Visually interesting and informative elements like infographics can be a huge asset when trying to communicate data to your audience. In the past, we talked about how high quality infographics are 30 times more likely to be read than text articles, but interactive graphics can be just as effective as keeping visitors on your site for longer. But how can you create them?
I’ve mentioned ThingLink before as a great tool for fashion-focused brands, but with their expansion into more rich media tags, they’ve opened themselves up to be used by lots of other brands. All you need is a hi-res attractive image, and you can house lots and lots of links and data within it as mini popups that appear as a user mouses over them. You can include links to music, videos, photos, e-commerce sites and social accounts, giving readers all the information they need in just one pic.
Here’s an example designed for Home Depot. It’s a guide for growing vertical gardens, giving readers links to the brand’s social sites, along with how-to guides and links to buy the items needed.
This same image was posted on Facebook, and readers can interact with it there. It solves the problem of engagement while also giving readers something that is inherently shareable.
In addition to being shareable on social sites, ThingLink images can be housed on brand sites and blogs themselves (helping you increase the amount of time that readers spend on them).
How can a brand in your industry use ThingLink’s features to create interactive images your audience will respond to? Here are some ideas for various types of brands to get you thinking…
Home improvement brands
Use an image of a redesigned room readers can use as inspiration, including links to buy the products featured and instructional blog posts.
Automotive brands
Create a map detailing a summer road trip, including links to interesting roadside attractions and essential road trip playlists or songs.
Foodie brands
Use an image of a summer dish, using links to highlight the recipe, the ingredients used, and the tools any kitchen should have on-hand.
Fashion brands
Summer = music festivals. Use an image of concert-goers to give readers links to recreate looks, essential playlists, must-have gadgets to survive the heat and blog posts from experienced festival-goers.
