In the past decade, social media has grown at an enormous speed. What was once seen as a social platform has expanded to be used as a business tool as well. More and more companies are using social media not only as a way to connect with their customers but also as a marketing and advertising platform to generate leads and increase sales.
However, social media is not as easy as writing up a quick post and hoping to attract some attention – it takes a little more work than that. If you are using social media for any business purpose, you need to make sure that you are creating and posting appealing content, and that starts with good graphics.
Visual content is incredibly important; it can make or break a post. In fact, studies show that posting with visual content gets 94% more notice than those without it. Yes, 94%! That’s a big difference. This is why it’s essential to create and post graphics that fit your brand, mission, platform, and, most importantly, that are visually appealing.
Four tips for creating visual content on social media.
- Be unique. This means creating content that is your own and not always using stock photos. While they are okay to use occasionally, being unique is important and will serve you better in the long run. Your content will certainly stand out more if it is original and doesn’t look the same as the content that everyone else is putting out.
- Learn how to use editing programs and tools. Sometimes good graphics require some work. The first step is finding a good editing program and learning how to use it. If you want to make some stellar visual content, you need to know how to use the programs designed to create it. The industry standards are Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, but there are also many powerful free tools such as Canva.com that have a friendlier user interface and that can be easier to get started with.
- Create infographics. People love data, but sometimes it can be overwhelming reading a lot of information. An infographic is a great way to give people information in a visual way that captures their attention. Also, it’s important to note that colored visuals increase a person’s willingness to read content by 80%. So, don’t forget the color!
- Be educated about copyrights. Nobody, especially a business, wants a lawsuit. Make sure that you don’t infringe on copyright. If you are using any art from an outside source, make sure that you are paying for the rights or only use assets from royalty-free websites. Always check the fine print and any information blurbs about whether the asset can be used commercially. Time spent doing your homework can save you a whole lot of trouble in the long run.
Creating good visuals is vital to making your social media content eye-catching. That’s why it’s important to know what you’re doing. One post with good visual content will likely get more views than a series of posts without graphics, so whatever you do, don’t post without it. Leverage the free tools that are available and engage the visual appeal of your audience. In return, you will get more responses to your posts and better results from your content.
GIANT specializes in creating custom visual content for social media, including flyers, banners, infographics, ads, and more. Contact us anytime to learn how we can help you manage your social media accounts.