A lot of brands that have come up recently have a complete online presence. And they are doing good. You might wonder if that is a sustainable option and if social media presence is enough for a brand to survive. The answer to that is yes. Now it might sound like a simple task; just stay active on social media, and all is good, right? Not exactly. Coming up with ideas for social media design is not a cakewalk. It takes constant effort and strategy.
With content being consumed on such a large scale, brands need to stay on top of their game when engaging the audience online, thanks to the multiple lockdowns. Social media posts work well when the design stands out, makes the user spare a look, and the content keeps them engaged. Designers and marketers need to work hand-in-hand to maintain the brand identity and relevance on online platforms.
To help you do just that, we have a list of 7 ideas for social media design that will help you keep your audience engaged.
1. Take colors into consideration
This sounds like something of least priority, but this majorly impacts how the audience perceives your brand. Understand the meanings behind different colors, and following how you want your brand to be seen, pick a color theme.
For example, red comes out as a bold color; blue portrays calm; choosing a color sets your brand’s personality base.
2. Make good use of contrast
While using contrasts is surely eye-catching, ensure that you don’t overwhelm your users with something hard on the eye. While this doesn’t mean that you cannot use striking colors, contrast can also be achieved using different fonts, typography, etc.
3. Time for typography
If you have made use of the right contrast and colors, you have the user’s attention. Now your job is to keep them engaged. This is where the text comes into play. Ensure that you have not written long paragraphs or unreadable text.
Along with this, you also need to focus on making sure that the text is readable across all devices and platforms. Having good design and lousy text will downplay the brand, which is the last thing you want. Studies say that text written in an ‘F’ pattern is more likely to read the user.
4. Consistency is key
Having a consistent color, font, style for your posts will help create more brand awareness and recall. When you see a red background with white font, your mind might relate it to the brand ‘Coca-cola’. That is the power of branding.
Apart from having a consistent brand voice, your social media feel will look aesthetically pleasing for anyone who lands on your page. Let your brand’s identity dictate your page.
5. Less is more
You might feel like sharing something in-depth, but social media posts are not the right way to go about it. Recent 2021 graphic design trends show that minimalistic style is making its way back. So when you are designing for a social post, make sure that you convey whatever is absolutely necessary. Try to use more icons, infographics, images, etc., rather than writing it all down. Less is more; when it comes to design as well as the content.
6. Keep an eye out for trends
Jumping on trends is probably the smartest way to get attention. You can find out what is trending and have templates ready according to the color and style of your brand. Once you see a trend, work on the content and have the social media posts ready. A lot of brands follow this and gain good traction.
A good example of this is when CRED launched the ‘Indiranagar ka Gunda’ campaign, and many brands jumped on the wagon and saw good engagement.
7. Create scalable designs
You need to identify platforms where your audience is most active. Don’t just stick to the most used one. At the very least, identify 2-3 platforms to keep your audience engaged. If they see you across social media, it is more likely to increase your brand recall.
Create content that can be scaled across various platforms. If you have the templates ready, you can tweak content per the platform and go live.
These were the top 7 ideas for your next Social Media Design that you can implement. Apart from these, you can also come up with relatable custom GIFs that people can use share across. Social media design is something that you can play around with to find out what works best for your brand and your audience. If you wish to dive deeper into designing for social media, you can enroll in the ‘Designing for Social Media’ course and learn about strategy, tools, processes, and a lot more!
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