Branding Challenge Day 23. How to Share An Infographic

by Internet marketing for seniors team | Oct 16, 2016 | branding challenge, Day 23

How to Share An Infographic

It may seem intimidating to write to people who are authorities or big public figures, but they’re just people like you. The worst thing they can do is say no, so don’t let fear keep you paralyzed. Learning how to share an infographic is an excellent skill to learn.

Make sure you follow up and thank those that have shared your infographic. Don’t bug anyone more than once if they fail to share your infographic. It’s possible to position yourself as a pest if you keep nagging someone to share. You don’t want to be branded as a troll.

Use the Power of Your Network

Ask your friends. Don’t forget to ask your friends to share your information. Most friends will happily retweet or share infographics that you create. If they’re appropriate for a wide audience, use the power of your friendships.

Submit it to directories. There are many places where you can share infographics such as Flickr, Visual.ly, and Infographics Showcase. These are places where you can share your infographic and it can be published for you.

People who are interested in infographics will browse these sites and when they find something they like, they’ll share it. This gives you another opportunity to show off your hard work and spread your message.

Tags are Crucial

Use intelligent tags so people can find your graphics. Share on places like Instagram and Pinterest. Don’t be lazy and forget to use tags. Some sites allow up to five tags.

Make your infographic searchable. Your infographic should be tagged with terms that make it easy to find. Tag it with keywords that are relevant to your audience, but for a broader reach, the terms “free” and “infographic” are crucial.

Adding these specific terms ensures that someone looking for a free infographic in your particular niche will come upon yours – and it might be just the one they’ve been looking for.

Don’t Leave Out Your Followers

Share it with your email list. Don’t forget to share your infographic with those who are already following you. Remember that people who “like” your FaceBook fan page may not see all of your posts.

But by delivering it directly to their inbox, they’ll be more likely to see it. If you send out a newsletter to your list, make sure you include your infographic in your newsletter.

And when you send it to them, don’t be afraid to ask them to share it. Many people just don’t think to share it unless you ask.

Use Video to share an Infographic

Create a video. You can take your image and create a video to go along with it. This is something you can upload to YouTube and share through your social media channels.

You can use animation software to make it yourself or outsource this little job to a pro on Fiverr for an inexpensive promotional tool. A video that mixes your infographic with a little bit of catchy music can appeal to a whole new audience.

Create a blog series. You can take different points from your infographic and break them down into an article series on your blog. This allows you to keep your infographic in the forefront of your readers’ minds.

It will also help you take the ideas that are simplified in your infographic and expand upon them. This really showcases your leadership in the niche and gives you multiple opportunities to have your graphic go viral.

Don’t Give It All Away At Once

Break it apart. Before you release the entire infographic, you might try breaking it down into smaller pieces and sharing them a little at a time. This is a kind of tease that will get your audience interested.

You can do this very simply by taking a screenshot and then cutting and pasting small sections to reveal each day. The anticipation can create a buzz so that when you actually share the entire infographic, people are already excited about sharing it as a whole.

Offer guest posts. You can also share your infographic by offering to write a guest post on a related blog. Sharing your image with about 400 words of content is the perfect way to expand your audience.

Create An Interactive Infographic

Create an interactive experience. When you create an infographic that’s interactive, it will be more likely to be shared. If people can click on your infographic or swipe their finger across it to achieve a different effect, it can get more attention.

Of course, this requires some advanced technical skills and you may have to hire someone to help you if you choose to try this technique. But it might be worth the investment if it leads to a bigger list and increased sales.

Getting Started with Infographics

Now that you know a little more about infographics, it’s time to add them to your marketing plan. If you’re not sure which topic to use for creating your first one, try one of these ideas:

* Look at the headlines and see if your business connects with the current news stories
* Ask your audience what they want to know – you may get a lot of great ideas for questions you can answer through an infographic
* Go through your email and blog comments and review the kinds of questions your readers are asking
* Brainstorm information that you can share with your readers – use your expertise
* Look for new research in your field and try to explain difficult concepts in a simple way that average people can understand
* Search on Pinterest for topics that relate to what you do and see what people are interested in
* Look at many examples of other people’s infographics to get ideas for how to present information and possible topics (without plagiarizing)
It may take you a few tries to get the infographic that is perfect for your audience and that really conveys the message that you want to share. But don’t be afraid to give infographics a try and see how they can help share your brand and make your message viral.

Infographics can be powerful branding tools when you use them properly and they garner a lot of interest. Make sure you create really good ones and share great information to get the most shares!

Branding Challenge Day 22. What Not To Do with Your Infographic

by Internet marketing for seniors team | Oct 15, 2016 | branding challenge, Day 22

What Not To Do with Your Infographic.

After you’ve created an infographic, it’s important to go through a checklist of things that you should avoid and make sure that you haven’t done them. You must use a critical eye for best results.

Don’t only use data charts. Infographics can have charts in them, but if your infographic is simply a pie chart or bar graph, then you’ve missed the boat. The infographic should tell a compelling story.

Infographics are about more than data

When was the last time a pie chart elicited an emotional reaction from you? Always make sure that if you use a chart, it’s connected to a story and isn’t the only thing on your visual.

It’s okay to have charts and graphs, but you need to add a few accessories. Speaking of charts, make sure you match the right type of chart to the data that you’re sharing. For example:

* Pie charts are great for representing percentages

* Bar graphs are perfect for making comparisons between groups

* Line graphs are most appropriate when you’re showing change over time

And if you find that the data you have doesn’t fit into any of these categories, you’ll want to look for a different way to visualize it.

Don’t use too much text.

On the other side, remember the rule of keeping your text minimal. If you can show something visually, do it with a picture, not words. For example, instead of saying “5 people” show images that represent 5 people – you can easily find graphics to go with many different ideas.

Don’t use too much color.

An infographic can look chaotic and messy if you use too much color. It’s a good rule of thumb to stick with three different colors. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a few other colors as accents, but stick with the three color rule to keep your palette clean.

You should also stay away from colors that are too bright – you don’t need to shock your readers or cause eye strain online with neon shades. Instead, you want colors that are pleasing to the eye so that your reader can take his time looking at the infographic.

Don’t make it too big.

Infographics should be simple and streamlined. Avoid the urge to make a huge infographic that has too much information. If it’s overwhelming, your reader isn’t going to take the time to look at it and he or she certainly won’t share it.

Don’t neglect to add a hook. Infographics work best when you have an important message to send. Don’t create an infographic just to make a pretty picture. If there’s no hook that captures the attention of your prospect, then your infographic won’t be successful. A hook will be your website or logo.

Don’t blatantly sell a product.

An infographic works best when it’s an education tool that leads back to your site. Don’t use it to sell a product directly. Instead, use it to inform people and gain interest. People who are interested can eventually convert into sales.

Tips for Promoting Your Infographic

Your infographic can be beautiful, but if no one sees it, you won’t get much good out of it. It’s important to spend the time and effort to make sure your infographic gets noticed and increases the chances that it goes viral.

Select an infographic home. You’ll want to give your infographic a permanent home where it can be parked. Ideally, this will be where you want to drive the traffic to. So in most cases, it’s your blog or main website.

Hosting the image yourself makes it easy for you to create several versions that others can easily share. For example, you’ll want to have the original infographic that has a higher pixel count, a smaller file that’s easy for any website to handle and load quickly, and a thumbnail for sharing on Facebook.

Make it easy for Others to Share

By providing the embed codes for all of these on your “home” page, you’ll make it easier for others to share it in the way that works best for them. You’ll also have a wide variety of options for sharing it through your own channels.

Share on social media sites. Infographics that are well-made and tell a great story can actually promote themselves if you share them on social media. On Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, it’s so simple for readers to like and share infographics that you can get natural promotion.

Take advantage of programs that allow you to create many posts and tweets over time. For example, with Hootesuite, you can pre-write all of your tweets and then have them automatically sent out over a period of time.

Drip feeding some of the facts from your infographic and then linking back to the entire image can be very effective, too. This is teasing your audience, so pick something from it that’s very tempting.

Put time into promotion.

You may spend hours getting your infographic just right, so don’t sell yourself short by sharing it one time and then moving on. It can take time for something to get picked up and become viral.

That means sharing your infographic often over a period of time with as many outlets as possible. If weeks go by and you’re not getting any results, you probably need to move on, but don’t give up after a single day.

Produce a press release. A press release can help you get more notice. Write a press release that shares your infographic and the reasons why you chose to share this information to your audience.

You can submit your press release for free to many online sources and get more exposure for your infographic and more traffic to your site. Make sure you upload the file with your press release so that anyone who picks it up can publish it with your URL on it as well.

Don’t miss Cross Promotion Opportunities

Reach out to possible partners. Look for businesses and people who have similar interests and audiences for possible cross-promotion. Make a list of anyone and everyone you can think of that might be appropriate.

Share your infographic with them and ask for their feedback. Look for blogs that are similar to yours and email them directly to share your infographic. Let them know how they can embed your infographic by sharing the embed code.

Message people directly through Twitter who you think might be interested and willing to share your infographic with their followers. You can do the same for people you know through Facebook connections.

Branding Challenge Day 19. Create the perfect press release

by Internet marketing for seniors team | Oct 12, 2016 | branding challenge, Day 19

Create the perfect press release to Shout About Something Newsworthy

Press releases are a tool I don’t hear a lot of buzzes  about – mainly because I think the focus in marketing is on writing articles, blogging, JVing, etc. But it’s something you shouldn’t overlook. Create the perfect press release when you have got something to really shout about – like a new product launch.

In fact, all of my guru clients always had me write press releases (I charged $100 per page) for each project they released. They just don’t teach it themselves a lot.

I just recently saw E. Brian Rose (one of the JVZoo founders) link to his press release, which was picked up by Yahoo Finance   – so the top dogs are in fact using Press Releases, but the littler marketer hasn’t been using them to build a buzz.

So one tool that regular non-Internet marketers use when they want branding and coverage is a press release. There’s a WHOLE different way of writing a press release that I’m going to teach you because I see a lot of disasters.

The great thing about press release sites is that they’re similar to article directories in that other people can pick them up and use them on their own sites. News directories and websites will grab it – sometimes even an offline publication searching for experts in a particular niche.

This series is all about branding you as an expert or leader, so that’s what this tool is perfect for! You might even pick up some media interviews in magazines, newspapers or even Television.

The Goal of Your Press Release

Forget article marketing. Clear your head of everything you’ve learned. There’s a reason press releases are so costly compared to other services – they’re well-crafted newsworthy stories.

The goal of your press release is to help position you as a leader as you share some sort of opinion and insight on a trendy topic. We can all find something trending in our niche somehow – use Google news and DIG.

I was so scared of submitting press releases when I was starting out as a blogger because the traditional publications said that if you sent a poor press release, it would go straight into the trash and they would never read anything you ever sent again.

That’s a lot of pressure! But that pressure is good because it forces you to craft this carefully – not whip something up in a flash and put it out there. That’s the wrong way to do this, so feel free to take a week or more to get this tool mastered. Don’t rush it.

You’re going to be coming up with a news slant, writing an informative piece with YOU as the quoted resource, submitting it to the proper PR outlets, and then doing a few other tasks to help spread the news of its existence.

Here’s the good news and bad news – and it’s one in the same. You only have ONE page to use for your press release.

That’s good because it alleviates the pressure you may feel of having to create something long and intimidating. It’s bad because some people like to babble on and on, and cutting their words down to a single page is excruciating for them.

How to Write a Press Release

First, I want you to think about your own expertise or leadership role in your niche. Don’t go all Eeyore on me and start saying nobody cares about you or your opinion – get an ego and think of how you can brag about yourself!

The first thing you want to do is link about what makes you qualified to lead this niche. It could be based on time dealing with the niche, personal experience in it, the fact that you’ve helped someone else in the niche, the knowledge you’ve accumulated, etc.

You can quote yourself in the Press Release as the expert.

Like this:

…said Catherine Ford, Psych-K practitioner.

Yours might be something like this:

…said Leo Randall, owner of diabetescurediet.com.

Or:

…said Tom Knightly, relationship blogger at MeetMrRight.com.

Just have a blurb figured out and a few reasons why you feel qualified to help others in your niche. It can be based on personal experience, an education you’ve gained, or anything that makes other people feel like listening to you.

The Formula of a press release

When you write your press release, put everything important in the beginning and the least important items at the bottom. With Internet Marketing, you have often been taught to do the opposite, such as hook the reader at the beginning with something that will make them wonder.

You can’t do this with a press release. You need to be straightforward and factual in the outset. In that JVZoo press release, for example, it starts off full of facts – nothing vague and curious. Here it is:

“JVZoo.com, the premiere online marketplace for digital information products, today announced its members had generated over $75,000,000 in revenue since the site’s launch in 2012, proving it is a force for independent job creation in the wake of global economic hardship.”

Nothing intriguing about that. You know what the story is about immediately.

So what are your facts?

It can be something about the niche. So for instance, let’s say I wanted to write a book about a make money online course.

I might cite the Census statistics and say something like this: “With Census statistics showing more than one-third of Americans on welfare, new online entrepreneur course helps jobless have some hope.”

Or, if your course has already sold a certain amount or helped a set number of people, you could cite that instead. The first paragraph should always be the main slant of your story. Whatever it is you want them to know – spelled out quick and easy.

Make sure you don’t write anything spammy.

You don’t see that JVZoo introduction says, “Learn how to CRUSH the competition and give your boss a pink slip by joining our done for you marketplace…” (You get the point – no spam or hype – just the facts, please).

The same goes for your headline. Notice that Yahoo Finance picked up the JVZoo press release – because it was impressive and clear. So how do you turn a perceived boring topic into a newsworthy opening and headline slant?

Well, let’s say you want a press release for your diet blog. But it’s a review site, and you’re not even creating anything yourself. Since it’s a review site, think of something you, as a reviewer, have discovered in your blog journey.

So for instance, it might be like this:

“Diet Blogger Suffers Backlash for Refusing to Endorse Unsafe Trends” (if you’ve gotten a comment from someone disagreeing with you, for example). Or…

“Weight Loss Advocate Warns Too Many Women Flirting with Diet Dangers” (if you want to promote a safe weight loss mindset as opposed to a fad one).

Numbers always do well. So let’s say you run a diet blog and you try out different diets and report on them. You might use a headline and slant like this: “Diet Blogger Sheds 28 Pounds Trying on New Diets for Size!”

Usually, with a press release form, you’ll have your headline and introduction, but in between that is a space for a subhead. That’s where you expand on the headline a bit, but continue being newsworthy and factual and not riddled with hype.

As you craft the body of your press release, keep getting the most relevant facts out first. You want the reader to have gotten the gist of it just by reading your headline if nothing else.

You never know which part of the press release will make them stop reading. So in your body, you’ll include more facts – and also a quote or two. You can quote yourself in the press release. You don’t have to interview another expert. You can also get quotes from clients or customers if you want.

And at the end of your release, you’ll have room for your “for more information, go here” portion of the story – which is most important to you because it means increased traffic and possibly sales.

So here’s what your formula looks like:

* Headline
* Sub-headline
* Introduction paragraph
* Quote paragraph
* Details paragraph
* Quote paragraph
* Details paragraph
* For more Information paragraph

That’s about all the room you’ll have if you keep it at the desired one-page length. In your introduction paragraph, always start it with bold lettering that gives the following information: (City, State) Date – (then start the paragraph).

At the very end of your press release, end it with ### – which is the standard signal for “the end” in the Journalism world of press releases.

Where to Submit Your Press Release

You should use press releases as often as possible. Don’t just use them for product launches or blog launches. Use them for blog posts, too! You might want to find a good ghostwriter who understands how to create newsworthy press releases and have them develop one for some of your most riveting content.

On most press release sites, like the ones below, you’ll typically find both a free and paid option. There’s no need to go insane with your memberships. Start out free if you’re on a budget and if you start seeing good branding results, then see which service is providing it and maybe increase your membership on the top one to see if it makes a big difference.

Here are some of the most popular ones:

http://www.prweb.com/
http://www.prnewswire.com
http://www.pr.com
http://www.directionsmag.com/pressreleases/add/
http://www.prlog.org/submit-free-press-release.html
http://bignews.biz/?go=publish
http://www.freeprnow.com/submitPR.aspx
http://prwindow.com/login.php
http://www.exactrelease.org/submit.php
http://www.forpressrelease.com/login.php
http://www.prfree.org
http://www.webnewswire.com/node/2058593
http://beforeitsnews.com/
http://prsync.com/submit-press-release/
http://freebusinesswire.com/login.php
http://www.prhwy.com/submit-press-release.html
http://www.orilliapacket.com/ugc/submission
http://www.freepressreleases.com/
http://pressbox.co.uk/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi
http://articlecirculation.com/submit.asp
http://www.pressabout.com/submit-press-release/
http://www.press-release-articles.com/register/

Create the perfect press release and start with the top three. Then try to find a news site specific to your niche that accepts press releases – for example, a health site or a financial site. You might get better results going with a narrower, niche specific PR site than a broad one.

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