04 Nov Why Social Media Marketing and Graphic Design Go Hand in Hand
Why Social Media Marketing and Graphic Design Go Hand in Hand
Businesses of all sizes are on social media, competing for customers’ attention in constantly updating content feeds.
If you own a small business, there’s no question that you need to be on there too–being active on social platforms is key to survival: it secures business growth and, above all, generates profit.
But getting the most out of social media marketing is easier said than done.
Both a science and an art, social media requires a creative and meticulous strategy.
But in addition to the strategy in place, a business’ social media reputation is only as good as its public profile content.
Investing in social media marketing, therefore, means investing, to some degree, in graphic design.
Social media is visually driven, and well-thought-out graphic design is something which can give your business an edge in this competitive arena.
Here are some more reasons why social media marketing and graphic design go hand in hand as strategic tools for businesses today.
They’re essential for building brand awareness
Social media channels are great spaces for businesses to build brand awareness among both existing and new audiences.
There are many different channels businesses can choose to use for their social media marketing strategy, and you would likely want your business to be present on many social media platforms simultaneously to achieve maximum reach.
If this is the case for your business, your social media profiles must be consistent in their branding and design.
Think of them as different shop windows—you want your customers to know that it’s your business they’re looking at, even if they’re in a different town.
Social media is the same—whether your audience is on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, they should be able to see that they’re on your business’ page immediately.
As such, you are standardising the logo design, typography and content templates in use across all your business’s social media channels makes sense.
It both streamlines your brand and makes it recognisable to your social media customer base.
A consistent look across all channels also lends authority to your brand, giving your profile that all-important professional polish.
Social media marketing and graphic design are crucial components to your brand’s overall identity
Of course, your business’s “look” is not just about being recognisable.
Your logo design needs to stand out, but it must also work as imagery to communicate what your business is about while appealing to your target customers.
Is the colour right? The shape? The image? Does it get your business’s style across? Do your customers respond to it?
Professional graphic design work has the potential to tick all these boxes and get the overall message of your brand across in a matter of seconds.
With social media users continually scrolling, effective graphic design is the key to attracting attention and conveying your brand, fast.
The same goes for social media activity.
A business’s social media presence is more than just a set of visuals on an app profile page.
It’s a platform for engagement. It’s an event promotion tool, a new lead generator, an entry to new markets.
It’s a place where reputations can be built, customer service delivered, and authority established.
In the digital marketplace, your business’s social media marketing activity is its very identity – it’s how customers will see you, engage with you and remember you.
With this in mind, it’s not enough to get content out there on social media platforms.
That content needs to be appealing, must communicate your brand and above all needs to speak to your customers enough to drive action from them to contribute successfully to your business’s marketing strategy.
If your social media marketing rested on only one image, making sure that image does everything you need it to do in reflecting your brand, informing your customers and driving engagement is not easy.
A good graphic designer will be experienced in using images in this way and will help you optimise your business’s visual marketing output to achieve your desired results.
Well-designed graphics lead to customer engagement
The objective of social media marketing is often based on increasing numbers, whether this is growing your number of “shares”, “likes” or followers.
A killer graphic is likely to achieve this, by not only getting attention from social media users but resulting in action too.
Successful graphics can encourage followers to share your content to their feed, giving your marketing content extra reach to additional social media users outside your direct network.
It’s like “word-of-mouth” marketing for the digital age.
Your graphic output can also drive users back to your website – an astonishing 75% of users on Instagram visit business’s websites after looking at brand posts on the app.
That’s a vast amount of extra traffic engaging with your site off the back of a well-designed image on social media.
You’ll stay relevant as a business
As social media develops, companies will have to find new ways of engaging with their users to stay relevant.
Social media audiences will demand more content, in new formats, at an ever-quickening pace.
A good graphic designer will keep up with cultural changes in user behaviour and app technology and will be able to help your business design a relevant marketing campaign, so it’s bang on market trend.
Indeed, the role of graphic design for business is up there with user experience and content strategy in its significance to keeping companies current in the digital playing field.
Making use of the latest trends in graphic design will bring cultural impact to your social media marketing and put your business ahead in what promises to be an increasingly competitive market.
You’ll be remembered
Graphic design is an excellent tool for delivering memorable marketing communication that drives customer engagement and achieves results.
Social media content quickly goes out of date.
App users’ social media feeds are constantly updating with new images and calls to action.
Businesses face an eternal struggle to be seen and better yet, remembered, in this crowded social media sphere.
Graphic design can help you deliver a memorable marketing message and make sure you stand out from the crowd.
Indeed, it’s been scientifically proven that the human brain processes visual data better so that the information sticks.
So, if you have a complex message to deliver to your customers, you’ll give your communication the best chance of being remembered if you package it in a visual format.
Many businesses are, therefore, using data visualisations to bring business data to life.
A great example of this is an infographic.
Infographics can help turn even the driest material into exciting and engaging visual content.
There are many online tools out there at your fingertips which can create data visualisations for you, but of course, it’s something a professional designer would be able to help with, too.
So even if your business material doesn’t particularly lend itself to photograph-led marketing content, you can still create an insta-worthy image or a scroll-stopping visual with the aid of graphic design.
Don’t let uninspiring content hold you back – with today’s technology and accessible online tools; there are no excuses!
It’s all about the visuals
As the adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Nowhere is this truer than on social media, where character limits are implemented, caption lengths are restricted, and your audience’s attention is always being prompted to wander elsewhere by other posts on their feed.
A single image can do all the talking for you if its design is on point.
You’ll put your marketing campaign ahead of the competition if the content looks original and tells a compelling story.
Stock photos or default typography just aren’t going to have the same impact as digital content which has been designed uniquely to carry your business’ message.
A social media campaign which is unmistakably yours can be conveyed through the “look” of the marketing material: the typography, the colour scheme and palette can all be used to denote that this is your brand’s digital message.
You can also use digital design to create unique marketing content–a thought-provoking video, a stunning photographic image or bold slogan in eye-catching type.
The bottom line is, social media marketing content needs to be visually arresting.
The objective is to get users to stop scrolling, engage with your content and respond to your call to action.
Good graphic design makes all the difference here.
Good design – and good digital marketing – is worth investing in
When planning your social media marketing campaign, think about what it is you want to create and whether you have the expertise to do it justice.
If not, you should certainly consider making use of a graphic designer or involving a graphic design agency.
Whether you’re looking to create a killer meme, informational video, informative infographic or a typographical text post – getting a graphic design professional on board is well worth it if it means your content is seen, shared, saved or even sent viral.
Quality content is worth investing in. An amateur visual could do more harm than good for your brand, while a graphic designer could repay the cost of their work many times over if your marketing message is successful.
The same is true of your social media marketing campaign.
If you don’t have the relevant expertise to carry out your campaign, a social media manager or social media agency would be well worth engaging if you want to get results.
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