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More than 2.5 billion people are currently using social media platforms worldwide, and considering that’s a huge proportion of the total population, there’s plenty of room for finding your target audience online. That said, with so many people perusing through social media, you have to make sure that your graphics pop, shine and really stand out in order to grab the attention of potential customers. Let’s find out how to create content that people will be sure to click on.
Make your designs pop with contrast
Social media graphics can really be brought to life with just the right balance of dark and light. Contrasting colors can also provide an eye-catching effect with simple opposing combinations such as orange and blue.
One thing to keep in mind though is that you don’t want any of the colors to clash with your brand’s identity! Think of hugely recognizable brands such as Coca-Cola and Starbucks that use mainly red and white, and dark green and white respectively.
A simple design can be the best choice
With advertisements being displayed on only a portion of a page, and with those pages often being viewed on smaller devices such as cellphones, you will want to make your design clear and understood the moment that it is seen.
Avoid overcrowding graphics by sticking with 1 or 2 fonts, and make the graphics and the fonts large and eye-catching. Remember to utilize white space to contrast your bold, impactful designs which will give those designs some breathing room. It’s also a good idea to only use 2 or 3 colors as it’s easier to keep in line with branding and it won’t distract the eye too much.
Discover what your goal is
There may be billions of people swiping their way through social media pages, and you may have honed many design techniques to catch a lot of people’s attention, but it’s especially important to not lose sight of what your goal is. Don’t try and cater to everyone, focus on specifics, and reach your best audience.
Think about whom your ideal customer would be, which platforms they would regularly use, and what devices they would view your designs on. You should then think about what message you want to spread with your graphic, what emotion you want to invoke from that, and what action you want users to perform after they see your design.
Get visual with your message
Your designs need to be ‘scroll-stopping’ to get the attention of the distracted users who are otherwise just passing by. This means that your message will need to be interpreted quickly and the best way to do this is through text coupled with a relevant graphic. Research has proved that information can be recalled over 50% more efficiently by people when information is paired in this way.
Make sure to be clear with your imagery and allow it to evoke specific emotions with your audience. As this progressive visual design master explains, visual design involves vast amounts of information that is to be communicated and understood, so it’s imperative that information is presented in an interesting and intelligible manner.
Understand the brand’s identity
Before you get down to designing, have the user experience in mind. The brand and all of the elements associated with them need to remain recognizable to their audience.
Be sure to reference the branding guide for the company to make sure that designs, fonts, color schemes, and all the rest of it are in keeping.
To help lead you on to crafting a more responsive design, you can further reference the company’s social media pages and website. Here you can find out which types of graphics get the most engagement and then you can build off of those elements in your next design.
Seek inspiration from contemporary design
A good way to get inspiration is by seeing what’s out there already. See what styles are trending on your target platform but don’t forget to source inspiration cross-platform to get the full scope. Often, the best designs incorporate several techniques, so don’t be scared to venture into new territory, or in this case: onto new platforms.
It’s also a good idea to test your designs in their end-environment in order to see how effective they can really be, so implement new design techniques and test them out to see what really gets your audience clicking.
With these ideas, you’re bound to show improvements and increase user engagement. Go forward with bold designs solutions, make use of patterns and textures, and despite all the advice about branding consistency, remember that it’s okay to go out there and break a few rules from time to time.
