June 4, 2025 • 19 mins
On this episode of 1000 Ways to Market Your Business, Samantha Scott, APR, is joined by Bethany Chadwick Cordero, Graphic Designer at Pushing the Envelope.
Together, they discuss the art of crafting scroll-stopping content for social media, exploring the importance of visuals, platform-specific designs, and strategies to capture attention quickly. They delve into practical tips for maintaining brand consistency, using high-quality images, and leveraging free design tools.
Have a question or feedback to share? Visit www.getpushing.com or one of our many social media channels. We look forward to hearing from you.
#marketing #business #communication #strategy
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Episode Transcript
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(00:05):
Hi, I'm Samantha Scott, APR.
Welcome to another episode of1000 Ways to Market Your
Business, a podcast brought toyou by Pushing the Envelope.
Today we are talkingscroll-stopping content, how to
design for social media, and Iam joined today by the one and
only Bethany.
Hi everyone, it's good to behere, and I'm excited to be
talking about all things design,social media.
(00:26):
It's gonna be good.
Bethany is our very talentedgraphic designer, and she's got
a wealth of background andexperience, so she's the perfect
person to talk about thisparticular topic.
So we're first going to talkabout social media in terms of
design matters and the role thatvisuals play.
And I think this is a reallyinteresting concept because
social, in my opinion, wascreated for people to create and
kind of nurture socialinteractions, but now it's
(00:47):
become this kind of feast forthe eyes.
It's so much more than just thecontent, but it's how it's
presented.
Exactly.
So today we're going to talkabout kind of what this means in
terms of platform specificdesigns, how to create that
content that really capturesattention.
You know, the average attentionspan, I think, is less than
three seconds, which scientistssay is the memory of a goldfish.
(01:08):
I don't know how they know that.
But either way, you got to getthe point across really fast.
And make sure that you capturesomeone's attention long enough
to communicate what it is thatyou can provide to them and
hopefully hook them and get theminterested.
So, Bethany, why don't you takeit away?
So, yeah, to kick it off, Ithink social media is such an
important piece of a brand'sonline identity in general.
(01:28):
I think for a lot of us, that'sour first touchpoint with a
brand.
That's where we go to engagewith our favorite brands or
discover new brands is throughsocial media.
And I think it's something thatbrands really need to leverage
and really put a lot of thoughtinto the kind of graphics and
visuals that they're putting outon social media because I think
some people have the impressionthat it's kind of quick,
scrollable content.
(01:49):
There's not a lot of thoughtthat needs to go into it, but
really to be able to captureyour audience's attention, like
you said, in three seconds flatto gain new eyes on your
content, you really need to makesure it's cohesive with your
brand identity.
It's going to catch people'sattention and really have a hook
to it that makes it differentand stand out from all of the
things that we see.
Yeah and so I want to just jumpon that really quickly because
(02:12):
there's been so manydevelopments in design over the
last few years.
I used to do public speaking andI remember talking about Canva
and people would be like, what?
And I had to spell it out.
C A N V A.
And they're like, this is socool.
I've never heard of this.
Now everybody and their brother,it seems, is using that.
But there's a danger to thattoo, because if you're in that
space and you're leveraging thattool, good for you, that's
awesome, it's a very handyresource.
(02:33):
However, if you start usingevery single template that's
provided to you, that may notalign with your brand.
And you may also run the risk ofcreating content that looks just
like everybody else's.
The other thing, and I knowwe're going to talk about that
more later, the other thing thatI want to bring up that you just
mentioned is, there has to bestrategy behind this.
So, I love that you have ateenager who is very active on
(02:54):
social media, but that does notmean that said teenager is going
to be the best person to beproducing your social media
content.
So, not knocking the nextgeneration of those up and
comers, you're going to be waybetter than me by the time
you're my age, I'm most certainof it.
However, right now, I would justreally counsel businesses,
whether you're small, medium,large, et cetera, to really be
mindful about what you'reputting out on content, in terms
(03:16):
of what's the strategy, how dowe want to position ourselves,
what do we want to look like,what should we sound like, what
emotion should this elicit,because it goes much more beyond
just what's the trend to reallywhat are we trying to accomplish
and then how do we keep thisaligned.
So one of the first things Ithink we should talk about is
that it is not a one size fitsall.
Absolutely.
Yeah, I think it's a mistake tokind of take that approach,
(03:38):
whether it's with regards to theformatting or the sizing of the
different designs that you'redoing.
I think you need to be veryconscious of the fact that, of
course, for your cover images,the aspect ratios for LinkedIn,
Facebook, YouTube are completelydifferent.
So if you're designing somethinglike that, you need to make sure
that it's going to be a designthat's going to be able to be
reproduced in all differentsizes.
(03:59):
That goes as well for yoursocial graphics.
You need to make sure thatthey're going to also preview
well on different platforms.
Little things like how aFacebook carousel will show as
compared to an Instagramcarousel.
Things like that.
If you say, swipe for more,that's going to be great on
Instagram, but on Facebook,since it's going to show up in a
little grid, that's an immediateclue as to this is someone that
lacks that extra detail andattention to notice those little
(04:22):
things.
So I think it's really importantto be aware of exactly what
platform you're going to beposting this content on,
adjusting it accordingly, andthen also keeping up to date
with changes to these platforms.
Social media changes so much.
Instagram recently changed theiraspect ratio for their grids.
I think that's a great tip.
You know, the one size fits allin terms of what you should or
should not be posting, but alsothe one size fits all in terms
(04:44):
of the content you'republishing.
Because you've heard us talk onthis podcast before, if you've
listened about what you post onLinkedIn should not necessarily
be the same thing as Instagramor Facebook or TikTok, etc.
Making sure you're aware of theaudiences on those channels, but
also to your point, the sizing.
Because if you think you canjust do what I call a spray and
pray and just do one post andthen automatically publish that
on all of them and it's going tolook great, you're wrong.
(05:05):
And that's very important as itrelates to your brand and your
brand's reputation, because toyour point, that might give
someone pause, even if it'ssubliminal, to be like, uh, does
this company really know whatthey're doing, if this post
doesn't look as good as itshould.
So, yeah, super, super importantin making sure that you're using
that.
And I did mention Canva earlier.
Canva does have presizedtemplates.
So, if you're new to this, orwhoever's creating your designs
(05:26):
is new to this, you can alwaystake advantage of that.
I would always say, to Bethany'spoint, just make sure you're
double checking that against thebest practices and standards.
Meta has that available.
LinkedIn has that available.
All of them have those differentdetails available to you.
Yeah, and I think, to your pointabout Canva as well, especially
if you're a newcomer to design,I think it's a great tool for
people to kind of get startedwith it.
If you're using it more as aresource for inspiration, or to
(05:49):
find different images, I thinkit can be a great tool for that,
but like Samantha was saying,it's good to be cautious of
using templates that are justpre formatted, because those can
be really generic.
And I think we've all seen thatbefore, where you're kind of
scrolling through and you seesomething that you're like, I
think that was made on Canva.
Like, it's got a certain qualityto it that you can kind of spot
it.
So, if you are going to use it,just make sure that you are
really altering your templatesto fit your brand guidelines,
(06:10):
which is something we'll getinto later a bit more as well.
Yeah, really, really important,though.
There is that kind of balance oflike what's going to be eye
catching and cool.
And if you're a law firm, youmight be like, ugh, I don't know
what I can do.
But there are ways to do thatsuccessfully.
So let's get into how do weactually create scroll-stopping
content.
First impressions matter, ofcourse.
I touched on that a little bit.
(06:30):
You got to capture the eye,capture the emotion, and that
could even be capturing the earssometimes if you're using sound.
Absolutely.
Yeah, I think one of the reallyimportant pieces of having that
kind of scroll-stopping contentis making sure you have really
strong visual hierarchy.
So that's making sure that yourtext is highly legible.
You've got a contrast betweenyour header text, your subheader
text, and then a CTA, call toaction, call to action.
(06:53):
So make sure you have thosepieces all well balanced so that
when a person's looking at yourcontent, they're not like, what
do I look at first?
Do I look at the image?
Do I look at the header?
Do I look at the CTA?
Once you have that clear visualhierarchy, it makes it easy for
the reader to look at the postand digest the content the way
you want them to.
So I think that's super crucialis making sure you have strong
visual hierarchy.
(07:14):
Another big part of that ismaking sure you use high quality
photography or graphics.
That's super, super crucial.
I think like you were sayingearlier, you kind of lose trust
in a brand if you see that theircontent doesn't look as good as
you want it to.
And a part of that is if theyhave pixelated imagery or
they've been using the samephotography for several years.
That's when it's kind of timefor a refresh and to make sure
(07:36):
you're still keeping peopleinterested.
I want to jump back to what youwere talking about with the
typography.
I would simplify that by saying,get to the point.
Get the most important messageacross first.
That has to be the biggest, theboldest, the most direct.
And then, if somebody'scaptured, they're interested,
they'll read the rest of it.
But make sure you're gettingthat point across.
Don't bury the lead.
You know, I learned that lessonthrough PR, but it translates
(07:56):
really well on social as wellbecause you want to make sure
that people understand exactlywhat it is that you're trying to
get across to them very, veryquickly and capture their
attention.
The other thing is that graphicdesign isn't just static, right?
So another way to really capturepeople's attention, which has
just really become paramount, Iwould say, especially in the
last year or 18 months, isincorporating movement.
(08:17):
So that could be moving text.
It could be using B roll or kindof like a static video in the
background.
It could be actually using videocontent instead of a flat or
static design.
Yes, definitely.
It's been shown that video is alot more engaging for people,
and it gets higher engagement,more interaction, and that
really also helps catch people'sattention, too, because if
they're scrolling through a verystatic grid, and then all of a
(08:37):
sudden there's that movement, itdoes catch people's attention.
So, like Samantha was saying,whether that means you're doing
a simple kind of motion graphicof the text, or you're having
some kind of video playing inthe background, those little
things can really make adifference in making your
content stand out.
So some other little tips there,too, would be think about
contrast.
That could be contrast in color,but also maybe it's a
contrasting image.
I will admit, I did not actuallyclick, but I did see a really
(09:00):
compelling clickbait postyesterday.
The image did not go with theheadline of the post, and then,
of course, I had to read therest of the post, and then I
realized at the end of it, I'mlike, okay, this is very clearly
clickbait.
But you could consider that, ifit's within your brand
guidelines, too, of creatingsomething that's really
conflicting, and just reallywould be catching somebody's
attention.
Be like, wait, what?
They said don't do what?
When you know that's the rightthing to do or something like
(09:22):
that.
So keep in mind some creativityin that as well.
I think that's part of theconversation too, of not being
generic.
Like, you want your content tostand out.
So, like if you're doing workfor a medical client, for
example, you don't always haveto just have medical kind of
imagery as your photography.
Think a little bit more outsideof the box and maybe if it's
women's health center have awoman laughing.
(09:43):
If you think a little bit moreoutside of what's going to catch
people's attention, becausepeople maybe don't want to see
medical machinery or things likethat, I think those are the
things that also will reallybring people to interact with
your content.
Don't always have the obvioustext or the obvious imagery so
that people are kind of enticedto learn more.
Yeah, you brought up a reallygreat point there in terms of
emotion, right?
(10:03):
So we're talking about brandstandards and guidelines and
colors and fonts and all ofthose things are important, but
ultimately we're trying toelicit emotion and create a
behavior change.
Make people take a certainaction.
Watch it completely, click onit, take an action.
That reminds me of an example Isaw where a professor was
showing an example of a nonsmoking ad, that's what it was
trying to promote, and it was apregnant woman, and it said,
(10:24):
this cigarette caused thisperson to lose her life and her
child's life.
And the whole intention of thiscampaign was to get people to
stop smoking.
But what actually happened wasit made people smoke more, if
they were already smokers,because they felt sad.
They felt bad.
That was the emotion.
And so it had the oppositeeffect.
They didn't take that intoaccount when they were creating
this because if a smoker feelssad, they go to the thing that
(10:45):
gives them comfort.
So really keep that in mind, putyourself in the shoes of the
person that's looking at thisand keep in mind what emotion
are you trying to elicit, whatbehavior change.
And it may not be exactly whatyou think of the first time go
around.
Yeah, that's where it helps, Ithink, to have maybe a sounding
board of kind of run it by somedifferent people and see what
kind of emotion would thiselicit for you.
Because I think for differentpeople that can sometimes vary.
(11:06):
But like you said, when you sawthat and you were reading about
it and saw that it had theopposite reaction, I think
that's really important to keepin mind is you want to make sure
that your visuals are going tobe representing your brand and
the way you want them to, thatpeople are going to take the
action that you intended.
Yeah.
So we've talked a little bitabout best practices,
recommendations.
What are some of the high leveldo's and don'ts from a graphic
(11:27):
designers perspective?
Let them kind of pick your brainvirtually here, and share all of
the best nuggets you have.
So, I think there's a few thatcome to mind.
Number one is always making sureyou have highly legible text.
I think that's something Inotice sometimes.
The design can look reallygreat, but if the text is too
tiny, or there's not enoughcontrast between the text and
the background, immediately, tome, the design is not doing what
(11:50):
it's intending.
Design is supposed to be aboutcommunication, it's supposed to
tell the story, and if the textis not legible, then that's just
not working, in my opinion.
And then another thing as well,kind of tying onto that would be
make sure you're staying true toyour brand guidelines, whether
that's colors, fonts, imagery,even shapes that you're using
should align with all the otheraspects of your brand and your
(12:12):
brand guidelines.
That's something that I've seenbrands kind of sometimes stray
from, or we've all seen thosegrids where there's like 20
different fonts and it's veryconfusing and it puts you in a
bit of a weird place becauseyou're like, I don't really get
this.
That's a great point though, andthat's something that anybody
listening can do.
Pull up your Instagram and lookat it.
Does it look like it belongstogether or are there things
you're like, ooh, that onedoesn't really sit right.
(12:33):
You can do the same thing onFacebook, LinkedIn, etc.
Even YouTube, if you're, youknow, publishing videos on
there.
How do those look, the intros,the outros?
Are we consistent in reallyliving up to that?
And if not, then we need to makethose changes.
That's kind of a reactive way ofdoing that, a proactive way
would be design all the contentyou have for the month and then
look at it all together.
Do these things belong together?
Does one thing look like theother?
(12:53):
You don't want to copy and pasteand make them identical, but at
the same time, they should looklike they belong together.
Yeah, double check that all ofyour fonts, you know, are
cohesive.
Really make sure that you're notintroducing anything that's kind
of like going to stand out in anegative way.
To give Canva some credit, theyhave a great tool, where they
have the brand kits that you canuse.
So if you're collaborating on ateam, you can set in there the
(13:15):
different fonts, differentshapes, different logos,
different colors.
So then there won't be anyconfusion about exactly which
red to use or which, you know,different font to use.
And if you're not using Canva,make sure you are looking at
those brand guidelines often andreferring to those.
And you can do that in Photoshopor InDesign as well.
You can create those kind ofkits if you're a more advanced
(13:36):
designer too.
Yeah, absolutely.
And then I would say one otherdo is make sure that you're
optimizing for mobile.
You touched on that earlier thatif you're loading a graphic, how
does that cover image, forexample, look on a desktop
versus on a tablet versus aphone?
And also keep in mind dark mode,because sometimes, whether it's
email or social listings, can beimpacted if the person viewing
(13:58):
it is using dark mode versus theregular mode.
And you want to make sure yourgraphics have the best
representation as possible.
Yeah, and if you're ever unsureto that point as well, if your
text is going to be legible onmobile, because if you're
working on this design andyou've got it pulled up on a big
monitor and you're not sure,always test it on mobile so you
can make sure that your text isgoing to be legible on a phone
versus a big screen.
(14:19):
Yeah, absolutely.
All right.
So let's go into some of thedon'ts, right?
So you said all the things thatyou should do.
What are some things that youshould not do?
Definitely don't use stockphotos that are generic.
I know different brands havedifferent opinions about stock
photography.
If it's not within your brand,don't use it.
We'd always suggest to not useit if you have the high quality
assets to not rely on it.
(14:39):
It's better always to use yourown photography, high quality
photography.
And I would even interject reallife photography, you know,
almost everyone at this pointhas a smartphone that can take
relatively high quality images.
Leverage that, and even ifthey're not perfect, I'm not
saying use really, really poorblurry images by any means, but
(15:01):
even if they're not photographerperfect, if it can align with
your brand and feel real, peopleconnect with that.
You know, I mentioned at thebeginning, social media is
created to have a socialinteraction with other people
via the computer, phone, device,internet, right?
So make it real and authentic.
If you don't have the budget tohire a professional videographer
or photographer right out of thegate, think about what you can
(15:23):
do.
And there's tons that you can doin terms of lighting, and audio,
gimbals, all different kinds ofresources that are not terribly
expensive to create really greatcontent if you're in that kind
of situation.
And then if you do have to usestock, like if you're just
getting started, or you needsome more kind of supplemental
material always make sure thatthe stock isn't going to be
generic and that it aligns aswell with your brand.
(15:44):
And that you have legal rightsto use it.
Also very important.
I am not an attorney.
I cannot give you legal advice.
However, I would tell you tocheck the usage rights of any
media that you are acquiring,whether you're paying for it or
not, and just make sure you'redoing the right thing.
Yeah, so if you need some, agood free resource is Unsplash,
that's a good one that has freestock photography.
(16:04):
But yes, if you are going to useit, make sure you give the
proper rights where you have to.
And then also make sure italigns with your brand in terms
of, you know, if it's a companyin Florida, don't use images
with a snowy background orthings that might create a bit
of a disconnect.
That's like a very extremeexample.
No, it's real.
That might apply to people thatwork with you know, different
kind of, I don't want to sayfranchises, but like we did work
(16:26):
with Harley-Davidson for a whileand that was a struggle for us
because we had a lot of reallyincredible photography that
Harley-Davidson corporate hadtaken, but it was all with like
mountain backgrounds or theselong empty roads or downtown
cities and things like that justreally didn't connect with where
the dealerships were and it's astruggle.
Yeah.
And I think we romanticize thathere in Florida, but it's
(16:47):
definitely good to have thatconnection with your audience so
you're not putting out a postfor the Fort Myers location and
then people are like, where wasthis taken?
Right, this clearly is somethingcorporate, something stock.
Yeah, keep those things in mindwhether you're working, you
know, with a manufacturer, a bigcompany, or if you are an
independent.
Yeah, and then another don'tthat I wanted to highlight was
don't ignore the importance ofwhite space, negative space in
(17:09):
general.
So give your eye room tobreathe.
Yes.
I would say less is more interms of text.
Especially on social graphics,you really need to capture these
people's attention.
So keep the headlines short,keep any copy really short, and
don't overload the graphic withdifferent items.
Make sure you keep it reallyclean.
If you're ever in doubt of, do Ineed this element in it?
(17:31):
Remove it, because then youdon't need it.
Yes, it could be like MarieKondo, does it bring you joy?
Yeah, right?
Is it adding something to thegraphic?
If not, if it could be just thesame without, then remove it.
Yes, great, great advice.
Okay, so, some tools andresources, because I don't like
to just talk theory.
Some free tools, we've alreadymentioned Canva is a fantastic
one.
(17:51):
Yep, Adobe Express is anotherone that's also free.
So you can pay extra and thenget more access to some of their
stock and different features,but they do have a free version
of that, and that's a reallygreat tool as well.
And then in terms of some paidtools, Illustrator, Photoshop,
any of the Adobe suite really isreally excellent.
When you're trying to do morecomplex graphics, definitely
lean on those.
But Canva and Adobe Express aregood just for simple things.
(18:14):
Yeah, and there's tons of evenother social media editing apps,
CapCut is one that'spredominantly video, but you
could explore that too.
There's so many available now,it's amazing.
Yeah.
So just some final takeaways aswe wrap this up.
We're talking aboutscroll-stopping content, how to
create designs for social mediathat really create impact.
Make sure that you'reintentional with your designs.
What are you trying toaccomplish?
(18:34):
What will success look like?
What's the emotion that we'retrying to generate?
And how can we best representthe brand?
So making sure that we arealways in line with brand
standards.
That our text is very clear,legible, and on brand, that we
have a very clear call toaction, or CTA, and that we're
using high quality content,whether that's generated on our
own, or that we purchase, andthat we have the rights to use
(18:55):
it.
Anything else?
No, I think you covered it.
And yeah, I would just encouragepeople to make sure you keep
these things in mind.
Social media design is a reallyimportant part of your online
social presence and your brandpresence in general, so
definitely dedicate time to itand don't treat it as an
afterthought.
Yeah, and I would say our mantrahere is less but best.
So, if this feels daunting toyou, that you have to spend all
(19:16):
this time and be so thoughtfuland careful about all the posts
that you're trying to produce,just keep in mind, you know,
your audience will tell youeverything that they're looking
for, and sometimes fewer posts,but really high quality will
serve you so much better, sodon't be overwhelmed.
Well, thanks for joining me,Bethany.
Great to be here.
And thanks for tuning in toanother episode of 1000 Ways to
Market Your Business, a podcastbrought to you by Pushing the
Envelope.
I'm Samantha Scott, APR.
(19:36):
Thank you very much.
We look forward to the nextepisode.
Hi, I'm Samantha Scott, APR.
Welcome to another episode of1000 Ways to Market Your
Business, a podcast brought toyou by Pushing the Envelope.
Today we are talkingscroll-stopping content, how to
design for social media, and Iam joined today by the one and
only Bethany.
Hi everyone, it's good to behere, and I'm excited to be
talking about all things design,social media.
(00:26):
It's gonna be good.
Bethany is our very talentedgraphic designer, and she's got
a wealth of background andexperience, so she's the perfect
person to talk about thisparticular topic.
So we're first going to talkabout social media in terms of
design matters and the role thatvisuals play.
And I think this is a reallyinteresting concept because
social, in my opinion, wascreated for people to create and
kind of nurture socialinteractions, but now it's
(00:47):
become this kind of feast forthe eyes.
It's so much more than just thecontent, but it's how it's
presented.
Exactly.
So today we're going to talkabout kind of what this means in
terms of platform specificdesigns, how to create that
content that really capturesattention.
You know, the average attentionspan, I think, is less than
three seconds, which scientistssay is the memory of a goldfish.
(01:08):
I don't know how they know that.
But either way, you got to getthe point across really fast.
And make sure that you capturesomeone's attention long enough
to communicate what it is thatyou can provide to them and
hopefully hook them and get theminterested.
So, Bethany, why don't you takeit away?
So, yeah, to kick it off, Ithink social media is such an
important piece of a brand'sonline identity in general.
(01:28):
I think for a lot of us, that'sour first touchpoint with a
brand.
That's where we go to engagewith our favorite brands or
discover new brands is throughsocial media.
And I think it's something thatbrands really need to leverage
and really put a lot of thoughtinto the kind of graphics and
visuals that they're putting outon social media because I think
some people have the impressionthat it's kind of quick,
scrollable content.
(01:49):
There's not a lot of thoughtthat needs to go into it, but
really to be able to captureyour audience's attention, like
you said, in three seconds flatto gain new eyes on your
content, you really need to makesure it's cohesive with your
brand identity.
It's going to catch people'sattention and really have a hook
to it that makes it differentand stand out from all of the
things that we see.
Yeah and so I want to just jumpon that really quickly because
(02:12):
there's been so manydevelopments in design over the
last few years.
I used to do public speaking andI remember talking about Canva
and people would be like, what?
And I had to spell it out.
C A N V A.
And they're like, this is socool.
I've never heard of this.
Now everybody and their brother,it seems, is using that.
But there's a danger to thattoo, because if you're in that
space and you're leveraging thattool, good for you, that's
awesome, it's a very handyresource.
(02:33):
However, if you start usingevery single template that's
provided to you, that may notalign with your brand.
And you may also run the risk ofcreating content that looks just
like everybody else's.
The other thing, and I knowwe're going to talk about that
more later, the other thing thatI want to bring up that you just
mentioned is, there has to bestrategy behind this.
So, I love that you have ateenager who is very active on
(02:54):
social media, but that does notmean that said teenager is going
to be the best person to beproducing your social media
content.
So, not knocking the nextgeneration of those up and
comers, you're going to be waybetter than me by the time
you're my age, I'm most certainof it.
However, right now, I would justreally counsel businesses,
whether you're small, medium,large, et cetera, to really be
mindful about what you'reputting out on content, in terms
(03:16):
of what's the strategy, how dowe want to position ourselves,
what do we want to look like,what should we sound like, what
emotion should this elicit,because it goes much more beyond
just what's the trend to reallywhat are we trying to accomplish
and then how do we keep thisaligned.
So one of the first things Ithink we should talk about is
that it is not a one size fitsall.
Absolutely.
Yeah, I think it's a mistake tokind of take that approach,
(03:38):
whether it's with regards to theformatting or the sizing of the
different designs that you'redoing.
I think you need to be veryconscious of the fact that, of
course, for your cover images,the aspect ratios for LinkedIn,
Facebook, YouTube are completelydifferent.
So if you're designing somethinglike that, you need to make sure
that it's going to be a designthat's going to be able to be
reproduced in all differentsizes.
(03:59):
That goes as well for yoursocial graphics.
You need to make sure thatthey're going to also preview
well on different platforms.
Little things like how aFacebook carousel will show as
compared to an Instagramcarousel.
Things like that.
If you say, swipe for more,that's going to be great on
Instagram, but on Facebook,since it's going to show up in a
little grid, that's an immediateclue as to this is someone that
lacks that extra detail andattention to notice those little
(04:22):
things.
So I think it's really importantto be aware of exactly what
platform you're going to beposting this content on,
adjusting it accordingly, andthen also keeping up to date
with changes to these platforms.
Social media changes so much.
Instagram recently changed theiraspect ratio for their grids.
I think that's a great tip.
You know, the one size fits allin terms of what you should or
should not be posting, but alsothe one size fits all in terms
(04:44):
of the content you'republishing.
Because you've heard us talk onthis podcast before, if you've
listened about what you post onLinkedIn should not necessarily
be the same thing as Instagramor Facebook or TikTok, etc.
Making sure you're aware of theaudiences on those channels, but
also to your point, the sizing.
Because if you think you canjust do what I call a spray and
pray and just do one post andthen automatically publish that
on all of them and it's going tolook great, you're wrong.
(05:05):
And that's very important as itrelates to your brand and your
brand's reputation, because toyour point, that might give
someone pause, even if it'ssubliminal, to be like, uh, does
this company really know whatthey're doing, if this post
doesn't look as good as itshould.
So, yeah, super, super importantin making sure that you're using
that.
And I did mention Canva earlier.
Canva does have presizedtemplates.
So, if you're new to this, orwhoever's creating your designs
(05:26):
is new to this, you can alwaystake advantage of that.
I would always say, to Bethany'spoint, just make sure you're
double checking that against thebest practices and standards.
Meta has that available.
LinkedIn has that available.
All of them have those differentdetails available to you.
Yeah, and I think, to your pointabout Canva as well, especially
if you're a newcomer to design,I think it's a great tool for
people to kind of get startedwith it.
If you're using it more as aresource for inspiration, or to
(05:49):
find different images, I thinkit can be a great tool for that,
but like Samantha was saying,it's good to be cautious of
using templates that are justpre formatted, because those can
be really generic.
And I think we've all seen thatbefore, where you're kind of
scrolling through and you seesomething that you're like, I
think that was made on Canva.
Like, it's got a certain qualityto it that you can kind of spot
it.
So, if you are going to use it,just make sure that you are
really altering your templatesto fit your brand guidelines,
(06:10):
which is something we'll getinto later a bit more as well.
Yeah, really, really important,though.
There is that kind of balance oflike what's going to be eye
catching and cool.
And if you're a law firm, youmight be like, ugh, I don't know
what I can do.
But there are ways to do thatsuccessfully.
So let's get into how do weactually create scroll-stopping
content.
First impressions matter, ofcourse.
I touched on that a little bit.
(06:30):
You got to capture the eye,capture the emotion, and that
could even be capturing the earssometimes if you're using sound.
Absolutely.
Yeah, I think one of the reallyimportant pieces of having that
kind of scroll-stopping contentis making sure you have really
strong visual hierarchy.
So that's making sure that yourtext is highly legible.
You've got a contrast betweenyour header text, your subheader
text, and then a CTA, call toaction, call to action.
(06:53):
So make sure you have thosepieces all well balanced so that
when a person's looking at yourcontent, they're not like, what
do I look at first?
Do I look at the image?
Do I look at the header?
Do I look at the CTA?
Once you have that clear visualhierarchy, it makes it easy for
the reader to look at the postand digest the content the way
you want them to.
So I think that's super crucialis making sure you have strong
visual hierarchy.
(07:14):
Another big part of that ismaking sure you use high quality
photography or graphics.
That's super, super crucial.
I think like you were sayingearlier, you kind of lose trust
in a brand if you see that theircontent doesn't look as good as
you want it to.
And a part of that is if theyhave pixelated imagery or
they've been using the samephotography for several years.
That's when it's kind of timefor a refresh and to make sure
(07:36):
you're still keeping peopleinterested.
I want to jump back to what youwere talking about with the
typography.
I would simplify that by saying,get to the point.
Get the most important messageacross first.
That has to be the biggest, theboldest, the most direct.
And then, if somebody'scaptured, they're interested,
they'll read the rest of it.
But make sure you're gettingthat point across.
Don't bury the lead.
You know, I learned that lessonthrough PR, but it translates
(07:56):
really well on social as wellbecause you want to make sure
that people understand exactlywhat it is that you're trying to
get across to them very, veryquickly and capture their
attention.
The other thing is that graphicdesign isn't just static, right?
So another way to really capturepeople's attention, which has
just really become paramount, Iwould say, especially in the
last year or 18 months, isincorporating movement.
(08:17):
So that could be moving text.
It could be using B roll or kindof like a static video in the
background.
It could be actually using videocontent instead of a flat or
static design.
Yes, definitely.
It's been shown that video is alot more engaging for people,
and it gets higher engagement,more interaction, and that
really also helps catch people'sattention, too, because if
they're scrolling through a verystatic grid, and then all of a
(08:37):
sudden there's that movement, itdoes catch people's attention.
So, like Samantha was saying,whether that means you're doing
a simple kind of motion graphicof the text, or you're having
some kind of video playing inthe background, those little
things can really make adifference in making your
content stand out.
So some other little tips there,too, would be think about
contrast.
That could be contrast in color,but also maybe it's a
contrasting image.
I will admit, I did not actuallyclick, but I did see a really
(09:00):
compelling clickbait postyesterday.
The image did not go with theheadline of the post, and then,
of course, I had to read therest of the post, and then I
realized at the end of it, I'mlike, okay, this is very clearly
clickbait.
But you could consider that, ifit's within your brand
guidelines, too, of creatingsomething that's really
conflicting, and just reallywould be catching somebody's
attention.
Be like, wait, what?
They said don't do what?
When you know that's the rightthing to do or something like
(09:22):
that.
So keep in mind some creativityin that as well.
I think that's part of theconversation too, of not being
generic.
Like, you want your content tostand out.
So, like if you're doing workfor a medical client, for
example, you don't always haveto just have medical kind of
imagery as your photography.
Think a little bit more outsideof the box and maybe if it's
women's health center have awoman laughing.
(09:43):
If you think a little bit moreoutside of what's going to catch
people's attention, becausepeople maybe don't want to see
medical machinery or things likethat, I think those are the
things that also will reallybring people to interact with
your content.
Don't always have the obvioustext or the obvious imagery so
that people are kind of enticedto learn more.
Yeah, you brought up a reallygreat point there in terms of
emotion, right?
(10:03):
So we're talking about brandstandards and guidelines and
colors and fonts and all ofthose things are important, but
ultimately we're trying toelicit emotion and create a
behavior change.
Make people take a certainaction.
Watch it completely, click onit, take an action.
That reminds me of an example Isaw where a professor was
showing an example of a nonsmoking ad, that's what it was
trying to promote, and it was apregnant woman, and it said,
(10:24):
this cigarette caused thisperson to lose her life and her
child's life.
And the whole intention of thiscampaign was to get people to
stop smoking.
But what actually happened wasit made people smoke more, if
they were already smokers,because they felt sad.
They felt bad.
That was the emotion.
And so it had the oppositeeffect.
They didn't take that intoaccount when they were creating
this because if a smoker feelssad, they go to the thing that
(10:45):
gives them comfort.
So really keep that in mind, putyourself in the shoes of the
person that's looking at thisand keep in mind what emotion
are you trying to elicit, whatbehavior change.
And it may not be exactly whatyou think of the first time go
around.
Yeah, that's where it helps, Ithink, to have maybe a sounding
board of kind of run it by somedifferent people and see what
kind of emotion would thiselicit for you.
Because I think for differentpeople that can sometimes vary.
(11:06):
But like you said, when you sawthat and you were reading about
it and saw that it had theopposite reaction, I think
that's really important to keepin mind is you want to make sure
that your visuals are going tobe representing your brand and
the way you want them to, thatpeople are going to take the
action that you intended.
Yeah.
So we've talked a little bitabout best practices,
recommendations.
What are some of the high leveldo's and don'ts from a graphic
(11:27):
designers perspective?
Let them kind of pick your brainvirtually here, and share all of
the best nuggets you have.
So, I think there's a few thatcome to mind.
Number one is always making sureyou have highly legible text.
I think that's something Inotice sometimes.
The design can look reallygreat, but if the text is too
tiny, or there's not enoughcontrast between the text and
the background, immediately, tome, the design is not doing what
(11:50):
it's intending.
Design is supposed to be aboutcommunication, it's supposed to
tell the story, and if the textis not legible, then that's just
not working, in my opinion.
And then another thing as well,kind of tying onto that would be
make sure you're staying true toyour brand guidelines, whether
that's colors, fonts, imagery,even shapes that you're using
should align with all the otheraspects of your brand and your
(12:12):
brand guidelines.
That's something that I've seenbrands kind of sometimes stray
from, or we've all seen thosegrids where there's like 20
different fonts and it's veryconfusing and it puts you in a
bit of a weird place becauseyou're like, I don't really get
this.
That's a great point though, andthat's something that anybody
listening can do.
Pull up your Instagram and lookat it.
Does it look like it belongstogether or are there things
you're like, ooh, that onedoesn't really sit right.
(12:33):
You can do the same thing onFacebook, LinkedIn, etc.
Even YouTube, if you're, youknow, publishing videos on
there.
How do those look, the intros,the outros?
Are we consistent in reallyliving up to that?
And if not, then we need to makethose changes.
That's kind of a reactive way ofdoing that, a proactive way
would be design all the contentyou have for the month and then
look at it all together.
Do these things belong together?
Does one thing look like theother?
(12:53):
You don't want to copy and pasteand make them identical, but at
the same time, they should looklike they belong together.
Yeah, double check that all ofyour fonts, you know, are
cohesive.
Really make sure that you're notintroducing anything that's kind
of like going to stand out in anegative way.
To give Canva some credit, theyhave a great tool, where they
have the brand kits that you canuse.
So if you're collaborating on ateam, you can set in there the
(13:15):
different fonts, differentshapes, different logos,
different colors.
So then there won't be anyconfusion about exactly which
red to use or which, you know,different font to use.
And if you're not using Canva,make sure you are looking at
those brand guidelines often andreferring to those.
And you can do that in Photoshopor InDesign as well.
You can create those kind ofkits if you're a more advanced
(13:36):
designer too.
Yeah, absolutely.
And then I would say one otherdo is make sure that you're
optimizing for mobile.
You touched on that earlier thatif you're loading a graphic, how
does that cover image, forexample, look on a desktop
versus on a tablet versus aphone?
And also keep in mind dark mode,because sometimes, whether it's
email or social listings, can beimpacted if the person viewing
(13:58):
it is using dark mode versus theregular mode.
And you want to make sure yourgraphics have the best
representation as possible.
Yeah, and if you're ever unsureto that point as well, if your
text is going to be legible onmobile, because if you're
working on this design andyou've got it pulled up on a big
monitor and you're not sure,always test it on mobile so you
can make sure that your text isgoing to be legible on a phone
versus a big screen.
(14:19):
Yeah, absolutely.
All right.
So let's go into some of thedon'ts, right?
So you said all the things thatyou should do.
What are some things that youshould not do?
Definitely don't use stockphotos that are generic.
I know different brands havedifferent opinions about stock
photography.
If it's not within your brand,don't use it.
We'd always suggest to not useit if you have the high quality
assets to not rely on it.
(14:39):
It's better always to use yourown photography, high quality
photography.
And I would even interject reallife photography, you know,
almost everyone at this pointhas a smartphone that can take
relatively high quality images.
Leverage that, and even ifthey're not perfect, I'm not
saying use really, really poorblurry images by any means, but
(15:01):
even if they're not photographerperfect, if it can align with
your brand and feel real, peopleconnect with that.
You know, I mentioned at thebeginning, social media is
created to have a socialinteraction with other people
via the computer, phone, device,internet, right?
So make it real and authentic.
If you don't have the budget tohire a professional videographer
or photographer right out of thegate, think about what you can
(15:23):
do.
And there's tons that you can doin terms of lighting, and audio,
gimbals, all different kinds ofresources that are not terribly
expensive to create really greatcontent if you're in that kind
of situation.
And then if you do have to usestock, like if you're just
getting started, or you needsome more kind of supplemental
material always make sure thatthe stock isn't going to be
generic and that it aligns aswell with your brand.
(15:44):
And that you have legal rightsto use it.
Also very important.
I am not an attorney.
I cannot give you legal advice.
However, I would tell you tocheck the usage rights of any
media that you are acquiring,whether you're paying for it or
not, and just make sure you'redoing the right thing.
Yeah, so if you need some, agood free resource is Unsplash,
that's a good one that has freestock photography.
(16:04):
But yes, if you are going to useit, make sure you give the
proper rights where you have to.
And then also make sure italigns with your brand in terms
of, you know, if it's a companyin Florida, don't use images
with a snowy background orthings that might create a bit
of a disconnect.
That's like a very extremeexample.
No, it's real.
That might apply to people thatwork with you know, different
kind of, I don't want to sayfranchises, but like we did work
(16:26):
with Harley-Davidson for a whileand that was a struggle for us
because we had a lot of reallyincredible photography that
Harley-Davidson corporate hadtaken, but it was all with like
mountain backgrounds or theselong empty roads or downtown
cities and things like that justreally didn't connect with where
the dealerships were and it's astruggle.
Yeah.
And I think we romanticize thathere in Florida, but it's
(16:47):
definitely good to have thatconnection with your audience so
you're not putting out a postfor the Fort Myers location and
then people are like, where wasthis taken?
Right, this clearly is somethingcorporate, something stock.
Yeah, keep those things in mindwhether you're working, you
know, with a manufacturer, a bigcompany, or if you are an
independent.
Yeah, and then another don'tthat I wanted to highlight was
don't ignore the importance ofwhite space, negative space in
(17:09):
general.
So give your eye room tobreathe.
Yes.
I would say less is more interms of text.
Especially on social graphics,you really need to capture these
people's attention.
So keep the headlines short,keep any copy really short, and
don't overload the graphic withdifferent items.
Make sure you keep it reallyclean.
If you're ever in doubt of, do Ineed this element in it?
(17:31):
Remove it, because then youdon't need it.
Yes, it could be like MarieKondo, does it bring you joy?
Yeah, right?
Is it adding something to thegraphic?
If not, if it could be just thesame without, then remove it.
Yes, great, great advice.
Okay, so, some tools andresources, because I don't like
to just talk theory.
Some free tools, we've alreadymentioned Canva is a fantastic
one.
(17:51):
Yep, Adobe Express is anotherone that's also free.
So you can pay extra and thenget more access to some of their
stock and different features,but they do have a free version
of that, and that's a reallygreat tool as well.
And then in terms of some paidtools, Illustrator, Photoshop,
any of the Adobe suite really isreally excellent.
When you're trying to do morecomplex graphics, definitely
lean on those.
But Canva and Adobe Express aregood just for simple things.
(18:14):
Yeah, and there's tons of evenother social media editing apps,
CapCut is one that'spredominantly video, but you
could explore that too.
There's so many available now,it's amazing.
Yeah.
So just some final takeaways aswe wrap this up.
We're talking aboutscroll-stopping content, how to
create designs for social mediathat really create impact.
Make sure that you'reintentional with your designs.
What are you trying toaccomplish?
(18:34):
What will success look like?
What's the emotion that we'retrying to generate?
And how can we best representthe brand?
So making sure that we arealways in line with brand
standards.
That our text is very clear,legible, and on brand, that we
have a very clear call toaction, or CTA, and that we're
using high quality content,whether that's generated on our
own, or that we purchase, andthat we have the rights to use
(18:55):
it.
Anything else?
No, I think you covered it.
And yeah, I would just encouragepeople to make sure you keep
these things in mind.
Social media design is a reallyimportant part of your online
social presence and your brandpresence in general, so
definitely dedicate time to itand don't treat it as an
afterthought.
Yeah, and I would say our mantrahere is less but best.
So, if this feels daunting toyou, that you have to spend all
(19:16):
this time and be so thoughtfuland careful about all the posts
that you're trying to produce,just keep in mind, you know,
your audience will tell youeverything that they're looking
for, and sometimes fewer posts,but really high quality will
serve you so much better, sodon't be overwhelmed.
Well, thanks for joining me,Bethany.
Great to be here.
And thanks for tuning in toanother episode of 1000 Ways to
Market Your Business, a podcastbrought to you by Pushing the
Envelope.
I'm Samantha Scott, APR.
(19:36):
Thank you very much.
We look forward to the nextepisode.
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