The success of visual strategies on social media is critical in creating genuine user experiences and profitable returns for potential customers.
Although Facebook and Twitter tend to focus less on visual content creation than Instagram and Snapchat do, creating relevant visual strategies requires taking all aspects of each social platform (from their languages of posts) into consideration when planning visual strategies for them.
What Is Your Presence On Social Media?
Social media presence refers to your brand's online identity communicated through images and text shared across different social networks, engaging both returning visitors and new ones alike. Establishing this public face helps establish your unique selling points as well as raise brand awareness. Establishing your social media presence takes careful planning, so here are a few pointers and tactics that may assist with building an attractive brand social presence on social media platforms.
Tips To Strengthen Your Social Media Visual Strategy
Our advice on developing visual strategies draws from our extensive expertise, from setting up social media channels processes for small, boutique businesses to overseeing accounts belonging to larger ones. Here are some tips to improve visual strategy-
Content Types
Establishing predetermined categories is the foundation for an effective visual approach. Categorized posts help organize posts more easily while guaranteeing variety in every post that may celebrate avocados or another item of interest. Social Media Day posts may highlight such categories for this very reason!
As categories provide visually diverse and orderly feeds, clients need to believe their brand is still driving business goals and raising awareness - selecting content categories prior to publishing can help ensure this. Identifying topics early is an easy and important first step toward this end marketing goal.
Maintain Your Categories Basic
At agencies we advise, one of the biggest hurdles we typically encounter when providing advice on their social media analytics processes is creating content strategies with twelve or more categories, leaving strategists and art directors feeling confused; your content calendar won't offer as much variety either. A general guideline suggests keeping no more than six distinct categories or consolidating them all under a singular umbrella category.
Because social media users posting can quickly become overwhelming, this aid facilitates brief creation and presentation as well as helping your internal social team members feel less "overwhelmed". According to one of our former creative directors, social media marketers posting requires as much work as producing full-fledged ads; it's like doing thirty small advertisements at once! With the heavy workload for social customers and the risk that content becomes outdated without due process in place, creative burnout is an integral component in social ideation.
Everything Is Process
No matter the size or complexity of your company, having an organized process in place to implement a visual approach will provide peace of mind to ensure consistency is upheld over time. A monthly routine also fosters consistency that guarantees optimal visual presentation.
At each client we manage, the process starts with an ideation meeting (more on that below), production brief, quality checks rounds and approval as needed before scheduling or uploading of final products. To create an effective visual strategy and production process for you and your content categories alike, the initial two phases must be in place and in full swing before any production can commence. Employ digital marketing services for your brand.
Create Ideal Content
Once Your Categories Have Been Authorized Now That Your Categories Have Been Approved, it is time for content production! Assembling a marketing team to brainstorm content ideas for each grouping of categories will enhance visual strategy; post-ideation creation of post-ideation material will then follow suit so as to achieve optimal visual and aesthetic performance, giving rise to exceptional post-ideation performances.
As someone who has worked on numerous beauty brands over the last several years, it is more essential than ever to consider inclusion when developing visual strategies for beauty brands. A lack of inclusive user-generated content (and products) is brand suicide for beauty firms if there's none present. Instead, you should start featuring representational pieces if that hasn't happened already, as businesses that fail to represent modern society accurately will fall behind. Their social media management platforms accounts won't provide users with genuine experiences.
Size Matters
Work with your producers on how to maximize post sizes on different platforms. Many businesses fail to adhere to the platform's ideal posting size requirements for posts, which affects the user's mobile experience as well as detracts from the aesthetic appeal of posts. While ideal sizes for each platform vary slightly, adhering to one rule makes your material stand out among its competition.
Posting visual content of similar size across multiple platforms should be avoided since this could negatively impact user experience. Instead, your material should be tailored specifically for each platform in terms of size. While scope plays an integral part in this decision making, making sure not to release identical pieces simultaneously on multiple platforms will help create the best user experience possible.
Ruining brand credibility and providing an uncomfortable user experience is detrimental. People visit different platforms looking for unique experiences; therefore it's critical that visual strategies take this into consideration while developing their visual strategies.
Treatment Methods
One unique strategy to enhance the visual design of your feeds is adding typographical treatment into it. Not only is this an eye-catching way of showing off creative abilities or those of producers to potential clients, it can also add the element of surprise that keeps interactions from feeling cohesive and fluid.
Reusing one post type multiple times with new wording and images helps increase awareness while creating a more recognizable social feed. Accent treatments, similar to type treatments, help maintain consistency and brand recognition while simultaneously increasing brand recognition and awareness. They may be especially helpful when used instead of logo overlays which many companies still believe appropriate when overlaying social media managers.
Accent treatments can serve as an ideal replacement to logo-heavy social media posts; many companies continue to misappropriate it as appropriate branding tools for social posts, however. Logos should never be added because avatars and brand names already feature prominently within posts; adding small accents in brand colors might provide the consistency that logos cannot achieve alone.
Related Article- Maximizing Business Success: Effective Social Media Marketing Strategies
Small Style Manuals
A brand's visual strategy can be enhanced by carefully considering the voice and tone of its social media postings; after all, copy is an essential aspect of user experience that should not be neglected. Without an effective, social media-friendly style guide in place to guide these decisions, posts could easily come off as spam to algorithms; the style guide outlines essential do's and don'ts like these:
- Exclude the CTA logo from all posts
- Avoid making comments containing racist slurs.
- Always ensure you use correct grammar.
Even though these style guides don't cover every corner, often taking up only one page in process or deck documents, they still help establish a coherent visual strategy by unifying style and tone across documents. Furthermore, your style guide must include hashtag guidelines, as their seemingly minor formatting can have significant ramifications on user experiences.
By consistently overusing hashtags in Facebook postings, for instance, you alienate an entire population that understands that this is not how hashtags should be utilized. Furthermore, using multiple hashtags ruins not only the account's aesthetic potential. Still, it gives other advertisers an opportunity to highlight your errors when half your Instagram posts include hashtags as separate remarks or leave them within their original context - potentially alienating an even wider segment of viewers!
Use Of Emojis
Emojis can greatly enhance post-interaction on various platforms; however, when applied incorrectly, they can severely diminish visual strategy. Prioritizing consistent formatting and providing material that feels familiar and comfortable for users should take precedence over worrying too much about finding answers. Utilizing vertical content on social proof networks like Facebook and Instagram should take priority as Snapchat may not get enough use otherwise.
Instagram provides two powerful indexing opportunities that are exclusive to vertical types of content that will dramatically expand its exposure. When utilized properly, location and hashtag story features provide two additional platforms where your posts could appear - an effective growth hacking tactic which may directly contribute to increased revenue growth.
Images Of Lifestyle
One great way to quickly improve social listening feeds for clients without sufficient resources available to you or your team for digitally creating posts is using lifestyle photos - practically every industry offers opportunities for this form of promotion!
Timing can make or break your visual approach, even though post-cadence may seem more strategic. Posting images related to alcohol in the morning versus breakfast at night will affect user perception of these posts and, ultimately, your designs or photos. An essential aspect of visual strategy involves considering ideal posting timings when considering visual concepts like designs or photographs.
Abstract social content can be an incredible source for creative producers worldwide, providing art directors the chance to focus their full attention on stunning pictures through abstract art. Phrases come naturally for copywriters utilizing creative wordplay with neon cotton candy in any industry sector imaginable.
Social Language
There can never be too much social lingo! Speaking to someone from another nation is customary when traveling; why shouldn't that same idiom translate well onto social media posts? Posts filled with language look amazing while garnering more engagement.
User-generated material (UGC) is one of the key facets of an effective visual social media strategy, and brands that leverage UGC can increase audience engagement quickly with your product or service. There are various strategic considerations involved when collecting UGC that must be taken into consideration before using such posts effectively on social media.
The use of natural capabilities of platforms excites customers. It boosts engagement, with these posts visually standing out against others and acting to encourage user interaction on platforms like Facebook or Twitter (Tagging locations on Instagram increases interaction by over 70%!). Furthermore, native features add variety and visually enthrall your audiences!
Conclusion
An effective social media campaign must have an eye-catching visual appearance; you see exactly what you get! From promotions and product details, to simply communicating an idea your physical attractiveness has the power to shape or break a social media profile and so it is critical that services offer comprehensive online visual strategies when developing successful content marketing campaigns on this channel.
Companies use social media for more than simply staying competitive; it serves as a digital marketing strategy that fosters relationships between you and your target audience, expanding brand reach significantly while providing valuable insights that could give a competitive edge. But to achieve all that successfully requires careful and systematic implementation.
