Technology PR relies heavily on the trusty text-based press release but the rise of social, mobile and digital communication is changing this. The challenge is to convey data heavy information in an exciting and accessible way that encourages sharing and discussion. Enter the infographic.
Why use Infographics in Technology PR?
A picture is worth a thousand words. A well designed infographic illustrates complex ideas and concepts quickly and effectively, conveying your message with elegance and efficiency. Microsoft’s visualization beautifully presents the future needs of STEM, encapsulating the issues and selling the message.
Just look at the amount of data included in this Intel infographic. What Happens in an Internet Minute
Both traditional press and online media are hungry for visual content and according to this research from PR Newswire press releases with multimedia content are 77% more effective.
By adding infographics to your Technology PR arsenal you open up a range of extra sharing opportunities on Pinterest, Tumblr, Stumbleupon and Flickr as well as the sites and directories that showcase data visualisations like http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/ and http://www.visual.ly
Infographics are great for SEO as they produce a lot of link juice. Add relevant keywords to your alt text and image descriptions or captions and make sure you provide embed code to make sharing easy. This will encourage a lot of inbound links from relevant blogs and social sites.
Not everyone can produce infographics. An original graphic may cost time and money to create but the production values will not be lost on your clients and colleagues. This helps to build trust in your brand and expertise.
As an infographic your message is clearly branded with logos, colour palette, typography and house style visible as this example from Sony illustrates.
This is the age of the infographic. As smartphones and tablets proliferate, mobile friendly infographics are growing in popularlity.
If you are still not convinced about the benefits of infographics for technology PR, perhaps this infographic on infographics will persuade you.
