- 77.9% of the UK’s population are active social media users, spending an average of 110 minutes on social media each day!¹
- There are 845 million monthly active users of Facebook. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world, behind China and India.²
Social media is a popular destination, yet it’s busy. If you’re using social platforms to promote awareness and engagement in your brand, (and there are many benefits in doing so), your posts / updates / tweets need to cut through lots of noise to stop social scrollers.
Our brains process visual information fastest and remember it for longer. So, let’s look at how to improve your social engagement with on-brand, professional imagery, which we are here to support you with. We’ve shared a few examples of our work, from our own social repertoire.
- Social banners
Social banners are like your digital letterhead, they shape the first impressions of visitors to your page and help to build their understanding of what your organisation is about. Consider including a strapline or key ‘unique selling point’ yet keep this information focused. Consistency is king; ensure that your branners epitomise your brand and take the same core approach across different platforms for added reinforcement.
- Still images and graphics
Images improve engagement, industry estimates put this improvement at somewhere between 35% and 100%! Catching your audience’s eye is the headline strategy, yet you can also communicate information through your imagery. Take the opportunity to reflect your brand colours and fonts, using a typographic hierarchy where required, i.e. headline, sub headers and body text, which will clearly guide the reader as to what they should focus on. Introducing graphics will enable you to blend different pieces of information in one image, e.g. a call to action, contact details, heading, strapline and supporting imagery.
- PDFs for social posts
A PDF, (Portable Document Format) is a versatile file format that can’t be modified but can easily be shared. You can upload a PDF file to an individual or company LinkedIn page, as a ‘LinkedIn Document’. LinkedIn’s algorithm loves this approach, it gives visitors something longer to engage with, increasing their time on the platform. As a result, a post that includes a PDF will have an extended reach, to a larger audience. Your PDF file can include multiple pages, which visitors can engage with at their leisure. They work well when you need to share several messages, whilst keeping your post organised, impactful and on brand. Great for step-by-step guides, top 10 tips and other blog style content, as well as information that you may have in a PowerPoint format, or even headline company brochures. Just keep your text focused and easy to read. Whilst there isn’t currently an option to upload a PDF to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, you can create a similar effect by using multiple images within a gallery.
- Interactive presentations with external links
Share interactive presentations and allow visitors to interact with your post. You can add working videos, transitions, and buttons to bring your content to life. There is also the option to attach a preview image. This option works well on Facebook and LinkedIn, it is also an option for Twitter, although you need to maintain the link address in your preview. Click here to see this example on LinkedIn.
- 2D Animation
Animations are a creative and engaging way to promote a product or service, make an announcement, explain a process and tell a story. Click here for more information and ideas on animation design.
- Video messages with animated text
Using video footage with animated text is a different and engaging way to share a message, movement will help to hold the attention of the visitor. Free stock video footage can be the starting point here, or you can access a wider range of quality clips by making a small investment in the associated royalties. Click here to see this example on LinkedIn.
Getting value for money from your social resources
Whilst social media posts are quite transient, viewed in an instant, the right posts can create a ripple effect as updates are picked up on and engaged with. Professional and creative social media resources can be added as features to individual LinkedIn pages, pinned to your profiles and used across platforms, whilst reinforced on web pages too. They are tools in your social media marketing strategy and we’d love to talk more about how they can effectively and practically support your business goals. Let us know what good looks like for your business when it comes to social media.
Sources:
¹ https://cybercrew.uk/blog/social-media-statistics-uk
² Shift Happens 2022 from Apollo Ideas on YouTube
