Why consistency in your social media visuals is so crucial
Is your visual aesthetic consistent in your social media visuals? Because it should be.
People trust you as a business more if the "look" in your visuals is very consistent. It shows you as being reliable, decisive, and unwavering in your brand message, and as a result, people enjoy looking at your online presence because it's comfortable.
They don't have to think too much - they don't have to subconsciously wonder why one day your images are saying one thing, then another day they're saying something completely different.
Your audience knows who you are and what you're saying, and they don't have to expend mental energy in trying to figuring it out. You're making it easier for them to follow you and engage with you - because they don't have to think so hard.
The very least you need to do with your visuals is stick to the same brand colors and fonts in your imagery.
This is my Instagram grid at the time of publishing this blog post - it's not PERFECTLY consistent, cause, man, this is hard! But repetition of my brand green colour and bright colours and (mostly) the same font contribute to the feeling of cohesion here.
Taking it a step further, try and have two or three dominant colours in the actual photographs you use in your social media visuals.
You also need to consider what your brand is trying to say in your social media visuals. Is your brand personality bright and colorful, but the photographs you use cover everything from from dark and moody to stylized and conceptual to light and airy?
What does a mish-mash like that say about you as a business?
It says you don't really know what you're trying to say. To tell people. And if YOU don't know ...
A consistent visual narrative draws people towards you and increases your following of folks who know, like, and trust you. And we all know how necessary that is to get people to buy from you, don't we?
Why visuals are vital
Competition's fierce, so your social media visuals simply have to be up to scratch to communicate what you and your business are all about to a digitally distracted audience.
This isn't rocket science - humans are wired to be visual creatures, and we're naturally drawn to beautiful images.
Our brains need images to help them absorb huge amounts of information quickly, and we can process information conveyed in images way faster than by reading words.
There's also evidence showing that when people hear information, they'll probably recall about 10% of it in three days time (or 0% of it if you're a child of mine!), but bring in a visual, people remember 65% of the message. That's quite a difference!
This is a visual age, and people need to see before they believe, so what are you doing to satisfy this?
Are YOUR visuals working hard enough for you?
How to get great social media visuals
Here are some things to consider when creating your own social media visuals.
Colour psychology is SO important. There's a brilliant colour generator here half way down the page - have a go! Adjust the sliders to see where your brand is on the scale for these aspects:
- Gender: Is my brand traditionally masculine or feminine?
- Tone: Is my brand playful or serious?
- Value: Is my brand luxurious or affordable?
- Time: Is my brand modern or classic?
- Age: Is my brand youthful or mature?
- Energy: Is my brand loud or subdued?
(I'm glad to see they agree I'm bang on track in my use of green!)
How you arrange your images is also important.
Keep in mind that arranging your images symmetrically helps create a calm, orderly feeling of predictability which the human brain LOVES.
Conversely, images arranged asymmetrically in a jaggy or haphazard way evoke feelings of uncertainty and chaos. And whilst there may be certain situations where brands actively pursue that, it's not generallly a good idea.
Think too about vantage points and perspective in your photographs. A collection of close-up shots can look very personal and suggest intimacy whereas pull-back shots taken from further away suggest isolation, independence, and seclusion.
Get yourself and your business professionally photographed
You can do all your own photography for your social media visuals, either by taking selfies - which I don't advise - or taking the detail and prop shots yourself, or you could get a friend or family member to do it for you.
That's fine if you're just starting out - something is DEFINITELY better than nothing and it's imperative that you get going! Here's some help if you're DIY'ing it, but you need to be realistic about the results you'll get.
To achieve the consistency and quality of images your business needs to be taken seriously in the professional area, you need professional photography which makes you stand out and draws your potential clients to you as they realise you're the obvious - the only - choice for them.
Get in touch with me now and we'll start planning your unique visuals which convey all your key marketing messages, and make people form the impression of you and you business that YOU want them to form.
