How to make an infographic video

Infographics have become a staple of academic and professional communication, assuming a strategic importance for organizations, especially in their digital version. Increasingly sophisticated data analysis techniques are able to interpret the huge amounts of data collected and produce useful insights for selected audiences. An issue of absolute importance is how to build and share content that aims to make the most of this data and insight, with the goal of creating the greatest possible impact. The video infographic succeeds in achieving this goal: it helps transform numbers into meaningful results, accompanying synthetic texts with images, graphs, and images in motion.

Before reviewing the steps for creating an infographic video let’s try to clarify its three aspects: infographics, data visualization, visual storytelling.

What is an infographic?

The term “infographic” comes from the fusion of “information” and “graphic”

According to the Oxford English Dictionary infographics are: “a visual representation of information or data, e.g. as a chart or diagram.”

But the meaning of an infographic is something much more articulated that is both broad and specific at the same time.

• Broad because an infographic is a collection of images that weaves data visualization elements (such as pie charts and bar graphs) and text into a single storyline, offering an easily understandable narrative of a topic.
• Specific because infographics often use stunning and interesting visual elements to communicate very complex information quickly and clearly.

The infographics that work best are those that work on two levels simultaneously:

• they capture our attention;
• they help us understand and remember a specific message.

Where infographics are born: data visualization

Infographics are part of the broader field of data visualization, which refers to the set of practices by which information (concerning phenomena, processes, mechanisms) is translated into a schematic representation using design conventions.

The result of data visualization is always an image, such as a map or a graph, which makes it easier to understand the data.

The main objective of data visualization is to provide a simplified model that conveys the trends or information present within large data sets.

Data visualization is implemented immediately after the data has been collected, processed, and modeled. The information must be visualized in order to draw the conclusions that will be published, disseminated, and offered to people.

Infographics are a particularly agile and convincing application of data visualization, proving useful not only in academic and research environments, but also in the business world, in any sector.

Why infographics are a good idea

Infographics are successfully used whenever it is necessary to translate phenomena or processes into an immediately understandable form. For example, when we want to:

• explain a complex process,
• visualize the results of research or survey data,
• summarize a post, report, or paper (long and information-intensive content),
• compare different alternatives of the same phenomenon,
• raise awareness about a given issue (a problem or cause).

In short: if there is a need to provide a quick overview of a topic that is otherwise difficult to explain with words alone, an infographic is an extremely effective way. For this reason, infographics are widely used in virtually any industry, and within the business functions that govern the relationship with customers – among all: marketing.

Marketing infographics: from data visualization to visual storytelling

Marketers were among the first to use infographics as part of their content strategies, and they did so more and more as digital tools became more widespread.

But this is not a recent development. The choice of a relatively simple visual medium to convey information and promotional messages – what we now call visual storytelling – was a crucial element in ancient times.

With a largely illiterate population, wall paintings, signs carved on the walls of buildings, on stone, on terracotta – “graphics” as we would say now – were the logical and immediate alternative for thousands of years.

So it should come as no surprise that today’s marketers are increasingly deciding to use infographics to increase brand awareness and audience engagement on topics that are important to the company.

By incorporating infographics, and video infographics in particular, into landing pages or the website homepage, into newsletters or visual posts on social channels, blog posts, white papers, or ebooks, marketers can:

• showcase the results of their initiatives,
• delve into aspects of company culture
• clarify the salient features of a new product or service,
• publicize training activities aimed at employees or selected target groups.

Video: The preferred content for marketers and consumers

The reality is that video is the content type of choice for both marketers and consumers. Just look at Wyzowl’s latest report, The State of Video Marketing 2021:

“When asked how marketing professionals and online consumers would most like to learn about a product or service, 69% said they’d prefer to watch a short video. This compares to 18% who’d rather read a text-based article, website or post, 4% who’d like to view an infographic, 3% who’d rather download an ebook or manual, 3% who’d rather attend a webinar or pitch, and 2% who’d like a sales call or demo.”

Video storytelling is able to capture the viewer and hold their attention longer because it diverts their limited attention resources from the verbal level to different modes of expression simultaneously (moving images, words, sounds, music). The degree of involvement, thanks to an experience perceived as more immersive, increases significantly.

In addition, from the end of the last century to today, increasingly sophisticated graphic software allows us to visualize the information contained in the data in a creative and accurate way. It also makes it possible to create increasingly personalized user profiles.

Why should you create video infographics?

In summary, as companies accumulate huge amounts of data as a result of the modernization of their technological infrastructure and widespread digitization, they increasingly need to quickly and easily obtain an overview of how their processes are working. From this point of view, visualization tools are practically mandatory.

While it’s true that static infographics can be very powerful, if you’re not an expert on the subject and don’t have the skills and time to decode all the images in front of you, you may have the feeling of coming up against a wall of cold, inert data. It may be difficult and even exhausting to piece together every bit of information in the hope of gaining insight into the general trends it shows.

Video infographics make it possible to reduce the risk of crushing the recipients under an avalanche of information that, however orderly, and precisely because of their massive and impending presence, could awe and discourage even the most willing observer.

Video infographics, by inserting data into a narrative structure, giving it a beginning and an end, a rhythm and a development, reorganize data into stories, into a form of communication that is deeply, intimately familiar to us.

Video infographics take the public on a journey through the data, reconstructing and clarifying step by step the phenomenon that is to be told. (In this sense, video infographics are an extremely interesting development of visual storytelling, a mode of communication that – we have told here – comes from far away).

Four steps to create an infographic video

We’ve said that communication professionals prefer video content to static content and use it on all channels, from email to websites and from social media to presentations.

Used as corporate or product video, in short-form or long-form, among all the different formats available, video infographics make it possible for the audience to acquire a type of extended and analytical knowledge that is suitable for the interaction expected in the new customer-centric paradigm of brand communication.

That’s why it’s crucial to create a video infographic that actually works. Here, we’ll identify the main steps.

1. Outline your goals and target audience

First, you need to figure out what you want to get out of your infographic videos. You need to be clear about your possible goals.

• Do you want your infographic video to help increase website visits?
• Do you want to use it for lead generation or to convert potential leads into customers?
• Do you need to increase engagementon social media or do you want to raise brand awareness by providing authoritative content?

Whatever your goal, it’s also imperative that you thoroughly understand the motivations and interests of the specific audience of your video.

2. Collect and analyze your data

Now that you have a good idea of who your target audience is and the kind of message you want to get across to each of them, you need to start working on your data. After organizing your information and analyzing key trends, results, and correlations, you’re ready to collect your data into four categories. The first two categories relate to the purpose of the research that produced it, the last two are based on the information source:

• Primary data: the result of research conducted to solve a specific problem or make a specific decision (interviews, surveys, focus groups, and company reports);
• Secondary data: produced for other purposes, but it may also be useful in making marketing decisions (industry reports, competitive content, and other third-party research)
• Internal data: this is data that is attributable to company functions or personnel
• External data: the data produced by institutions, individuals, and other companies independent of the company.

3. Plan and create a storyboard for your video

The planning of an infographic video consists of building a map that will show how the data story you want to tell begins, progresses, and ends.

At this stage, in addition to your video storyboard, which establishes the narrative arc scene by scene, the following elements will also be defined:

• the call-to-action, decided based on your objectives,
• the brand identity, i.e. the brand guidelines, such as colors, fonts, and styles,
• possible subtitles
• possible translations into multiple languages.

4. Produce and distribute your video

Now is the time to write the script and design the voice over that will accompany your video.

The script consists of two columns: the first contains the spoken word, which will be recorded at the beginning of this phase. The second column contains the visual, which is the description of what we will see on the screen. A good script should address all the key points of the subject matter and the viewer should be able to follow the information conveyed through the combination of words and moving images effortlessly – and with pleasure.

You don’t necessarily have to have a voiceover, but a spoken text that clarifies and reinforces what the images are conveying is always helpful, especially for the viewers.

At this stage, you will want to fill the structure we defined in the previous steps with expressive content. It is at this point that you can demonstrate your creativity, choosing the visual and sound aspect of your infographic video: images, graphics, animations, and music.

A word of advice: since the voiceover often determines the pace of the animations and provides a reference track, it’s best to record it before you start creating the video.

Now, all that’s left to do is to save the finished video in the most suitable file format for the platforms where you plan to distribute it (e.g. Vimeo, mp4, or YouTube) and then share it on your channels.

Creating infographic videos: choosing automated platforms

As you may have guessed, the production side of the business can be a challenge if you don’t have specific training and if you don’t master the right tools. To make up for the lack of an ad hoc team that is capable of handling video production, more and more companies are opting for automated video creation and distribution platforms.

These are solutions that, in their most evolved version, as in the case of the Babelee Video Automation Platform, make it possible to develop ad hoc videos that are tailored to the specific needs of the client and adapted to the characteristics of the individual recipient and his or her navigation choices.

With video infographics, the dimension of moving images is added to static infographics, creating the conditions for greater emotional participation of the viewer in the story. Video infographics are then configured as visual stories whose functioning is activated and fed by data. They are “data stories” that can concretely influence consumer decisions.