Social Media Ad Graphics Do’s and Don’ts + Some Tips

Here’s How To Create Enticing Social Media Ad Graphics!

Do you want to create scroll-proof social media ad graphics that catch the attention of your possible customers?

Creating ad graphics might seem like a daunting task…

…but with the right knowledge of what you need to do and what you have to avoid you’ll be making great ad visuals and quality business graphics in no time.

That’s why in this post, we’re going to talk about the dos and don’ts of creating your social media ad graphics.

Social media advertising is a vital part of your social media marketing campaign.

It allows you to target and communicate your business to specific users, build an audience, drive engagement, increase traffic, and ultimately get sales.

Your social media ad graphics play a huge role in this as it aims to stop the user from scrolling through your ad.

And, it should make them want to learn more about what you’re promoting.

Apps like Photoshop…

…and sites like PicMonkey and Canva are great for creating these…

…with the latter offering a huge library of templates for you to choose from for your ad graphics.

But before you jump in and start designing, here are some important dos and don’ts in creating your ad graphics.

The Dos And Don’ts Of Creating Social Media Ad Graphics

1. Do – Use contrast to feature your product.

What makes this group of colors a good composition?

And this a bad one?

The first image is a great example of good contrast, and the latter, not so much.

If you grayscale both images, you’ll find that you can still clearly see the definition of each shape on one image.

Whereas the other one loses definition and each shape isn’t as pronounced and set apart from one another.

That’s because the second image has colors of similar value. Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color.

You may be using different colors for your main image and background…

…but if they’re similar in value, you’re going to lose contrast.

Thus, you won’t be able to highlight your main image very well as your hero image will blend into the background. 

You’ll want to use contrast to feature your product, and doing the greyscale check before finalizing your ad graphics will help with this.

If there’s not enough contrast, you’ll want to separate your main image from its background.

And, either edit the background’s color value or replace it entirely with a different one. 

2. Don’t – Overcrowd your ad graphic.

A good social media ad graphic has an image, a headline, a call to action button, and optionally, a logo.

Any more than that, and you’re overcrowding your ad.

Unlike social media graphics where you want to have a variety of different images with different intensities of graphic design implemented into them…

…you’ll want to keep your ad graphics as simple and as uncongested as possible. 

To do this, make sure that you don’t have too many words on your headline.

Also, you may be tempted to use different sorts of decorations and elements to your ad graphic…

…but remember that the less decorative elements and loud effects you have the better.

Your main image is the hero of the graphic and should always be the most prominent part of your image.

So keep things as simple as you can, and try not to have unnecessary design elements outshine your product or service image. 

3. Do – Use high-resolution images.

As we’ve previously mentioned, the most important part of your social media ad graphics…

…is the image of the product you’re selling or the service you are providing.

So, it is essential that you use high-quality images that visually present what you offer as best as it possibly can. 

Stock images are great for this purpose.

But if you want something more personal and want to look as authentic as possible, there are many ways to get crisp-looking images yourself.

And we have a previous post on how you can use your phone to make quality product shots.

So if you want to shoot great quality product images yourself, be sure to check that out. 

4. Don’t –  Use stock photos that look way too staged.

Using stock photos for your social media ad graphics is an excellent way of making sure your image quality will be up to standard.

But beware of stock images that look way too staged and way too impersonal.

You’ll want to avoid stock images that look too corny and look forced rather than natural. 

If you need an image of a happy person, for example, this is a much better option…

…than this.

5. Do – Adjust your layout depending on which platform you’ll run your ads.

With more social media platforms where you can run your ads, Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok among others…

…you want to be making sure you adjust, not just your ad dimensions, but your layout to better suit which platform you’re going to run your ad in.

The text alignment that works for your square ad might not be the best option for your TikTok ad.

The same goes for the location of your buttons and your main image.

Also, what works best as still images on one platform might be more appealing in a video format on another.

Take these into consideration when adjusting your ad graphics across different platforms.

Speaking of video ads, here’s our tutorial on how to design short Facebook video ads.

6. Do – Stick to your branding guide colors.

If you’ve already established a visual branding guide for your business, you already have a specific look and style in your social media graphics.

But you might at times be faced with situations where you’ll want to introduce some colors outside of your brand guide to fit the specific ad better.

For example, if you’re running ads on a Valentine’s Day promo, you’ll want to use red to attract the visual attention of your audience.

And to use the color psychology of red to associate with the specific holiday better.

This is fine, but remember to tread carefully. At no point do you want to completely abandon your set of visual branding.

For example, on a Valentine’s Day ad, instead of going all out on the color red and all its hues…

…you may want to try using your usual branding colors with a touch of red accents and relevant symbols.

That way, although you’re introducing a new color outside of your branding…

…it’ll still look like the graphic is yours and will still have the personality that your visual graphics have.

And that’s it for today’s post on social media ad graphics dos and don’ts.

Now if you’re looking for a graphic design agency to work on your business graphics, look no further. Contact LYFE now!

The post Social Media Ad Graphics Do’s and Don’ts + Some Tips appeared first on Digital Marketing Blog.