Create Stunning Social Media Graphics with Canva: A Beginner's Guide

Social media is a tool that is pretty much required these days in order for businesses and individuals to connect, engage, and grow their online presence. However, to stand out in the crowded digital landscape, you need more than just compelling content. You need eye-catching visuals that will capture your audience’s attention, make them stop scrolling, and leave a lasting impression.

Appealing visual posts receive significantly more attention and higher engagement rates than text-only posts, and well-done graphics not only help capture attention but also enhance your online branding. Makes sense then that you’d want great graphics, right?

However, you may also be wondering how you can create these captivating images and well-designed graphics. This is where Canva can come into play. It’s a user-friendly graphic design platform designed for people just like you and me. Let’s take a look at how it works…

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH CANVA

• The first step is to create a Canva account. Don’t worry, there is a free version to get you started. However, Canva also offers a Pro Plan and Teams Plan with more advanced features and tools. You can choose which plan better suits your needs as you grow.

• Once you’re in, take some time to familiarize yourself with Canva’s user-friendly design editor interface. It’s designed specifically to make graphic design easy and accessible to everyone, from beginners to pros.

CHOOSING VISUAL ELEMENTS

Once you are set up, it’s time to dive into the fun part!

• Browsing Canva’s image, illustration and font options: Canva offers an extensive library of images, illustrations, and fonts. You can easily search for visuals that align with your brand and style.

• Finding on-brand visuals for a cohesive feed: Consistency is key on social media. Canva’s brand kit helps you maintain brand consistency by storing your logo, colors, and fonts for easy access.

• Using tools like the uploader and brand kit: Canva allows you to upload your images and graphics, making it easier to incorporate your unique content into your designs.

SELECTING TEMPLATES AND LAYOUTS

Once you’ve gathered your visual assets, you can choose the best templates and layouts that will help make your social media posts pop!

• Exploring template options for different post types: Canva offers a vast selection of templates tailored for various social media platforms and post types. You can find templates specifically for Instagram, Facebook, and other popular social media channels.

• Layout tips and best practices: Canva can help you easily learn the art of layout and design principles and will help you create compositions that are not only eye-catching but also help communicate your message effectively.

• Customizing templates for your brand: You have the ability to tailor templates to match your brand style, and can choose colors, fonts and imagery to reflect your brand.

CREATING SOCIAL POSTS

After laying the groundwork for your design, you can finally start creating your social media posts.

• Designing posts tailored for each network: Remember that what works visually for one platform may not work as well for another based on layout or audience.

• Canva’s sizing guide for different platforms: Because different social media platforms have different requirements for the dimensions of their posts, Canva helps simplify this by offering sizing guides for each platform so you can size accordingly.

• Platform-specific design tips: Canva gives you specific tips like ideal text length, image resolution and aspect ratio for the different social platforms you want to post to.

ENHANCING AND EDITING

At this point your designs are taking shape, but finalizing and tweaking them so they can be their best is also important.

• Using Canva’s editing tools: Canva has a wide array of editing tools like resizing, cropping, applying effects, etc so that you can fine tune your visuals.

• Advanced editing like removing backgrounds: When you up your subscription, you get more editing options and advanced techniques like background removal and adding text and graphic overlays. It just depends how far you want to take your images.

• Finishing with text and graphic overlays: This is a great way to put the finishing touches and add a little extra element of fun to your graphics.

EXPORTING AND PUBLISHING

This is the final piece to the puzzle…

• FIle export formats: You have the ability to export your designs in various formats like JPGs, PNGs, and PDFs so you can ensure they are ready for the web.

• Optimizing images for web: Optimizing your graphics for the web will help ensure faster load times and a better user experience.

• Embedding graphics or posting directly to social: You’ll have the option to explore different methods of sharing your designs, like embedding them on your website or posting them directly to your social media profiles.

ADDITIONAL CANVA TIPS 

You’ll want to keep these extra tips in mind as you get more and more familiar with Canva so you can use it to its fullest extent.

• Using brand fonts and color palette: Make sure to maintain brand consistency by utilizing your brands fonts and color palette throughout your designs and across your platforms. 

• Collaboration features: Canva offers collaboration features, making it easy to work on projects with team members, clients, or anyone else you’d like to collaborate with. 

• Canva’s photo/image library: Instead of solely relying on your own design skills, don’t forget to explore Canva’s vast library of photos and images where you might find exactly what it is you need. 

• Animating designs: Take a stab at using their animation features to your advantage and create some eye-catching animated graphics to add some life to your social media content.

Canva really is an empowering tool that allows you to create stunning social media graphics that will resonate with your audience. It can give you the skills and confidence that will put you well on your way to creating visually captivating content that is sure to leave a lasting impression. So let your creativity flow, experiment with different designs, and elevate your online social media presence with Canva. Your audience will thank you for it! I promise, it will make your life easier, and your audience will thank you for it.

Need a little help getting your graphics on track? We can help. Just reach out and let’s talk about what’s possible.