Good visual content helps your social media fly. You know it yourself, from scrolling down your timeline – attractive, engaging images make you more likely to stop scrolling and see what’s going on. If you’re not a graphic artist, you might be worried about how to manage this part of your social media marketing content creation. But you don’t need to – there are plenty of easy hacks to help you create fantastic images for your social channels.
What is a social media image?
This is about more than finding a shareable image on Google for your latest post. It’s about how you can create interesting, arresting and recognisable image brand for your organisation. So social media images can include:
- Testimonial or feedback cards
- Image montages
- Infographics
- Employee pictures
- Branded images
If you manage social media for business or any other organisation, you need to have a bank of strong images and a set of clearly branded backgrounds or frames that you can add text to when you want to make a point. So here are our top tips for creating great images – even if you’re not a graphic artist.
Use a template site – there are several image template sites around, and these are great for helping you to make consistent, engaging images. Examples include Canva, PicMonkey and Renderforest – they all have a wide range of templates in the right sizes for each channel. You can customise the templates and use them to start building consistent images that work for your brand.
Understand first principles – if you understand what makes a great image design, you’re most of the way there. Images should be clean and clear – not cluttered. Use the ‘rule of thirds’ which means placing the most important part of the image in one third of the picture. Make sure the image you choose has a clear focus. Use easy-to-read fonts and don’t put too much text on the image. And remember that people read from top to bottom or left to right.
Be consistent – go onto Instagram and look at the most satisfying grids. There’s usually a colour theme, the fonts are always the same, the images follow a certain style. Think about what style will be most attractive to your target audience, set that style and use it for everything. All channels for social media help business marketers to grab attention and tell a story – if you’re on more than one, you need this consistency across the board.
Mix it up – people will get bored if they see the same image on every post. So set your house style, but vary the images and messaging. Social media service companies would always advise that you use a range of images, including infographics and video, to connect with potential customers.
Good quality images – there are lots of ways to source great images without bringing in a photographer. With a range of stock photo sites – both free and paid-for – available, brands can now find a range of diverse, culturally-aware, contemporary and fun photos to use on their social media. Always look for the highest resolution pictures, and always credit the photographer or the website. Good sites to check out are Unsplash, Adobe, Pikwizard and Reshot.
This brief guide to social media marketing content creation should help you to get started – but if you are short on time and think it could be easier to hire a virtual social media manager, feel free to talk to us about our social media assistance service. And if you’d like to know more our UK based virtual assistants feel free to call us on 0800 994 9016 or use our contact form in the menu above.