Did you know there are over 3 billion active social media users? Among them are your ideal customers. When choosing a business to meet their needs, the ones with the best graphics catch their attention.
Are your social media graphics strong enough to compete? Or do users scroll past them without a second thought?
There’s a handful of factors that decide if your graphics are double tap-worthy. Luckily, once you know them, they’re super easy to master.
By stepping up your graphics, you can boost engagement and sales. Keep reading to learn how to create social media graphics that sell.
1. Cohesive Branding
Your graphics across every marketing channel should be cohesive.
Being cohesive means your website, online store, and social media all relate to each other. This is important for brand identity and telling customers they’re in the right place.
So, what is your brand identity? What colors, fonts, and imagery does your brand use? What is the core message in your brand’s story?
Once you know the answers to these questions, you can start planning your graphics. Take your Instagram page, for example. Every image you post should look great on your grid, but also be able to stand alone.
Will followers be able to know it’s your brand just by seeing the graphic?
Your Facebook posts, Instagram posts, and all other posts should use a unified style. No matter where your brand shows up on the internet, your marketing materials need to be cohesive.
2. Color Psychology
Did you know that colors evoke emotions? Marketers have been aware of this for years and often use it in their campaigns.
Let’s say you want to spur engagement from your social media graphic. What emotions do people feel when they’re compelled to engage? They feel inspired, motivated, excited, and trusting.
You can create those emotions with your graphic by using certain colors. For example, orange evokes confidence, courage, and warmth. Blue evokes trust, dependability, and security.
Red is an excellent color for evoking passion, excitement, and energy. But, you must be careful with it. Used in the wrong way and red will evoke fear, danger, and pain.
Choose a handful of colors you want to use across all your marketing materials. There should be a couple neutrals, and a couple more accent colors. These will be the main colors you use in your social media graphics.
3. Contrast
Without contrast, your graphic will look like a wash of colors and works that blend into each other. Users certainly won’t stop to read it because it’s not eye-catching.
Many huge corporations are successful with high-contrast ads. Take Nike for example. Their key graphics are often a simple black background with bold white letters saying “just do it.”
When you scroll through your feed, your eyes notice Nike’s posts. The contrast is intriguing and powerful. Incorporate that knowledge into your own social media graphics.
Make sure you don’t layer light colors on top of a light background. Outline letters if you need to as this creates contrast.
Use negative space as a contrast to the focal point of your graphic. It’s okay if there’s empty space around your message. Negative space contrast is better than cramming too much into that graphic square.
4. Text and Typography
Text and typography are not the same things. The typography is the font and style of your letters. The text is the message your words convey.
Your typography should be cohesive to your brand story. If your brand is all about being bold and brave, use bold lettering. If your brand is about femininity and natural beauty, use more elegant fonts.
Experiment with different size typography in your graphic. One line can be small, the second line large because it’s your main message. In their logo, MAD Group emphasizes the top line over the bottom ones to grab attention.
For your message, choose text that evokes emotion as color does. If you want to empower your audience to engage, write inspiring and insightful copy. Share your brand’s opinion on relevant topics because this will spur engagement as well.
5. Cater to the Platform
Some styles of graphics work best on one platform over another. Facebook and Instagram are both powerful marketing channels, but they prefer different strategies.
Instagram focuses on the millennial generation. They like to see candid lifestyle shots and real life. It’s very image heavy, so don’t overload your graphics with text.
Facebook focuses on the older generations who aren’t as image-focused. They can handle more text which makes it a great channel for marketing promotions. It’s also super easy for users to share graphics they like with their followers.
So, you must tailor your graphic to the social media platform it’ll be on.
6. Create Base Templates
It can get tedious to start from scratch every time you need to make a graphic. Instead, create 5-10 templates that just need adjusting and editing.
For example, you could create one template for Instagram posts with a text focus. Set the background color, font, size, and color so all you have to do is enter the copy.
You could also make a Facebook post template for promoting a sale in your online store. The template can have your logo, brand colors, and typography set. All you have to do is enter the copy for this specific sale.
One great way to create and store your templates yourself is by using Canva. Play with different styles and layouts until you find the ones that suit your brand. Then, save them in your account for your next post.
Some business owners would rather a professional handle the graphic creation process. If you’d rather not take this project on yourself, there are always specialists ready to help.
Ready to Create Social Media Graphics That Sell?
The graphics you post to social media are as important as the copy. In some cases, like Instagram, they’re more important than your caption.
How will you capture your audience’s attention with your graphics? Will you earn their engagement or conversion over your competition? If you follow the tips above, you will.
For more tips on how to create social media graphics and other marketing advice, check out the Social Media for Businesses Blog.
