How to: Brand Your Social Media

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With the growing consumption of Social Media, if you want to stand out, it’s imperative to create an outstanding presence with the help of proper branding. How do you then achieve this without designer skills?

Your social media page talks to lengths about the brand’s charm. So, design a professional and engaging banner for your social media page in a few clicks and a matter of seconds!.

Here we share a few tips on how to easily brand your social media.

 

Creating a Great Banner

  1. Attractive colors and color combinations
  2. An encouraging tagline and subtext.
  3. An appealing and intriguing image
  4. A memorable logo.
  5. An inspiring call to action
  6. Ensure that you don’t clutter your banner with too many elements, graphics, images, etc. Elegance is the key to designing a fantastic banner. So, make sure that you apply your natural creativity and grace to the banner

 

Image File Formats!

The file format depends on the design. If your banner does not comprise illustrations with an image, you can use a PNG format. In case there are photos, you may use a JPEG. On the other hand, if you’ve got animations, choosing a GIF proves a better choice.

The most appropriate file formats proven are;

» JPEG.

JPG or JPEG is the most common image file type used across the world. People use it for websites, social media, banner ads, and even for printing purposes. Its name comes from the Joint Photographic Experts Group, which created the file type.

JPG or JPEG is the most common image file type used across the world. People use it for websites, social media, banner ads, and even for printing purposes. Its name comes from the Joint Photographic Experts Group, which created the file type.

Advantages

JPG is great for;

Disadvantages

» PNG.

PNG is another important image file format. It is considered a “lossless” format, meaning that you can edit the image without losing quality.

The name stands for Portable Network Graphics and the format is widely used in web design, but it is not compatible with print.

Advantages

The PNG file format is great for:

Disadvantages

PNG files can get bigger in file size

» GIF.

GIF files are similar to PNG files, in terms of quality. The name stands for Graphics Interchange Format and this supports animations and allows a separate palette of up to 256 colors for each frame

Advantages

Disadvantages

• GIFs support only 256 colors which make GIFs not suited for certain types of images.

 

How do you create a banner?

Everyone asks themselves which tool they should use to create a social media banner. There are several of them, some professional software and others are free online tools.

What then do you use?

Adobe Creative Cloud; This lets you craft everything from creative website banners to simple Google display ads with Adobe Illustrator for visual design like creating logos and sketches, Indesign suitable for publishing but also can create a banner, Photoshop for photo editing, Adobe XD, etc. You become able to access all you need to communicate ideas and capture attention online. These are mostly used by professionals and therefore go for reasonable pricing.

Other software some of which are free and paid are listed below;

For online banner creations, I would advise you to use are;

Canva is a graphic design platform, used to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents, and other visual content. The app includes templates for users to use. The platform is free to use and offers paid subscriptions like Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise for additional functionality. Here, the drag-and-drop feature excites more.

 

Do I need Images for my banner & Why?

Strong visual content on social media gives people a reason to follow, like, comment, and eventually buy from you. It can make or break your strategy.

Need proof? Look no further than the Google Doodle. By changing its look every day, Google creates a reason to visit its landing page and use its search engine over others.

Facts;

» LinkedIn posts with images have a 98% higher comment rate on average

» Tweets that include visual content are three times more likely to get engagement

» Facebook posts with photos get more likes and comments

In instances where you own a personal camera or smartphone, you can take good photos to use either product or service photos, product updates among others. And when you prefer to seek them online, I would advise you to try the websites below, however, it’s good to inform yourself about copyrights of the different platforms.

What dimensions should the banners be?

Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram, each of these social media platforms has its own rules relating to cover photo dimensions. As someone using them to promote your brand, you’ve got to remember these dimensions while creating a banner.

Recommended dimensions

LINKEDIN

» Profile Photo 400 × 400 px
» Cover Photo 1,584 × 396 px
» Shared Image 180 × 110 px

FACEBOOK

» Profile Picture 180 × 180 px
» Cover Photo 820 × 312 px
» Image Post 1,200 × 630 px
» Shared Link Images 1,200 × 628 px
» Tab Images 111 × 74 px
» Event Image 1,200 × 1,080 px
» Facebook Ad 1,200 × 628 px

YOUTUBE

» Channel Icon 800 × 800 px
» Channel Art 2,560 × 1,440 px
» Desktop Display 2,560 × 423 px
» Tablet Display 1,855 × 423 px
» Desktop and Mobile Display 1,546 × 423 px
» Video Thumbnail 1,280 × 720 px
» Header Photo 1,500 × 500 px

TWITTER

» Profile Photo 400 × 400 px
» Twitter Post 1,024 × 512 px
» Cards Image 800 × 320 px
» Summary Card Image 280 × 150 px

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