How to Create Social Media Graphics When You Suck at Design
One of the worst things in the world is having to work on something when you aren’t good at it. It’s incredibly frustrating.
If you’re a social media manager or simply the low person on your marketing team’s totem pole, you may get stuck making social media graphics when it’s not your forte.
What’s the play? Luckily, you have options. So keep reading. We’ve got the skinny on how to create social media graphics when you suck at design.
3 Ways to Create Social Media Graphics when You Suck at Design
We’ve got a little something for everyone in today’s post. Do you want something for free? We’ve got you covered. How do you find the best freelancers? We can help you with that too. Let’s get started.
1. Hire a Freelancer
You can find freelance graphic designers on websites like Fiverr and Upwork, which are two of the most popular. But there are at least a dozen other websites where you can find quality talent.
You can also follow quality graphic design people on social media. Twitter is a great place to find freelancers who are looking for new clients.
The first step is to find the right designer for your business. Reach out to these folks or post a job ad. Talk to them and check out their portfolio if they have one available.
In most cases, when a designer does a bad job, it’s because you gave them bad information. You want to be particular about your wants and needs and make sure this freelancer knows exactly what you want.
You can accomplish this goal by designing a mockup of what you want, giving it to them, and discussing it. During this step, you want to talk about all the branding stuff, what colors you want to use, and what fonts will be used for any text. It is even possible to use a logo maker instead and have the site connect you with your design.
It’s also a good idea to talk about how the graphic is going to be used. Is it going to be for Pinterest? YouTube? Instagram? This will give them a better idea of what you want so they don’t feel like they have to “wing it”.
Lastly, you’ll need to negotiate on price. Like most areas of business, you get what you pay for. Better designers are going to want more money than entry-level freelancers who have no experience or portfolio.
2. Hire an In-House Designer
If you’ve made up your mind that you need a full-time employee to handle all of your needs for social media graphic design, then hiring someone is your first step.
This may seem obvious to some people, but if your business is just getting off the ground, hiring a potentially full-time remote employee can be terrifying.
You can start looking for a graphic design professional on Indeed as well as using the same methods as hiring a freelancer. But if you want someone full-time, make sure to have NDAs and any other documents prepared to help protect your business.
On the flip side of this coin, having a full-time person at your disposal could be a great idea. Especially if you’re in the affiliate marketing space. If you’re running multiple niche websites, there’s no way you have the time to do everything.
Hiring a full-time design person is going to cost you some money, sure. But it’ll save you a ton of time and unless you’re a design and social media expert, a ton of headache as well.
3. Teach Yourself to Make Graphics
Saving money is crucial in business, especially for new companies. In the case of people who are trying to make money online, it could be a one-person show entirely.
If you have the time and the will, you can teach yourself to create social media graphics. Granted, when you first start your finished products aren’t going to be great. But if you keep at it, you can eventually learn to create some cool stuff for your brand.
1. Canva
Canva is one of the best online tools for creating graphics for all of your design needs. The best part is it’s free. So you can go on to the site and play around for a while.
That being said, if you want full access to everything they offer, you’ll need a premium plan. The Pro Plan only costs about $10 a month if you pay annually.
Considering you can make graphics for just about any social media post, including Instagram, logos, YouTube intros and thumbnails, Pinterest pins, etc… it’s a great and inexpensive way to help you build out your social platforms.
One of the things we love the most about Canva is there are a ton of tutorials and “how to” videos on YouTube. So if you ever need some inspiration, a quick search will give you dozens of ideas.
2. Befunky
Do you take a lot of your own pictures? Are you always looking for creative ways to be unique with your social media graphics?
Befunky has you covered. You can use the free version or pay $5 a month for the Plus plan.
Imagine having great photo editing software at your fingertips at a fraction of the price. Is it as good as some of the top editing services on the market? Probably not.
But for social media graphics, it’s perfect. The site offers a background remover, the ability to retouch portraits, crop and resize features, collage features, you can even batch edit your images.
3. The Influence Agency
What if you don’t want to do your own design? You’re not even thinking about it. It’s just a hard no. You don’t want to deal with freelancers. You don’t want anyone coming on full-time.
Is there another option?
Yes. Contact The Influence Agency. They have a team of designers, SEOs, and outreach marketers to design graphics for you and get them distributed where you want them when you want them.
Conclusion - How to Create Social Media Graphics When You Suck at Design
Creating social media graphics doesn’t have to be a chore. There are thousands of professionals at your fingertips via the internet. If you don’t want to do something, then don’t do it.
With modern software, it’s easier than ever to create and promote images for your business or website. If you’ve got a few extra bucks a month, you can design some pretty slick images for your social profiles. Take the time to play around and try to enjoy yourself.
The other way is to Adobe's Instagram post generator
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