Summary. The following steps provide a basic workflow for promoting and advertising online.

1. Image. You’ll want an attractive photo, alluring image, or engaging graphic that will get people’s attention. It needs to look great as a thumbnail and also when full size.
   1. Image Size. Ideally you’ll want an image that will be properly displayed in multiple social networks such as Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. You’ll also want it to be sized properly for a typical website column (often 640 pixels wide). The 500×500 pixel size is generally a good one.
   2. Image Text. You can include some text on the image to convey more details about what you’re promoting. However, on Facebook, images with extra text in them may result in rejected advertising campaigns.
2. Post. Creating a post (an article/flyer) online provides a central location for all details about whatever it is you’re promoting. You’ll want to use the image created in step #1 as the primary image for your post. In this way, a link to the post (on Facebook for example) will automatically show the prominent image.
3. Promote. The post can be promoted on Facebook profile (personal) pages as well as company/organization pages. This is a reason to have as many “Likes” on your Facebook page as possible. Because Facebook is one of the largest online social networks, it is a primary focus for promotions.
   1. Facebook Advertising. It’s recommended that you create an inexpensive Facebook ad campaign to promote your post and page.
   2. Facebook Event. If you’re promoting an event, you may want to create a Facebook event and invite people to it.
   3. Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn. Put a link to your post along with a brief description on Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and other social networks.
   4. Volunteer Network. You should have a core group of people who are willing to volunteer a few minutes a week to help you promote. They can promote your post through their own social network connections.
4. Home Page. You’ll want to include your promotion details on the home page of your website for those who may land on the site during the promotion period.
5. Direct Email. There are many people who don’t spend several hours a day on Facebook. Those people will never see your ad. To reach them, you should have a mailing list that people can signup for so you can deliver news and announcements directly to their inbox. MailChimp and Constant Contact are two of the more popular services. In addition to paid plans, MailChimp also offers a free level of service that works just fine for most people.