16 Ways to Promote Your Infographics

Infographics have become one of the most popular ways to share large amounts of information in an easy to understand format. When done properly they are visually pleasing, interesting, and useful. One of the best ways to repurpose popular content is to design a new infographic using the information. Once the infographic is ready to publish, use some of the following techniques to promote your infographics and ensure as many people as possible can benefit from it.

Locate the Right Influencers

Think about the most important aspect of the infographic and who would benefit from the information. Look for social media influencers in this niche. Reach out to them via email or social media with a link to the infographic and why you think it might be of interest to them and their followers.

Influencers have received a great deal of press in niches such as beauty and food but there are relevant and active influencers in every field. Finding a big name that is in a completely different area will not provide the desired results since it does not place the infographic in front of those who will truly be interested in what it has to say. Ensure the influencer(s) chosen align with the message of the infographic and the intended marketing goals. Even if their realm of influence is not as extensive as some of the bigger names, they still have access to new people and their extended social networks, which can greatly improve the impact of your infographic.

Promote Your Infographics on Pinterest

Pinterest is one of the most obvious locations for sharing an image like an infographic. Pinterest is formatted to showcase gorgeous images, so it makes perfect sense to start there. It is a visual search engine designed for social sharing. Make sure the design is impeccable and the pin is clear and crisp.

To ensure it is found when people are searching for the topic, it is vital to write the description with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. Unlike many other social media platforms that rely on hashtags, Pinterest is primarily a search engine and content written for it should reflect this. A string of keywords may be tempting but thoughtfully written text will be far more effective.

Pinterest is also one of the few places the infographic will be visible in its entirety. Make sure the company name and website are clearly identified at the top of the infographic to help people identify who provided the content.

Get Creative With Your Infographic on Instagram

Instagram requires a different promotional approach for infographics because the format is more limited. It is possible to address this in several ways. You can create a cover image the shows only part of the infographic to be promoted on Instagram, create a video that shows the entire thing, or use SlideShare to break the infographic down into individual components.

Instagram is a site that relies heavily on hashtags to help people locate images and accounts of interest to them. Once the image is posted with a brief description and one or two hashtags, use numerous hashtags in the first comment of the image to take advantage of the most popular and relevant hashtags without cluttering up the description.

You can also tag individuals or companies that have been mentioned or quoted in the infographic. Alternatively, you may want to tag influencers or accounts who may have inspired the development of the piece.

Share Your Infographic on Facebook

Facebook has a wide variety of dimensional requirements depending upon how the image will be used. Having a cheat sheet for social media image dimensions will be useful for promotional purposes and will make it much easier to create an image that can be easily viewed and shared on Facebook.

It will usually be necessary to create a thumbnail image of the infographic with a link back to the original image. Alternatively, a cover image can be displayed or the infographic can be cropped to only show the heading or a specific portion that will make people want to see the full image.

It can be more difficult to ensure followers see content posted on Facebook due to the nearly constant changes in the news feed algorithm. One option is to create a Facebook ad and carefully select the targeting options to ensure the infographic is put in front of users who are most likely to find it interesting.

Link Back to Your Infographic on Twitter

Posting to Twitter is a mix of how to post in Instagram and Facebook. You will want to use hashtags and link back to original image. If any of the experts or companies mentioned in the infographic are active on Twitter, tagging them may help attract their followers and result in a retweet that will reach a much larger audience. This is another platform where sharing a thumbnail or cropped image may be more beneficial. However, a well written description accompanied by a link to the infographic can also work.

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is an excellent way to reach a larger audience in your field or complimentary areas. Locate blogs that accept guest posts and develop ideas for a piece that is related to the infographic to be promoted. The aim is to provide added value to the blog’s readers.

It is surprising to many aspiring writers just how many blogs accept and even encourage guest bloggers to submit pitches relevant to their audience. Just remember, it isn’t enough to simply restate the information in the infographic, it is necessary to create new content that uses the infographic as one source.

Solid Content

For any promotional methods to work, the infographic must be created with well researched information. It must be clear, offer valuable insight or information to the audience. If it is visually appealing but does not offer new insights, it will quickly be dismissed by those who take the time to view it and hurt your credibility.

Optimize Your Landing Page

One of the main goals of promoting an infographic is to generate new interest in your brand or the brands featured. To do this most effectively, optimizing the landing page where the infographic is hosted is necessary. Make sure it is mobile friendly and the image is large enough to easily read as soon as visitors arrive.

The landing page needs to load quickly, be attractive, and be very user friendly with few distractions. It is a key component in successfully promoting the infographic.

Make Embedding Easy

Part of this optimization is making it easy for those who want to use your infographic. To do this, create an HTML embed code that is positioned directly underneath the image. This will allow anyone to easily put the infographic on their website or blog and will ensure it links back to your website.

Social Sharing Buttons

Word of mouth is still one of the most influential methods of promotion. The difference between people talking about a product or company thirty years ago and today is simply the way in which they talk to one another. We don’t have to be in physical proximity to suggest something to a friend. In fact, some studies suggest our tendency to interact on social media may decrease person-to-person interactions.

To better facilitate these types of online personal recommendations today, make it easy for people to share content on their preferred social media platforms. There are several strategic methods of placing these buttons and choosing the one that fits most naturally with your site design is key in encouraging visitors to share content.

At the end of the infographic make a request for readers to share with their social networks if they found the information useful. People are more likely to share when a specific request has been made for them to do so, especially if the content felt relevant to them at a personal level.

Email List

Building an email list is arguably one of the most important marketing tools today. Your subscribers have already decided your content is valuable enough to them to follow it regularly. Include a thumbnail of the infographic in an email with a link to take them to the full image. This will allow them to view it more easily and share it with others on their favorite social media platforms.

The landing page for your infographic is also an excellent opportunity to grow your email list. Include a bonus that is related to the infographic that people can receive if they sign up to receive emails from your site. This will give you a larger reach for future promotional efforts.

Self-Publish

Always host the infographic on your own website. This is content created by your brand to help others. It creates an association for peoplebetween the topic and the brand and begins to build your authority in the field. Hosting it anywhere else gives away that power and makes it impossible to ensure the link will be live should anyone else decide to share it at some point in the future. It also allows your site to build legitimate backlinks that are important for good SEO.

Strong Accompanying Article

Part of hosting the infographic on your own site is the ability to have it accompany a more detailed article. Once people arrive at the landing page to look at the infographic they are more inclined to stay and read any relevant information. When additional information is included beyond what is available on the infographic itself, people are more likely to engage with the site and share on social media.

Creating high quality content is good for readers and great for SEO and marketing purposes. It gives visitors a reason to trust your site’s content, decreases bounce rate, and ensures greater understanding of your message and brand. It has been proven to increase both leads and conversions and it’s just good business to provide the best quality product possible.

Infographic Directories

Infographic directories are a great way for people who are interested in finding images on specific topics to find your work. Every site has different submission regulations, so check out the rules before posting.

Editorial Calendar

Promoting your infographic will not quickly be checked off a to-do list. Many of the strategies require patience and persistence. Using Pinterest, guest blogging, and reaching out to industry experts who may be interested in using the infographic in an upcoming piece will require extended effort. Include promotional tactics as part of an ongoing editorial calendar. Select new influencers or bloggers to reach out to on a weekly or monthly basis and spread out tweets, retweets, and promoting the targeted pin on Pinterest to reach the greatest number of people.

Press Release

For larger companies, creating a press release to distribute can effectively promote new infographics. First, ensure the press release is well written and created with best SEO practices. Then distribute it to a press release site or send it directly to industry experts who may be interested.

Creating a powerful infographic is a labor of love. It requires extensive research, great copywriting, and creative talent to create the colors, format, and typography necessary to create a beautiful image people want to read and share. It is natural to want to see this content used and shared by others. The effort and skill it takes to create brilliant infographics makes people even more eager to share their work with the world. Be willing to stretch outside the typical blog promotion tactics to reach a wider audience.

Are there any other ways to promote your infographics that I missed? Which ones work well for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo Credit: iStock