GRAPHIC DESIGN AND SOCIAL MEDIA — WHAT SMBS MUST KNOW

BY Benjamin

July 16, 2020

Making great social graphics or visual content is the key for your business to thrive on social media or even on other online platforms, like Google. As lucrative as this can get, you have to take note of the stiff competition to succeed. With the millions of accessible content on social media, you, as a business owner, must do what you can to stand out from the crowd.

Oftentimes, you must go against fellow small businesses and the bigger business conglomerates. So, what can you do to stand out from the rest?

Having creative and cool graphic design integrated into your Facebook and Instagram will surely generate the leads you want—you just have to take note of a few guidelines. This guide is here to help you collaborate with your graphic designer and build a strong social media presence that sets you apart from other businesses.

With all the new social media jargon and competition, establishing a presence on social media can be tricky or confusing. You may have to go through a bit of a learning curve as you develop your business branding online. If you take a goal-oriented approach and properly utilise the best graphic design services, you can’t go wrong.

What kind of social graphics do you want?

Before you start looking for affordable graphic design services, you must first capture what you envision for your social media presence. This means knowing what kind of social graphic you want and the core message of your brand for online customers. Aside from that, you will also need to test if these graphics are effective or have decent ROI (return on investment). To help you out in this, consider the following tips:

  • Make a mood and vision board for your social media
    A mood board is usually used for interior designers to get a feel for what their clients want in their rooms aesthetically. On the other hand, a vision board is used by most business firms or marketing companies to determine the goals that define their business plan, especially in advertising. Both are also useful tools in coming up with the best social graphics for your business. It captures your ideals and values for your business.
  • Talk about the social graphics that you want for your business
    There are different types of social graphics on Facebook and Instagram. Twitter mainly focuses on text, but you can also make effective use of graphic design if you are smart about it. All you have to do is define what kind of content you want. Do you want to be inspirational? Do you want to be factual? Do you want to unveil something? Consider these questions in deciding what kind of social graphic you want to use.
  • Do a customer test to validate your plans and graphics
    After you have some social graphics ready, you can have them tested by actual customers or focus groups to get a feel of what their perspective is. This will make or break your social media presence, so make sure you prepare for this properly. Most importantly, be open to criticism and adjust accordingly.
Best Practices for Creating Cool Graphic Design on Social Media

Now that you have more or less an idea what you want for your business on social media, you can move on to making more social graphics or visual content. If you are having trouble deciding, here are some steps to take with your graphic designer:

What’s interesting is that you can use typography––the way you arrange letters and text––to elicit certain emotions, convey specific messages, and bring your message to life. Considering this, you must pay attention to the different elements of typography, which are the font style, appearance, and structure that you apply to your written copies and content. It’s an important aspect of your brand identity that gives character to the content you share on the Internet.

  1. Pick the right colours
    Knowing a bit about colour psychology is vital to understanding social media graphics, especially with Instagram, wherein aesthetics is the focal point of many businesses. From your created mood board, have your graphic designer make some suggestions or changes to the colours that may better fit your brand online.
  2. Choose high-quality pictures
    Nobody likes pixelated images or graphics, especially on Instagram and Facebook. As such, invest in some high-quality stock photos or a good camera. Phone camera pictures are fine, but you will need to get a feel for what your customers prefer, as these may not be as effective as getting a photography service.
  3. Account for the short attention span on social media
    While it might seem an attack on social media culture, this has simply become the standard of living in this fast-paced age. Scrolling through Facebook and Instagram is a testament to this. Take the time to approve social graphics that are effective “scroll stoppers” that will catch the attention of your consumers.
Conclusion

An effective and informed approach to social media can fuel truly creative and investable social graphics. You, as a business owner, just need to take the time to really sit down, plan ahead with your team, and reach out to the best graphic design services. If you follow these steps, you can create a strong online presence and see your business grow fast and consistently. So, invest your time and money in great social graphics!

Are you looking for cool and affordable graphic design services in Australia? We can help you with all your social graphics and other related graphic design needs. Reach more customers online with us!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Captain of ships and commander to a crew of designers. Benjamin Williams is a creative director with over 20 years of experience working with the world’s largest brands.