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A large part of posting on social media is photography and graphics, and it’s an area that can be tricky if you aren’t sure exactly how to get started. In this post, I’m going to share a few tips with you about photo licensing and how you can use Canva to create great social media graphics for your business.
Photo Licensing
First of all, it’s important to know that you can’t just go do an Internet search and snag any old photo you find to use on the social media page for your business. Photos are covered by strict copyright law, and you can get fined crazy amounts of money for using a photo that you didn’t have the legal right to use.
The very best thing to do is to use your own photography whenever possible. It’s great for branding, gives your page a personal feel, it’s free, and you know you are 100% allowed to use it because it belongs to you.
But, it’s likely that no matter what your business is, at some point you will have a need for stock photography. There are websites available that offer photography for commercial use for free. Pexels.com and Pixabay.com are two examples. There are others as well, just make sure you confirm that they are free for commercial use before you use them. It’s also not a bad idea to keep track of which photos you use and where you get them from. You can also buy stock photography from sites like 123rf.com or Deposit Photos, or memberships like Ivory Mix. Learn more about how to ensure legal use of photos in content marketing.
Creating Graphics with Canva
The next piece to creating a professional look to your social media account is to create graphics. Canva is a really great option for this. It is web-based and it also has a mobile app.
The basic version of their software is free and allows you to create professional-looking graphics for your business.
It features a variety of preset sizes, so you can go in and tell it you want to create a Facebook graphic, or an Instagram graphic, or whatever it is you are needing to create – and it will give you a document of that size to create your graphic.
The interface is drag and drop, and once you learn your way around, it’s very easy to use.
As you use Canva to create graphics for your business, here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Make the Templates your Own
There are pre-set templates for each size. It’s fine to use them for inspiration, but I recommend using them as a guide only and doing what you can to make them your own. Change the font styles and sizes around, change the colors, use different photos than what the templates have set in them. Canva is great but it’s not a secret, and you don’t want your graphics looking like everyone else’s graphics.
Follow a Branding Theme by Using Consistent Colors, Fonts, Etc.
If you don’t already have a branding style set for your business, it’s a good idea to create one. You want your color scheme and fonts to coordinate over time, so your page doesn’t end up looking inconsistent. This is especially important on Instagram where the photos you post will display in a grid-like pattern that continues over time. But, regardless of the platform, consistency in marketing is important.
Use the Proper Size for Each Social Media Platform
If you are going to put the same post on different platforms, remember that the sizes are different. You can’t create a graphic for Facebook and then just throw the same one up on your Instagram page. The graphic won’t fit the platform properly, and it won’t look professional. You can, however, create two blank canvas sizes – one for Facebook and one for Instagram, for example – and once you get one set the way you want, you can copy all of the elements over to the other one. At that point, you just have to do some slight resizing of a few of the elements – but it’s faster than building the same design from scratch twice.
In some cases, you may have a photo that is too large to upload to Canva or that needs some slight editing. I love using Pixlr.com for edits like this before I proceed with my design in Canva.
Canva Pro
Though lots of companies use the free version of Canva and it works great, Canva Pro offers some great added features. Some of its cool features include:
- Resize your design in any design type in an instant (this takes the place of #3 above.)
- Animate your designs
- Save your favorite templates to easily reuse later
- Set and save your logo and fonts in an easy-to-use area (this helps with #2 above)
- Access to additional free icons, illustrations, and photos
- Create transparent back images (PNG files)
- Creating folders in your account to organize your designs
You can get Canva Pro for as little as $9.99 per month if you pay for a full year, or $12.99 per month if you pay monthly. If you are a new user, you can experience Canva Pro for free for 30 days. If you don’t love the features, your account can just revert to the Canva free version when the trial is over.
