When Instagram Stories first rolled out, I remember actually saying out loud “but what’s the point if it disappears in 24 hours? No one will want to use this.”
I was very, very wrong.
Instagram Stories–which were a copycat of Snapchat’s classic disappearing-after-a-day content– became a wildly popular feature, and it was so successful that Facebook eventually rolled out their own version, and they both moved from mobile-only to mobile- and desktop- friendly. Stories have developed rapidly on these platforms in the past few years, offering “Swipe Up” links, Story Ads, interactive stickers, highlight covers, and even Shoppable content that allows users to purchased tagged products.
If you’re wondering why you should use them, it’s not just about the fact that Stories have become more high-tech than we ever expected; it’s because users love them. Consider the following statistics from Embed Social:
One third of the most viewed Instagram Stories come from business accounts
96% of marketers surveyed plan to continue using Stories Ads over the next six months, which means that it’s currently working for them
The biggest challenge with Stories for many brands isn’t getting engagement on their content; it’s reliably coming up with enough ideas to be posting consistently. In this post, we’re going to look at 7 different types of Story ideas that you can use to build up your brand and engage your audience across social media. [continue reading…]
Social media is one of the best ways to connect with your target audience. It’s often one of the first touch points users might have with your business, introducing them to your brand and what you offer, and it’s an incredible way to build long-term relationships with interested users who can eventually become customers.
This doesn’t just happen instantly, however, and social media marketing for businesses requires more than a few random posts with philosophical quotes attached; you need to have a strategy in place to help you brand and represent your business in a meaningful way. Branding on social media involves a series of decisions that will help you stand out, connect with your audience, and make a big (and strong!) impression.
In this post, we’re going to take a look at 3 crucial elements of social media branding: the voice, the visual, and the awareness strategies you need. [continue reading…]
Squarespace has exceptional ease of use and zero learning curve, which is a huge advantage for non-techy business owners who want an affordable but reliable site that will help them sell well and that’s easy for them to use. It only makes sense that it would become so popular for eCommerce sites looking to quickly connect with their target audience.
Many of our clients use Squarespace for their sites, and they’ve recently been asking us about Squarespace image sizes and best practices to help them effectively sell their products and services.
You’ve asked, and we’ve answered! In this post, we’re going to take a close look at the best Squarespace image size for different types of product photos, along with some design tips to ensure that you’re maximizing the potential for conversions. [continue reading…]
Having a professional Twitch channel page is essential for the success of your live stream. The main components of a strong streaming page include a nicely designed offline screen with the best Twitch offline banner size and a memorable Twitch cover photo.
The Twitch offline banner screen needs to be properly designed so that it gives your followers the necessary information to return and watch your stream.
A few things can be done to ensure that you have the best possible offline banner for your page. I’ve summarized everything you need to know in the article below and outlined some of my best tips and tricks when it comes to creating the perfect Twitch offline banner!
Etsy is a popular site that entrepreneurs, crafters, artists, and artisans use to sell products that can range from everything including bath bombs to hand-carved chopsticks to diamond jewelry. Anyone with the talent to create valuable goods can get on Etsy and start selling their products directly to consumers, a little like an Amazon for hand-crafted goods.
While the goods themselves are an important part of your success on the platform, they aren’t the only factor that you need to consider. Most of the top-selling stores on Etsy have strong branding and marketing, helping their customers to remember them while establishing both credibility and momentum. Your Etsy banner is an important part of this.
In this post, we’re going to look at the best practices for how to tackle this important part of your store branding, including the perfect Etsy banner size and design techniques to help you stand out! [continue reading…]
When it comes to graphic design, fonts play an integral role. But if you’re not a designer, you might be asking yourself:
“What fonts actually go well together?”
Not to worry! In this post, we’ve laid out 50 perfect font combinations that you can use in your designs today. Of course, all fonts mentioned in this post are included in Snappa.
Now before we begin, let’s go over some quick terminology so you can better follow the different font combinations that we outline in this post. [continue reading…]
Too many businesses fail to use infographics because they don’t have a team of in-house designers or knowledge of how to create them. Fortunately, there are tools like Snappa that provide ready-made, fully customizable infographic templates that you can quickly use to create beautiful infographics to accomplish your marketing goals.
In this post, we’re going to take a look at seven different types of infographic examples available through Snappa and how to use them for your business. [continue reading…]
You start a YouTube channel so you can connect with a new audience and build more solid relationships with the customers you already have. You do everything right. Overtime, you start to see views increase, and your viewer retention rates are high.
This is all great, but you realize that you aren’t actually seeing a lot of results off platform. Your subscriber number isn’t increasing, there isn’t a lot of traffic to your site, and sales are unaffected. What gives?
In many cases, branded YouTube channels that have great content, a strong profile picture, the best video format, solid channel art are dropping the ball in one major way: their YouTube outros. In this post, we’re going to discuss what YouTube outros are, why they’re so important, and how to create one that will help you get the results you’re looking for. [continue reading…]
Podcasts are a purely auditory experience, so it’s all about listening. Visuals have nothing to do with it, right?
While this may seem like the case, that’s actually really far from the truth. The cover art that users see, after all, is the first real experience that they have with your content. And long before they decide to listen, they’ll look at that artwork and it may even influence whether or not they stick around long enough to read the description of your podcast, let alone download it.
We all know this to be true. We eat with our eyes first, which is why restaurants strive to have Instagram-worthy dishes, even though the taste is what really matters most. Cover art for your podcast is no different, and it should be valued accordingly.
Also worth noting is that when users are browsing through different platforms featuring a large number of podcasts, they’re looking for something to catch your eye. If your cover art really doesn’t entice them, they’ll scroll right past.
In this post, we’re going to go over podcast cover art best practices and answer any questions you may have, in addition to showing you exactly how to create it even if you don’t have any design experience. [continue reading…]
Having the right Soundcloud banner size and the right visuals that represent you as an artist can make or break your profile. You want to leave a good impression on listeners visiting your Soundcloud page. Before users even click the play button, the first thing they will see is your Soundcloud banner and profile photo.
Soundcloud has taken artists from their bedrooms to tours across the world. It’s crazy to think that a simple SoundCloud profile like yours can be seen by thousands or even millions of people.
I’ve looked through some of the biggest and bests SoundCloud profiles across the platform to give you the ideal SoundCloud banner size and best practices so that you can attract more listeners to your profile.[continue reading…]
