Businesses are now competing on social media. Social media marketers should come prepared by knowing the target market, determining what network fits the business, making people know the business exists and engaging more followers.
Since most people understand information better when presented visually, social media marketers should also develop skills in graphics design.
For it to become engaging, a graphic design should reflect the brand of the business and be relevant to the need and wants of the target market.
In this article, we will be discussing what social media marketers usually do and what graphic design skills are needed to survive in the battle of brands in social media.
What Social Media Marketers Do
A social media marketer shall take charge of all the aspects of the social media presence of a business. If you wonder what a social media marketer does all day, here is a compilation of the tasks to be done.
Know the target market
The end goal of social media marketing is to reach and engage with potential clients; to achieve such, a social media marketer needs a lot of background information about the target market. The content of social media marketing should always be relevant to the needs and wants of the target client.
Determine what network fits the business
Not all social media network works for each business. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and other networks have strengths and weaknesses. A good social media marketer should know the differences between one network and the other and choose the network that works best for their goals and audience.
Make people know your business exists.
With the number of competitors available on every social media network, a social media marketer should ensure that the target market knows your business exists. And to do this, social media marketers must work like sales agents who should promote the business to potential clients, gaining more brand awareness.
Engage followers
Once your business has followers, a social media marketer should work hard to engage with them. A social media marketer should always maintain the business’s presence to the clients by talking directly to them, responding to questions, creating a poll, and even managing complaints.
A social media marketer should develop the skill of maintaining happiness and containing possible troubles with clients.
Evaluate your results
Checking the progress is essential to see what is working well and what is not. A social media marketer should regularly monitor the results after applying a strategy to assess its effectiveness in achieving the goals you have set.
With the results on hand, a social media marketer should always look for ways to improve the strategy to see better results and gain more profit in return.
With these tasks, a social media marketer is a strategist, a writer, a customer service representative, and an analyst – at times, all on one occasion.
Importance of Graphic Design Skills for Social Media Marketers
With the new trends existing on social media, the style of marketing has also evolved. Today, most people understand information better when presented visually.
For many, no matter how great your words are, they will not notice or pay attention unless accompanied by appealing visuals.
According to Venngage, 40.8% of the marketers they interviewed expressed that the use of original graphics enabled them to reach their marketing goals in 2020.
Thus, aside from writing, a social media marketer should also develop skills in graphic design.
As a social media marketer, having graphic design skills would help you build your brand awareness, captivate your client’s attention, and get more followers and engagement.
Useful Graphic Design Tips for Social Media Marketers
Graphic design skills are not too difficult to develop. While you can make original graphics on your own, the internet offers you an online banner generator where you can instantly make a powerful advertisement, notice, or poster for your business.
To help you come up with powerful outputs using a banner generator or editing software, here are some tips that you can try.
Let’s get started!
1. Know Your Objective
All graphic design-making process begins with an objective. Thus, before you start, provide a clear answer on why you are creating a particular design. Do you aim to increase sales? Do you do it to raise brand awareness?
2. Choose the Right Size
Your graphic design size varies depending on the platform you would be using it in. Here are some of the dimension requirements of popular social media sites:
Facebook Image Size – 1200 x 628 pixels.
Twitter Image Size – 900 x 450 pixels.
Instagram Size – 1080 x 1080 pixels.
LinkedIn Size – 1350 x 440 pixels.
If you are a social media marketer, it’s important that you know these image sizes so that you can maximize your visuals. For example, if you post an image bigger than the required size, Facebook will automatically cut on its newsfeed display. You can only view its full size if you click it. In advertising, this is already a big mistake, since most users are only scrolling through newsfeeds. Your image will not deliver its proper message because it did not follow the right dimensions for posting.
To make your work easier, you can use an online graphic design tool or a banner generator. They come with preset sizes, which would make your design perfect, whether for web or mobile. That means you don’t need to manually resize your graphics!
3. Use Your Brand Color
Colors play a crucial role. They could set a mood, influence emotion, and affect an audience’s perception. Yes, the color could either make or break a design. Thus, if you have brand colors, use them in your designs.
If you do not have one, you can use any color that fits or delivers your brand message. Just make sure you also understand the meaning or the representation of every color.
4. Use the Right Font
Like colors, fonts play a significant role in graphic design. Make sure your fonts are easy to read and shall reflect your brand.
Once done, you must be consistent and utilize the same font in all your designs as much as possible. Consistency could help your audience easily identify your design. It is also best to limit your design to a maximum of three fonts.
5. Pay attention to alignment
When everything is not aligned in the graphics, your message becomes difficult to read. At the same time, not everything needs to be centered; always check how your design will be viewed on a mobile phone or a desktop.
Text and images should line up flush with margins and baselines. Worry no more; you can check an online banner generator if you do not have editing software. It usually has a built-in alignment and grid system so that your graphics will look clean and professional.
6. Utilize Icons
Icons help the audience better understand information. When your audience scrolls down your page or website, they tend not to focus on the text unless something interesting catches their attention. Thus, try to use icons to support your content.
7. Always Check the Trend
Like in fashion, trends in graphic design also come and go. A graphic designer must know what designs are emerging and are no longer relevant. You can know the latest trend by searching the latest on the internet or checking what your competitors are doing.
8. Keep it Simple
If you want your designs to make a lasting impression in the market, you should keep it simple. In design, simplicity doesn’t mean plain; it means producing something attention-getting without relying on too many elements.
Learnings and Takeaways
Despite the intense competition of brands on social media networks, standing out is not impossible.
As a social media marketer, all you need to do is make sure you have the required skills and strategy to capture your target market’s attention effectively.
And to minimize confusion and time, you can explore different tools and start experimenting with your design skills. Follow these tips and start achieving your goals.
