By mbretous@hubspot.com (Martina Bretous)

At least once a month, I discover a new brand and take a quick peek at their profile. Within a few seconds, I decide if I’ll hit that “follow” button or exit the page.

In those few seconds that I’m assessing the brand’s profile, I’m asking myself two questions: Is their content visually appealing and am I interested in the type of content they will be posting?

I’d bet many social media users take a similar approach. This is why social media design is an instrumental part of your social strategy. So much of social media is about perception and design plays a big role in determining that.

How can you make sure your design attracts the right audience? We’ll cover that and more below.

Nowadays, social platforms are often the first place consumers discover brands. As such, making a great first impression is the first step to building a robust social media presence.

Your social media design will also impact your brand perception. Every post you create and publish tells a story and contributes to your brand image. You want to make sure that story aligns with your overall messaging and builds a connection with your audience.

This is particularly important on platforms that prioritize visuals, like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. But you’ll still need to make sure your designs are consistent on all platforms.

What to Consider For Social Media Post Designs

Before you start working on your design, you’ll want to consider a few things. The first is your brand identity – your social media platform will be the visual representation of it, so you and your team must have a clear idea of what it is.

The next step is conducting market research to understand your audience. Questions to answer include:

• What are they looking for in a brand?
• What are their values?
• What are they interested in?
• What are they concerned about?
• What do they like to see on social media? What do they like to see on X platform?

This will serve as your frame of reference to drive your design approach.

You’ll then want to look at your competition’s designs. While you have your unique approach, it’s useful to know what visual strategies they’re using and how consumers are responding. The more information you have, the better equipped you will be to design creative assets that resonate with your audience.

Tips For Designing Social Media Posts

1. Aim for consistency and cohesion.

Consistency is key when designing your social media page. Why? Because it helps with brand recognition.

Imagine if every time you saw a brand, they changed their brand colors and logo. You would probably confuse it for another brand or forget it altogether. Brand recognition is important for building trust and loyalty with your audience.

Beyond posting regularly, consistency on social media also means sticking to a visual theme. Is it dark and moody or light …read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog

Author: Aaron