Promoting infographics on LinkedIn can be a highly effective way to engage with your professional audience, share insights, and drive brand awareness. As a visually-driven content format, infographics can help simplify complex data and deliver valuable information in an easily digestible format. However, to maximize their impact on LinkedIn, it’s essential to understand how to tailor your promotion strategy, optimize your content, and leverage LinkedIn’s features to the fullest.
This guide provides a comprehensive step-by-step approach to promoting infographics on LinkedIn, from content creation to distribution and performance tracking.
1. Understanding the Importance of LinkedIn for Infographics
LinkedIn is a professional networking platform with more than 900 million members across the globe. It’s used for sharing business-related content, professional achievements, thought leadership, and industry insights. While LinkedIn is a text-heavy platform by nature, it also places a premium on visual content, and infographics fit perfectly within this ecosystem.
Key Benefits of Promoting Infographics on LinkedIn:
- Increased Engagement: Visual content such as infographics tends to receive higher engagement rates on LinkedIn compared to text-based posts.
- Credibility and Authority: By sharing informative infographics, you can position yourself or your brand as a thought leader in your industry.
- Easy Sharing: Infographics are highly shareable, and they can help you reach a wider audience as connections, followers, and groups share your post.
- Enhanced Data Communication: Infographics make it easier to communicate complex data and industry trends in a visually compelling way, improving comprehension and retention.
2. Create High-Quality Infographics for LinkedIn
The first step to promoting infographics on LinkedIn is creating visually appealing and effective infographics. Here are some essential tips for creating infographics that will resonate with your LinkedIn audience.
i. Know Your Audience
Before designing your infographic, consider the demographics of your LinkedIn audience. LinkedIn users are typically professionals, decision-makers, and industry experts. This means your infographic should appeal to individuals looking for data-driven insights, industry trends, or practical business advice. Keep in mind:
- Tone and Complexity: Depending on your industry, your infographics should balance complexity and accessibility. While your audience may appreciate detailed, data-heavy content, ensure that it’s still digestible and not too technical.
- Relevance: Ensure the topic of the infographic aligns with what your audience values. For instance, a B2B company might share infographics on business trends, product development, or case studies, while an HR consultant might focus on employee engagement or recruitment statistics.
ii. Focus on Data-Driven Insights
LinkedIn users expect infographics to deliver useful, actionable insights. Data-driven infographics that showcase trends, statistics, or how-to processes are particularly effective. Research the latest industry reports, surveys, or case studies to ensure your infographic contains relevant and up-to-date information.
iii. Maintain Design Best Practices
When it comes to the design of your infographic, professionalism is key. Follow these best practices to ensure that your infographic looks polished and enhances your brand image:
- Brand Consistency: Use your company’s color scheme, logo, and fonts to ensure the infographic aligns with your brand’s identity.
- Clarity and Simplicity: Keep the design clean and straightforward. Avoid clutter and make sure your infographic flows logically from top to bottom. Use headings, bullet points, and icons to break down information.
- Visual Hierarchy: Highlight key insights and data points using font size, color contrast, or placement. This guides the reader’s eye through the infographic and ensures that the most important points stand out.
- Responsive Design: Ensure your infographic looks good on both desktop and mobile devices. LinkedIn users increasingly access the platform on mobile, so it’s essential to design for mobile-first.
iv. Optimize the Size and Format
LinkedIn’s recommended image size for shared content is 1200 x 1200 pixels, which is suitable for square-shaped images. Infographics should typically follow this size guide for the best visual presentation. For longer, vertical infographics, use the recommended ratio of 1.91:1 (such as 1200 x 1800 px).
v. Use Engaging and Actionable CTAs
Infographics should encourage further action. Whether it’s reading a blog post, downloading a report, or contacting you for more information, include a clear call to action (CTA) within the infographic or the post description. Phrases like “Learn more,” “Contact us today,” or “Download the full report” prompt users to engage with your content beyond the infographic.
3. Tailor Your LinkedIn Post to Promote the Infographic
Once your infographic is ready, it’s time to craft a post on LinkedIn that will maximize its reach and engagement. The post itself plays a crucial role in driving attention to the infographic, so follow these guidelines to craft a compelling and shareable LinkedIn post.
i. Write a Compelling Caption
A strong caption adds context to the infographic and makes it more engaging. Use the following techniques to write an effective caption:
- Hook the Audience: Start with a question, statistic, or insight that piques curiosity. This can prompt users to click on the infographic to learn more.
- Example: “Did you know that 75% of businesses struggle with this challenge? Find out how you can overcome it in our latest infographic.”
- Provide Context: Briefly explain what the infographic is about and why it’s important. Focus on the benefits that your audience will get by viewing the infographic.
- Use Relevant Hashtags: Include a few relevant hashtags to increase the visibility of your post. Hashtags like #infographics, #data, #businessinsights, and #marketingtrends help categorize the content and make it discoverable by a wider audience.
- Tag Relevant Individuals or Companies: If applicable, tag people, influencers, or companies mentioned in the infographic to increase the chances of your post being seen and shared by them.
ii. Include a Link to Additional Content
If the infographic is part of a larger content marketing strategy, include a link to a more in-depth blog post, whitepaper, or landing page. This allows users to explore the topic in greater detail. For instance:
- “Check out our full report on [topic] here [link] to dive deeper into the data and insights we’ve presented in this infographic.”
iii. Engage with Your Audience
Once your post is live, engage with your audience by responding to comments and questions. Acknowledge those who share your content, thank them, and keep the conversation going. This engagement will help build relationships, increase visibility, and encourage further sharing.
4. Leverage LinkedIn Features to Maximize Reach
To amplify the visibility of your infographic, take advantage of LinkedIn’s features and tools. Here are several ways to increase the reach and engagement of your infographic posts:
i. Share in LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn groups are a great place to share relevant content with a targeted audience. Join groups that align with your industry or the topic of your infographic, and share the infographic within those groups. Be sure to engage with the group members beforehand by commenting and participating in discussions. Group members are more likely to appreciate and share your infographic if you’ve established rapport within the community.
ii. Publish as a LinkedIn Article
In addition to posting your infographic in a regular LinkedIn post, you can also publish a longer article that incorporates the infographic. A LinkedIn article allows you to go deeper into the topic, providing valuable context and analysis to complement the infographic. Articles on LinkedIn often receive more exposure, and they give you an opportunity to position yourself or your brand as an authority in your field.
iii. Utilize LinkedIn Ads
If you want to reach a broader audience beyond your network, consider using LinkedIn’s paid advertising options. Sponsored content allows you to promote your infographic to a highly targeted audience based on job titles, industries, company size, and more. Here are a few types of ads you can consider:
- Sponsored Content: Promotes your infographic as a native post in users’ feeds.
- Sponsored InMail: Sends your infographic directly to users’ LinkedIn inboxes, accompanied by a personalized message.
- Text Ads: Simple ads that display on the right-hand side of the LinkedIn feed, linking to your infographic.
LinkedIn ads are particularly useful if you want to target specific decision-makers or professionals in a particular industry.
iv. Use LinkedIn Analytics to Track Performance
LinkedIn provides detailed analytics for your posts and articles, so it’s essential to monitor how your infographic is performing. Track metrics such as:
- Impressions: How many people saw your infographic.
- Clicks: How many people clicked on your infographic for more details.
- Engagement: How many people liked, commented on, or shared your post.
- Demographics: Gain insights into the job titles, industries, and companies of those engaging with your content.
These insights will help you understand what’s working and what isn’t, allowing you to optimize future infographic posts.
5. Promote Infographics Over Time
Infographics have a long shelf life, especially on LinkedIn. To keep your content relevant, repost your infographic at different intervals, ensuring it reaches different segments of your audience. You can also update the infographic with new data or insights and repost it to refresh its appeal.
i. Repurpose Your Infographic
Consider repurposing your infographic into other formats to extend its lifespan:
- SlideShare: LinkedIn owns SlideShare, which allows you to upload presentations, including infographics. Repurposing your infographic into a SlideShare presentation can increase visibility.
- Stories and Videos: Convert your infographic into a short video or a series of LinkedIn stories. Video content tends to generate higher engagement rates on LinkedIn.
- Blog Posts or Whitepapers: Use the infographic as a visual supplement in longer blog posts or whitepapers.
Conclusion
Promoting infographics on LinkedIn requires more than just sharing them as standalone posts. To truly leverage LinkedIn as a platform for infographic promotion, you need to combine effective content creation, strategic posting, and engagement techniques. By understanding your audience, creating high-quality infographics, optimizing your posts, and leveraging LinkedIn’s features, you can maximize the impact of your infographics and establish a strong presence on the platform. The ultimate goal is to not only share valuable information but to spark conversations, foster connections, and drive real results for your business or personal brand.