How to Create Engaging Social Media Visual Content Like Pro

Last updated on November 28th, 2023 at 01:34 pm

If you want to nail your social media visual content to engage your audience, you need to do more than post an image or two.

According to data, Facebook posts with images get 2.3 times more engagement than those without. It highlights how visual content can boost your social media audience engagement.

The catch is that creating visual content takes the right strategies, tools, and creative social media hacks for brands and marketers to support your efforts to boost engagement.

We share these four practical tips to help you create eye-catching and compelling social media visual content to drive engagement.

Let’s jump into it.

1. Implement the 3E thumb rule

One of the effective tactics to create engaging visual content for social media is to follow the 3E (Educational, Entertaining, and Enlightening) thumb rule.

Educational social media posts are great for quickly walking your audiences through your processes.

For instance, if you run a B2B company that offers reliable candidate-sourcing software, you could share a short video about how your product works.

The short introduction YouTube video from candidate sourcing software Manatal is a good example.

Entertaining social media posts are often crowd-pleasers.

You can get creative with your posts to amuse your audience, draw their attention, and engage them.

Include funny quotes on TikTok videos, post memes on Instagram, share GIFs on Twitter, and share other visual content that can entertain your target audience.

Enlightening posts allow you to highlight problems and show a way to solve them.

Enlightening posts can be photos of your guest speakers to promote your upcoming webinar on Facebook.

It helps your audience understand your post’s intent without reading the entire caption and reinforces your message.

Leverage the 3Es thumb rule to help create visual content that engages your social media audiences effectively.

2. Use the appropriate image size and video format

To ensure your posts appear as best as possible across your social media channels, follow each platform’s image specifications.

After all, using the wrong sizes can alter your images and videos’ quality, such as making your Instagram photos look stretched.

Check each social media platform’s size dimensions and guidelines before designing images and creating videos. Doing so ensures you use the right specs before publishing your post.

For example, your Instagram Reel showing a quick tutorial on how to buy SEO articles from your website must be in vertical format.

However, using a landscape video format is better when sharing the same video on your Facebook feed.

Consider these other tips when creating visual content for multiple social media platforms.

• Keep your visual content dimensions simple (square, portrait, or landscape) to ensure they display and work well on popular platforms.

• Avoid adding crucial elements and details at the top or bottom of your image. Doing so helps you avoid losing important parts of your image if the social media platform automatically crops your post.

• Use reliable graphic design and social media tools to preview images and videos before publishing.

A preview lets you see how your images will appear in your actual posts, allowing you to adjust anything quickly.

For instance, Canva offers customizable templates with sizes and specifications optimized for various social media platforms.

Some social media platforms have multiple image sizes and video format specifications.

Develop a content tracking strategy to find out which formats and sizes work best for your posts, audiences, and campaigns

3. Combine your brand identity with your visual content

It’s not enough to add your logo and icons to your social media visual content and call it a day.

You’ll need to incorporate your brand identity into your social media visual content to increase your chances of reaching more audiences and engaging them.

Start by following these quick tips:

• Know your social media audience to understand the visual content types they like and respond to best.

• Use the information to tailor your content to resonate with them while keeping your posts on-brand.

• Choose a color palette that appeals to your audience, supports your visual content marketing efforts, and represents your brand.

• Stick to a theme to keep your visual content consistent with your branding across your social media feeds and other marketing channels. It can help your target audiences remember and recognize your brand.

• Include branded and relevant hashtags in your social media posts. The right hashtags can help make your content searchable and discoverable for audiences and widen your reach.

• Follow reliable content writing tips to create engaging captions and descriptions for your images, videos, and other social media posts while staying on brand.

Starbucks is a great example of a brand that strategically incorporates its brand identity into its social media posts.

Starbucks is easily identified by its signature cups, so the brand fills its Instagram feed with photos of its famous cups with its logo.

The Starbucks Instagram photos are excellent ways to showcase Starbucks’ brand and products while providing audiences with a visually pleasing and engaging experience.

4. Evoke emotions with your social media posts

The more emotions you infuse into your social media visual content, the better they can attract your audience’s attention.

Plus, visual content that tugs at your audience’s emotions can have a lasting impact on your viewers’ minds, compelling them to act on your offers.

Consider the following factors to help you create content that brings out emotions in your viewers.

• Share relatable posts. Create visual content such as memes and GIFs that your social media audiences can relate to and tie back to your brand, products, or services.

SEOptimer nails this approach with its Instagram memes.

• Appeal to your potential customer’s desire. Create visual content that speaks, “I need this NOW,” to your viewers.

For instance, entice audiences to buy your products by sharing close-up shots of your delectable-looking cupcakes on a plate.

The IG photo from Cupcake Royale below is a classic example.

• Leverage cuteness. Cats, dogs, and other pets are famous on the internet for a reason: They’re often too cute to ignore.

However, not every business in specific industries can leverage cute posts as obviously as, let’s say, a company selling pet supplies can.

The key is incorporating “cute” elements into your visual content’s design, such as a pastel color palette paired with sophisticated artwork or graphics.

Nail your visual content for social media marketing success

Creating compelling visual content for social media takes the right strategy, tools, and creativity.

While achieving visual content marketing success won’t happen overnight, the tips in this guide can help point you in the right direction.