Infographics are all the rage at the moment – I’ve been saying this for a while now and it’s great to see that they’re still as popular as when they first burst into the social scene. People love them as they are full of value, they are educational, quick to read and entertaining. But you probably already know that and already have an infographic in the pipeline, just waiting to share it with the world. Unfortunately, because of all the noise in this vast Internet maize, it’s no easy task getting your infographic out there, and even the most beautiful ones need lots of heavy promotion to get in front of as many people as possible, generate shares and get plenty of quality backlinks. One might even argue that the hard work starts when the infographic is finished!Over the years I’ve created quite a few infographics and have learned some great tips and tricks for promoting them that I thought I’d share with you now. First of all, I recommend you put the infographic on your website, so it has a “home” that it will also link back to; the best way is to put it up as a blog post, with a short introduction. But without further ado, here are ten ways that you can use to promote your infographic:
1. Optimize your infographic
You should start thinking of promoting your infographic as you’re writing it. Just like you would do with blog posts, articles and website content, you have to try to include as many relevant keywords as possible in your infographic so that people can easily find it on search engines. Make sure you do lots of research on Google Adwords to find the best keywords for your infographic and for the tags you will be using. Try to include your primary keywords in the title of the infographic so it’s even easier to find on Google. However, you should try not to use too many keywords, so that your infographic doesn’t become un-readable.
2. Make it easy to embed
One of the best things about infographics is that you can get lots of quality backlinks from them. For that to happen you have to try to get people to share it on their own websites and blogs and link it back to you. However, unless you’ve created the Holy Grail of infographics, you have to make sure you make it easy as possible for people to embed your infographic on their websites. The best way to do this is to provide them with an HTML embed code that will benefit everyone involved: they will be able to easily embed the infographic on their website and you will get the link back. If you’re not familiar with HTML codes and want to get this over with as quickly as possible, try SEO Gadget which is the most straightforward embed code generator I’ve ever tried. You shouldn’t forget the fact that some people will just copy and paste the image, so you should make sure your infographic is heavily branded and that it includes a link to your website so you don’t lose the credit.
3. Encourage sharing
This is both the easiest way to promote an infographic, as well as one of the most effective. There’s nothing like having lots of people sharing it to their own followers and friends on social media and helping spread the word about your awesome new infographic. First of all, you should make sure you have social sharing buttons for all the major social networks at the top and/or bottom of your infographic post. Another important aspect is to include a call to action at the end of your infographic, such as “If you’ve enjoyed reading this infographic, please share it”. These basic methods will considerably grow your social media shares, and you’ll barely have to lift a finger!
4. Promote on social media
Infographics are extremely shareable and the more people are sharing it on social media, the better for your business. Take to all the major social networks (at least) and start promoting it heavily: tweet about it, share it on Facebook and Google+, Flickr, Instagram and don’t forget about Pinterest, which is a bit of an infographic heaven. Don’t forget to include calls to action in your tweets and posts as well to encourage people to share it with their friends and followers. Make sure you also leave enough space in your tweets so that people can easily retweet them without leaving anything important out.
5. Translate your infographic
If you are serving an international audience (not just English-speaking) or if your infographic might be relevant to non-English speakers, it might be a good idea to translate your infographic in a few high profile languages. It’s not hard to do and won’t require too many of your resources, but it can really increase the virality of the infographic. Just imagine the possibilities if your infographic were translated in Chinese and Spanish, for example! You would get more traffic, more social media shares and engagement as well as increase your brand awareness.
6. Submit your infographic to directories
This might be a bit boring to do, but it can also be very rewarding and it’s a necessary step on the way to a viral infographic. There are lots of infographic directories and submission sites out there, as well as content curation websites that accept infographics. Here are twenty of my favorite websites:
1. Visual.ly
4. Chart Porn
6. Visual Loop
9. Infographr
12. Visualising
15. The Infographics
16. News I Like
17. Vizual Archive
19. Style & Flow
20. Media Caffeine
7. Send the infographic to your list
Whenever I write a blog post, article or post an infographic that I feel adds value to my subscribers I often send a quick email to my list letting them know about it. Not only does this generate traffic back to your site but it can also encourage more engagement, particularly if you have a loyal responsive list.
8. Share your infographic on content curation websites
Another way to get your infographic to reach more people is to submit it to various content curation websites. The process is the same as with infographic submissions sites, and there are lots of content curation websites that you can use, such as:
1. Scoop.it
2. Phinkit
4. CurationSoft
5. Bundlr
6. ContentGems
7. Digg
8. Reddit
9. Delicious
9. Tease your audience
Another way of promoting your infographic is to create two different versions: the full, normal infographic and a ‘teaser’ version that only shows snippets of the infographic. This way you will get people hooked from the teaser and they will come to your website to see more.
10. Create a video
If there’s one thing people on the Internet like more than images and infographics, it’s probably videos. Try making a video version of your infographic, put it on Youtube and start sharing it on social networks. With both video and image under your jacket, you stand a much better chance of getting more shares. To create the video, you can for example deconstruct it, add some music and maybe someone reading it. Once you’ve deconstructed the infographic, you can also use the new images to create a Powerpoint presentation that you can share on SlideShare, and get even more shares and traffic.
I hope these tips will help you get the most out of your infographic and get lots of shares and traffic. What other techniques do you use to promote infographics? Please share your thoughts and tips in the comments section, as I would love to hear them!
After launching her first business within three years of becoming a mother, through marketing via business networking and social media, her financial success was recognised by being a finalist at the Best MumPreneur of the Year Awards, presented at 10 Downing Street. Following a resultant offer and wishing to spend more time with her daughter, she sold her first business to focus on social media, developing a multi-site blog and online marketing portfolio that generates in excess of 500,000 + page views per month.
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