marketer – and creative too.
It shows the ideal size, placement and formats for each of the major social media chains in English speaking markets.
You can thank me with a share!
Get Serious About Customer Centricity
We’ve all been talking about customer centricity for years. And yet many organisations are still struggling to walk the talk.
What I particularly like about this infographic, is the breakdown of the benefits for the four areas of a company impacted the most by greater customer understanding. These are support, marketing, sales and innovation, although I believe that every part of a business will benefit from getting closer to the customer.
It also includes a number of relevant statistics on each area of the business and why we should care.
So there you have the very best marketing infographics of 2016. My criteria were usefulness and actionability for you the marketer through valuable information and statistics. No agency advertisements that just look pretty – although attractiveness certainly helped in grabbing my attention!
Let me know which your favourites are, or if you have one you’d like to add to the list, please add the link in the comments below, so everyone can enjoy.
The post Amazing Marketing Infographics You Won’t Want to Miss appeared first on c3centricity.
