4 social media graphics mistakes

Using graphics as featured images for social media posts has become a regular practice that companies big and small alike are using. Unfortunately, many companies are making some easily avoided mistakes.

Graphics are very visual, and you want them to reflect the level of quality your company provides. Not everyone will do this, but some people will wonder if you won’t even put in the effort to throw up a high-quality graphic, are you really putting in a full effort in your products or services?

Here are a few common mistakes made with social media graphics.

1. Graphics that don’t match the brand

When you’re posting on the corporate social media accounts, you want the graphics to reflect the brand and culture of the company. Branding can be reflected in logos on the graphics, colors and typography.

Graphics have to match the company’s attitude as well as its appearance. If the company culture is very serious, humorous graphics probably won’t make much sense. Likewise, if you want to convey that your brand is upbeat, then you may want to use more humor and wit in your postings.

2. Using low quality graphics

Pushing out graphics that are pixelated, have a bad resolution or just appear poor in quality makes your company look unprofessional. These graphics are a direct reflection of your brand, and they need to show that you take your brand seriously.

Sure, many people might not be picky about the quality of your graphics. Then again, people aren’t usually picky about how you dress, but they still notice when you look sloppy.

3. Too much text on the graphics

Sometimes there’s a tendency for companies to use too much text, or not have enough contrast between the graphic and the text. The problem with using too much text is that it can overwhelm your audience visually.

By its nature, graphics shouldn’t need a lot of text to get the message across. As the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” And if so much text is required, then a blog post or some other sort of medium makes more sense than a graphic.

4. Not formatting for social networks

Ever create a graphic and get frustrated when it looks cut off when posted to social media? Each social network has a specific formatting that you should use. There are many online guides to each network’s formatting. Certain photo-editing programs like Canva will have templates pre-sized for social media formatting.

Graphics are an extension of your brand. Make them stand out.

Pretty much everything that your company does is a reflection of the company itself. When done right social media graphics are an excellent complement to the content that you’re posting and they lend authority to your brand. When done wrong, they make the company look careless, even if it’s only in a little way.