Having creative and clean social media designs is a key component to a successful business. 45% of everyone in the entire world actively uses social media. To put that into perspective that is 3.5 billion people, what a figure right? Social media has been prominent in the 21st century and part of our day-to-day lives. Ideas can be spread to the whole world in just seconds through words, pictures, and even videos. A business’s presence on social media is essential to becoming successful. In this article we will talk about the importance of social media, specifically the design aspect and how it can get you more traffic. We explore different platforms, important aspects of post designs, and why this all matters.
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What is Social Media Design?
By nature, humans are visual beings. 30% of the human brain processes visual things while only 8% processes touch and 3% hearing. Therefore, when someone goes to a website, their eyes will go straight to the main picture or design. On social media, people’s eyes will go to the overall aesthetic of a page. Social media design consists of the banner, profile picture and overall theme of a page. Therefore, it’s important to have eye-catching and powerful designs so people are more likely to click on your page. The same goes for posts, engagements are everything. The top companies and influencers on social media have nice matching banners and profile pictures. The Facebook page of Uber is a great example having over 22 million likes. Their profile picture, banner, and posts all follow the same theme of the color black and using the same font. We will later talk about why color and text are important. Each social media platform has unique features and audiences where companies are allowed to visual design anything.
Different Types of Social Media and Their Unique Features
It’s key to understand each social media platform and tailor a marketing strategy to each one because there’s different demographics, user-interfaces, and popularity. Below are the ranked top three most popular social medias for small businesses with descriptions of how it uses design.
With over 1 billion, yes billion, active users every day, Facebook is the top social media today. The possible outreach on Facebook is incomparable to other companies. Businesses can easily make a page on the site. Facebook allows a profile picture, banner, and any type of media post including photo and video. What makes Facebook so successful for businesses is its unique user interface where you can send a business a message straight through Messenger and do other actions to connect with users. Another feature that Facebook has is the “Check In” post. Anyone can check-in your business which will be posted on their profile that they are at your business. As a business owner, you can use this to your advantage and incentivize users to check in.
Instagram has 500 million daily active users and is mainly photo and video oriented. The use of Instagram’s geo-tag feature allows users to post a picture to a location which can be used to businesses advantage. Also, Instagram’s hashtags are beneficial for businesses to reach certain demographics and audiences. For example, if a restaurant posts a picture of a burger, they can use the hashtags #tasty #burger, people searching for those specific hashtags will see the burger picture there. Lastly, Instagram features pages for free on the discover tab. Posts related to what users like show up there especially from businesses whose location is in close proximity to the user. In terms of design, Instagram allows a profile picture and whatever content you want to post. Many factors get photos more likes, for example the quality, what’s in the photo, and a creative caption.
Twitter has 250 million active users and is a mix of Instagram and Facebook in terms of content. Accounts on Twitter have a profile photo and banner image. Usually bigger businesses use it to give off information on the company. Twitter first started as a text only platform where a user can only post a certain amount of characters, however now it’s evolved with photos and videos. Twitter’s retweet feature is revolutionary where if someone retweets something, it will show up on their feed so all their followers can see it. This is optimal for businesses because the more retweets your tweet is getting, then the more outreach and traffic. Also, Twitter’s search feature allows people to come across your tweet if they share just one word.
You may be wondering why we didn’t list other notable social media like Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Well these sites either have too much of a specific content type (YouTube is solely videos) or their service wouldn’t work well with most businesses in terms of growing. For more in-depth analysis of other social media platforms and what’s best for your business go to The Best Social Media Platforms for Business.
Tips on Creating Social Media Graphics
There are different types of graphics, as discussed earlier it depends on what you want to put out there. It can be a new profile picture, banner, or even social media post. Here are tips for you when creating graphics.
What’s Your Purpose?
When posting a new graphic on social media, there should be a purpose behind it. Are you trying to increase engagement? Drive sales? Give off a message? These are questions that can be answered depending on the purpose. The “Why?” is the most important question to ask before creating a graphic for social media
Know the Platform
It’s important to know which platform you’re posting on and the appropriate dimensions for each platform. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all have different dimensions and formats so it’s important to stay consistent with each platform. It’s helpful if you just find a size that works for all platforms and use that for all graphics. Each platform also has different audiences and purposes which all depend on your type of business.
Color and Contrast
Color is the most important part of a design that can make or break the whole message. Colors have different psychological factors portraying different emotions. For example, blue is sadder while yellow is happy. However, this isn’t the case for most businesses. It’s good to have a color scheme that gives off contrast. The type of color should stay consistent, use the same tone of a color throughout posts.
Text / Typography
Like color, text is an important factor. Different fonts can be effective, and others can be distracting. It’s important that the font is easy to read and gives off the effect you are desiring. The typography should reflect your brand and what you stand for. Stay away from overcrowding images with text and focus on white space, contrast, and color. If you scroll through 100 of the Most Famous Logos, you will notice that these companies have been following the same color scheme and typography for years making them easily recognizable household brands.
A term we emphasized was consistency. If your color scheme and type is inconsistent, then it will be hard to portray your message to consumers. Being consistent with color and text gives your brand an identity so people can easily recognize it. The graphic design industry doesn’t just include images to learn more check out our Graphic Design Page.
Why Social Media Post Design Matters
Social Media is an essential when wanting to become a successful business. It’s an absolute necessity in this age where everyone is on it. It comes with its pros and cons like helping a business grow exponentially but could ruin a business if there’s one small slip up. The content in social media posts is fundamental. An example is let’s say someone shares your post on their Instagram, this means that everyone who has that person added will see it in their feed. When people scroll through their feed, they are more likely to stop at something that sparks their attention. There are many strategies to get people’s attention and the design is the very forefront of it. The color scheme, the text, and the overall message. The most successful commercials for example catch consumers attention through emotion. A social media post is like an advertisement, you want it to generate traffic. For more information, check out Social Media Strategies and Guides for tips on what to post and how to get started.
Overview
Social media has proven itself in the last decade that it can be very beneficial for businesses. It is rapidly outweighing the old method of growing which used to be word of mouth. However just owning a social media isn’t enough, you need to actively engage people and that is done through posts. Most specifically the design aspect which has proven to be the most effective form of media. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have different interfaces with helpful tools you can use to grow. For example, Instagram’s discover features and Facebook’s rating system. The combination of these platforms and your creativity, you can reach people from anywhere. It’s crucial to understand efficient social media graphic techniques like having a consistent color scheme and non-distracting typography. Consistency is key and it will help people remember who you are. Your first impression matters and can make or break getting a client or consumer. At SEO Chicago Design we specialize in social media design and can help you create the most effective social media design posts, get a free consultation at SEO Design Chicago.
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