For today’s Social Media Tip of the Week [which I write on Thursdays for AdBuzz] I discussed a really cool, free online tool that helps you create infographics called infogr.am.

But the actual idea of using infographics is a bit alien to most of us if we don’t have a design program at our fingertips.  Many of you are strategists or social prodigies who are bursting with ideas and analytical data to share but you don’t have the tools to convey this in a reader-friendly, eye-catching way.  Just knowing that there are lots of tools out there to help you do the job is great.

However, the next step to generating your infographic is to come up with a catchy, relevant topic.

Here are five surefire topics to use for your next infographic:

1. The mass-appeal: We all know everyone eats McDonald’s on a rare occasion (maybe more frequent for me) but did you know that you will eat about 50 pounds of McDonald’s in your lifetime?  I made that up – that number isn’t real, but it would still sound interesting to the over 1 billion served.
2. The unbelievable fact: Did you know that shark populations have dropped in oceans by 98% due to shark finning but the process is still legal in 90% of Europe’s… etc.  An outrageous comparison is an attention grabber that when applied visually, is an instant draw.
3. The countless numbers: When TheTotalProfit released this remarkable video about where the world is headed in social, they brought infographics to a whole new level.  Specifically, seen at 1:07 minutes, the fact that Facebook would have been the size of the world’s 3rd largest country was made that much more vivid with their visual, rather than just listing the number of users on Facebook.
4. The social good: Not for profits or the social good side of the business are a great place for infographics.  Back to the shark finning example above, intriguing visuals will pull in your audience and keep them interested in your topic.
5. The stone unturned: Tackling the unknown is hard to do.  Who knows what will be the next big thing in 3, 6, or 9 months? But going further and researching to the next level to come up with data to support your idea will help you pioneer the online space with your thinking.  For example, how many people will be using the NEST Apple Thermostat over the next year?

You can follow @MelanieReiff on Twitter or read her Ad Buzz column on Thursdays.