Show, Don’t Tell: Why Infographics are
an Essential Component in Your Library Marketing
Super Library
Marketing: 2.10.2020 by Angela Hursh
Infographics are visual marketing pieces
that help explain facts and figures or lay out a complex set of information in
a way that is easy to understand. They’re an incredibly effective marketing
tactic.
Until recently, I thought infographics
were a relatively new marketing tactic. I remember deciding in 2013 to create
an infographic, the first for my library, to promote a readalikes list. I thought
I was so innovative!
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Turns out, infographics
have been around for hundreds of years. Fun fact: The first known instance of
infographics as we know them today dates to the late 1700s with a chart of
wheat process and labor wages.
Frankly, I love infographics. They
appeal to my visual and creative nature. They work well on social media. But
they take a lot of time and planning. So, for libraries with a limited
marketing staff, it can seem daunting to create one. But it’s worth it.
Why use infographics in library
marketing?
Infographics grab attention. Our brains
are hard wired for visuals. The human eye can process 36,000 visual messages
per hour. That’s 60,000 times faster than the brain can process text. 60,000
times. Whoa.
A good infographic will trigger a
reaction in the human brain, sometimes even before the person consciously
realizes and processes that reaction.
Think about what happens to you when you
see a photograph of a beloved family member or friend. The photo instantly
makes you cry, laugh, or long for that person to return to your life. An
infographic can trigger the same kind of emotional response. And emotional
responses are the best kind of marketing, because they are memorable.
Infographics can explain complex ideas
and convey a lot of information in a simple way that is accessible to many
audiences. Libraries deal with a lot of data. Our products and services are
sometimes difficult to break down into steps. A good infographic will take
facts and figures, difficult instructions, or confusing concepts and present
them in a way that everyone can understand.
Infographics will position your library
as an expert in a way that words can’t. A good visual will demonstrate your
library’s subject-matter expertise. It can boost your credibility. It shows
that you care about effective communication with your community. And that builds
trust with your visitors, community members, and stakeholders in a way that
feels more genuine that fancy words.
Three ways to use infographics in your
library marketing
➤ Promote your collection. Use
infographics to promote a themed collection series, such as new dystopian
fiction, the best book club reads, or mystery authors.
➤ You can recruit your collection
development department to come up with a list or, if your library is a NoveList
client, you can use the NoveList database to find books within a theme. Use the
infographic to drive traffic to those titles in your catalog. This works really
well on social media.
➤ Explain difficult information. Create an
infographic to help you explain something to your cardholders, like how to
download an eBook, how to pay a fine, how your library uses taxpayer funding,
or why summer reading is vital to childhood literacy.
Show that your library is fun! Have your
content team come up with a great idea for a fun promotion, like 20 signs that
you might be a bookworm or how to make a bookmark out of an old book. READ MORE ➤➤
Based
on 7 readability formulas:
Grade Level: 9
Reading Level: standard / average.
Reader's Age: 13-15 yrs. old
(Eighth and Ninth graders)
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