Hopefully you read Part 1 on on promoting infographics.. and now you want more.

This blog post will give an overview of social media promotion and will give you a starting point on promoting your infographic through these channels.

5 Essential Social Media Outlets for Infographic Promotion

1. Twitter

If you only target 1 social media outlet then you should pick this one. However it’s very different to the likes of Digg, Reddit, Facebook, Stumbleupon and Google+ and it requires a different strategy.

Twitter should be treated with the same importance as your blogger outreach process. Initial contact should be through email if possible but then you should move to using twitter for future communications.. as it’s less intrusive and friendlier. As you build relationships, your twitter following will grow… but beware it could still be a longtime before your twitter account will have any power which is why you should still promote through other channels especially in the short term. ) A little dated but great explanation of how twitter works at getting links

I would also recommend only tweeting your best infographics and try to also tweet infgraphics/bait that you like that was created by other people. It will also help you to understand what infographics are out there and what it is you like about them.

I would suggest reading this article on how to build relationships on twitter ( a long read but well worth it.)

The Others.. Reddit, Digg, Facebook and Google+

2. Digg.com

Back in the day (2009-2010), getting a Digg front page was easy. Sadly due the implementation of a white list of domains it can take a little longer to get regular Digg front pages. I suggest building up a decent account (or getting friendly with a power user) and only publishing top quality stuff and mixing your own stuff in every 10 submissions and seeing it as a long term investment. Utilize existing relationships and keep prominent Digg buttons on your article to convert existing traffic to Digg votes for your infographic.

Great article on how to get a Digg front page. (be aware it’s 2008.. but still good advice)

3. Reddit

Again a lot tighter on unknown domains (since 2010) but well worth submitting to sub Reddits that are relevant to your topic. Have obvious Reddit upvote buttons! And make sure you submit other stuff on a regular basis… no one wants to see that you only like your own stuff!

4. Stumbleupon

Knowing a “power user” is key or you will have to build your own which can take a while. Again keep Stumbleupon buttons above the fold and at the end of your infographic.

If you have the budget, it’s also worth looking at their paid submission service, for 5 cents a view you can try and get enough votes to go viral. I would suggest allowing 50$ of ad views and then see how many “free views” you achieve. I would target a specific category rather than letting Stumblupon decide.

5. Facebook

I’ll be honest. I do not have  a process for pushing bait/infographics through Facebook than just putting up buttons and letting people “like” away. (Feel free to add any of your tips in the comments section..)

Although a nice facebook infographic can’t hurt for getting attention from Facebook users. You could also look at adding Facebook comments to your infographic which would mean that user comments would appear on their respected profile/news feed.

5. Google +

Google+ is turning out to be a very interesting social tool for promotion. If you have never used Google+, it’s main unique selling point is the creation of “circles” which allow you to group your “friends".” This means that each circle can see different things.. so you should start creating circles for the relevant relationships you have been building.. “tech bloggers and press”, “Mainstream press”, “Digg Powerusers”…etc

I am still testing out different features with Google + but i am already impressed with it’s circle features for organizing relationships and promotion.

Bonus: WordPress Plugin

If you use WordPress you could use a referrer detector plugin that detects Digg, Reddit, Facebook, Stumbleupon and Google+ traffic and provides them a message and an opportunity to vote up your content.

Conclusion

As with all types of promotion.. aim at a small number of “power” users and try to build meaningful relationships. Not because i want you to be a nice person (although you should!) but because it will provide you with a far greater return on your investment. If you want to just blast shotgun approach then there are plenty of people for that.. just don’t pay more than $50 and expect about the same value!