Visibility

Infographics are all the rage these days and, when designed and promoted properly, can generate volumes of links and drive much more traffic to your website. The problem is most companies set out on their journey without considering the effort required to promote that shiny new infographic once the research, design and implementation are complete. Without a sound promotional strategy in place, your new creative masterpiece is doomed to a lonely existence.

A 2010 study by Millward Brown found that only 15% of ads go viral online. Even successful websites such as BuzzFeed.com (which specializes in viral content) only see a small percentage of their content truly go “viral.” The good news, especially for those brands without the luxury of a large and engaged social network, is that you too can make your content contagious by utilizing the following tips to promote your work of art. 

1. Make it shareable (while still maintaining the benefits)
Create a dedicated page or blog post for your infographic and integrate share functionality all over the place. While this seems to be common sense, a recent study by BrightEdge found that nearly half of the 10,000 largest sites on the web don't display any kind of social sharing buttons—a huge missed opportunity! At the minimum this page should contain the ability to Tweet, Share and embed your content. You should also strongly consider implementing +1, Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit share buttons. After all, StumbleUpon drives more than 50% of social media traffic (more on leveraging social channels later). While social sharing is certainly an important goal of this process, hopefully you set out to develop a piece of content that's also going to generate lots of links. Your embed code can play an important role here and should be featured just below the content of the page. Your code should not only include a link back to your site, but should also use targeted anchor text (it's 2011, so don't overdo it) and be easy to copy, share, and embed (by using onclick="this.select();" to select all of the code with one click).

2. Let your main target audience know about it
Research and develop a list of target sites for manual outreach efforts. Depending on your industry the size of this list may vary, but should ideally include about 25 sites you'd like to approach with your infographic. All of your research and design work can pay off big time if you are able to connect with the right sites. Make sure your email is customized for each site and provides a strong value proposition for the target site owner to use your infographic. Keep your email as short as possible while letting site owners know WHY and HOW your content will be of value to their visitors.

3. Send out an “enhanced” press release
Send out a press release announcing your infographic. Press releases, when crafted and distributed properly, can quickly find their way to your target audience. While there is an array of PR distribution services out there, PRnewswire tends to have great distribution, offers SEO enhanced releases, and is competitively priced.

4. Submit to infographic directories
A great way to get your image in front of an engaged audience is to submit it to at least a handful of the many infographic directories out there. (Side note: these directories are also great resources when starting the initial research into a topic, to find what has been done already.) A simple Google search for "submit infographic" will point you in the right direction, but here are a few to get you started: http://submitinfographics.com/, http://www.infographicsshowcase.com/, http://visual.ly/.

5. Use social media
Although this strategy is admittedly more difficult for businesses without a strong social following, reaching out to and connecting with social influencers in your industry is vital to a successful campaign. Assuming you don't have a multitude of fans or followers, start researching influential people in your space by using Twitter/Facebook search or tools such as Followerwonk. Next, develop a strategy around how and when you’re going to share the content of your infographic with these people. Perhaps certain pieces of info are more relevant to certain users on your list. Perhaps it makes sense to tweet/post individual facts from your content over time rather than a more general "here's our new infographic about x" tweet. Whichever direction you take, have a documented strategy in place so you can learn from your successes and failures.

6. Consider advertising on social media sites
While this tip is applicable across the board, it seems businesses without huge social followings or brand awareness can get the biggest bang from utilizing paid social media advertising. Allocating as little as a few hundred dollars for Facebook ads and StumbleUpon Paid Discovery can go a long way in ensuring targeted and engaged users see your infographic. As mentioned earlier, StumbleUpon generates copious social media traffic and for as little as $0.10 per engaged visitor, you can place your infographic in front of your target demographic. Similarly, Facebook ads are a cost-effective way of reaching your target market, allowing you to advertise based on demographic, interest, or location.

It's not enough to just create a great infographic and hope for the best. Coming up with a sound promotional strategy can significantly improve the chances of your next infographic going viral, which can drive loads of qualified traffic and enough links to achieve SEO.