Graphics are a powerful way to tell visual stories and convey engaging narratives on social media.
With the popularity of visual platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and more, brands have an immense opportunity to leverage images and videos to connect with their audiences and promote their content.
Create Graphics for Social Media
When designing graphics for social media, think outside the box. Play around with a free design tool and make use of bold colours, play with unique compositions, and tap into current trends. Experiment with different graphic styles like flat design, vintage, minimalism, collage, and more. Layer text and graphics in interesting ways. Use high-quality photos and graphics, and optimise images for each platform’s size standards.
With a spark of ingenuity and balance of design principles, you can make truly engaging visuals that stand out in social media feeds.
Graphics allow brands to showcase products, explain complex ideas, and reveal company culture in memorable ways. When used effectively, visuals help brands build communities, increase visibility, and drive meaningful engagement across social media.
Using Visuals to Draw In Your Audience
In the age of information overload, graphical images and videos allow brands to instantly capture attention. When scrolling through busy feeds, dynamic visuals stand out and pique viewer curiosity.
Before viewers even read your captions or click on your links, compelling graphics can draw them in and entice them to engage further. Using eye-catching photographs, stylised illustrations, informational charts/graphs, and explanatory diagrams in your social posts will help attract your target demographic.
Additionally, visuals make content more easily digestible for audiences. Viewers process and retain graphical information far better than dense blocks of text. Communicating key messages through graphics improves comprehension and helps drive your narrative home.
Crafting Cohesive Visual Narratives
Once you’ve hooked your audience, the next step is using visuals to convey a coherent story and communicate your brand’s key messages.
Effective visual storytelling requires planning a narrative flow and choosing graphics that work together to take viewers on a journey. This involves thinking about how each visual builds onto the next.
For example, you can use a short sequence of images to demonstrate a step-by-step process or tell a story that educates and engages social media audiences over multiple posts or one long feed post.
Maintaining visual consistency across your graphics is key. You can achieve cohesion through color schemes, graphic styles, fonts, etc. A consistent aesthetic will allow your visual narrative to feel polished and intentional.
Experimenting with Visual Storytelling Formats
Certain visual formats lend themselves well to storytelling on social media. Brands should take advantage of the variety of options available:
- Photo series: Post a cohesive collection of photographs that takes followers through a story sequentially. For example, a behind-the-scenes look at your product development process.
- Comic strips: Use a comic-style narrative structure with illustrated panels and captions to present an engaging story.
- Infographics: Display key data, stats, and facts in colourful infographic visualisations that followers can understand at a glance.
- Videos: Produce interesting brand videos to reveal your mission, showcase products, provide tutorials, or highlight company culture.
- Carousels: Post multiple slides of images/graphics and captions that users can horizontally scroll through on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
- Instagram Stories: Post visual snippets and short videos on Instagram Stories that disappear after 24 hours. This format lends itself to a more informal, in-the-moment narrative style.
Optimising Visuals for Social Media
When creating graphics, keep in mind the technical requirements for each social media platform you plan to share them on. Image and video dimensions, aspect ratios, and file size limits vary across sites like Facebook, Instagram, X, Pinterest, etc. Create visual assets specifically sized for each platform.
It’s also important to optimise graphics for both desktop and mobile. Since many users access social media on their phones, ensure images and text are clear and readable on smaller screens. Test how your visuals display on mobile before publishing your posts.
Finally, add descriptive alt text to communicate what images portray to improve accessibility for visually impaired users.
Try Different Visual Storytelling Styles
Play around with different graphic design styles and visual perspectives to keep your audience engaged. For example, you can blend photos with illustrations in the same narrative, or utilise graphics with varied colour palettes and textures.
Including human elements also connects with viewers emotionally. Show real employees, customers, and community members in your visual storytelling whenever possible. Keep experimenting with innovative ways to tell compelling and cohesive stories through creative graphics tailored to different social platforms!
