Are Infographics Passé?

A new report suggests that infographics, a popular content format, are dying.

Although infographics have become extremely popular in recent years, they typically don’t help meet marketing goals, according to Clutch, company that operates a research, ratings and reviews platform for business services. Marketers should re-evaluate their reliance on infographics, Clutch contends.

“The age of infographics is dying, and most of them are quite bad,” Rand Fishkin, founder of SEO software company Moz, states in a Clutch news release. “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.”

A Clutch survey found that companies that seek brand awareness tend to create infographics (19%) and product reviews (18%), while those that focus on SEO and lead generation are most likely to produce research/original data (21%) and infographics (14%).

Infographics Said to Produce Poor Results

The company points to an earlier study by Moz and BuzzSumo that suggests infographics deliver poor results. The average level of shares for infographics is surprisingly low, according to their analysis of one million articles. Although the top 343 infographics had more than 10,000 shares, most performed poorly. Over half of infographics (53,000) had no external links and 25% garnered less than 10 shares in total.

“This may reflect a recent trend to turn everything into an infographic leading to many poor pieces of content,” writes Steve Rayson, BuzzSumo director in London.

Infographics had the fewest shares on average than other type of content, and the fewest backlinks on average than any other type except quizzes. At least quizzes tend to be shared frequently.

Different types of content produce different results, the study finds. Images, quizzes and videos tend to gain more shares and have the potential to go viral. However, they are far less likely to attract backlinks. Content that secures backlinks and earned media is geared toward information, such as research-oriented articles and opinion-based journalism.

Another View: Infographics are Thriving

Brian Wallace, founder and president of infographic design agency Nowsourcing, says infographics are thriving. “Content marketers should look at an infographic as a special event for super-premium content to use as part of their overall integrated marketing strategy,” Wallace told Muck Rack. “It should fit in with the cadence of their regular social, blog, webinar, email and tradeshow/event content.”

A Content Marketing Institute study last year found that the effectiveness rating for infographics in B2B content marking jumped more in one year than any other tactic — from 50 percent to 58 percent.

Resolving the Dispute

The differing conclusions seem to revolve around the quality of the infographic: High quality infographics perform reasonably well; uninformative, unimaginative infographics tank.

PR and marketing experts say producing quality infographics requires finding good data, meeting the audience’s preferences, and balancing numbers with text and visuals. Too many numbers can send readers into a daze. The best infographics show both strong images and revealing facts.

Infographics work best with information that highlights key points and presents a clear conclusion. “But, if you’re compiling numbers into a graphic, which don’t really relate, the infographic will lack purpose and confuse your readers,” warns Rachel Neppes of Buchanan Public Relations.

To succeed, an infographic needs to look interesting and fill the audience’s specific information need without overwhelming. Only a few achieve that tenuous balance. Therefore, only a few succeed.

Bottom Line: Some marketing experts say infographics usually produce poor results; others say they are an excellent content marketing tool. Either way, shrewd marketers will align content formats with their goals and audience preferences and strive to produce high-quality content rather than just following the latest marketing trends.