The Best Typography, Colors, and Templates Used in Highest-Converting Social Media Images

If you’ve been looking to supercharge your social media strategy, you probably know a lot about the benefits of using images. But, how much do you know about actually creating scientifically shareable images?

Turns out, there’s tons of actionable, research-backed advice on how to create social media images that get shared—the ideal colors, fonts, text, and more, all leveraging what we know about design, psychology, and the Internet to get more shares and engagement. 

By the end of this article you’re going to be fully aware of how to make images your readers can’t help but share. All backed by science.

What Makes a Shareable Social Media Image?

A shareable social media image is made up of five components:

1. Emotion: When your readers feel it, they’ll share it.
2. Relevance: Your image should not only fit your niche, but fit your audience, too.
3. Colors: Using the right colors, to get maximum shares.
4. Typography: Choosing a font that not only looks good, but also says what you’re trying to say.
5. Hashtags and Text: Using the right words, phrases, and hashtags that will make your audience interact.

In the article you’re going to learn how you can take advantage of all of these elements and put them together to create the best social images you possibly can.

1. Emotion

Create Epic Content (Or Nobody Will Share It)

Before I carry on, there’s one thing I do need to mention:

You need to treat your images as content.

And not just any sort of content. I mean the epic kind, that’s going to add a ton of value to your reader’s life. Because that’s the only content people share, right?

If you’re creating images because you feel you need to – and just scatter them throughout your news feed – you’re not going to get anywhere.

Your images should:

• Backup points you’ve made
• Show statistics
• Provide tweetable (or valuable) quotes
• Add depth
• Go above and beyond the content you’ve written

So, be sure that the images you use – or make – aren’t just there for the sake of it. Treat them as content and put a high value on what goes on them.

What Makes an Image Emotional (And Shareable)?

Emotion is the biggest piece of the sharing puzzle. And it’s the driving force behind all five points on this list – so it deserves a lot of attention. So, what makes an image emotional?

As it turns out, there are a lot of factors:

• Color: Studies of abstract art have shown the way color is used and distributed across a piece controls the emotions you feel. For example, black creates feelings at the despair end of the spectrum and bright primary colors can create joy and happiness.
• Font Choice: You’ll learn about this in depth in section four.
• Complexity: This isn’t complex designs – more on that next – butemotional complexity. Research shows the more feelings your images can convey, the more viral it will go.
• Showing one of these five things: Research from Harvard studied what makes marketing campaigns, and their images, go viral. They found that: admiration, interest, serenity, amazement, and astonishmentwere the most shared emotions.

Simple Designs, Big Emotions

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to create solid social media images. In fact, far from it. I’ve run twitter feeds for months without a single minute of design under my belt.

All it takes is a little knowledge of how design works, and what it takes to make something your audience wants to share.

Firstly, there isn’t a magic bullet of design that goes viral. At least not to the current research. But there is a principle of design that, when harnessed, can go a really long way.

Simplicity.

The psychology of design shows that people are most responsive – and more likely to engage – with images or logos that are laid out in a clean and simple way. That’s because if people are presented with too much information, it can be overwhelming and force them to switch off.

For example, this study on smoking warnings showed that when smokers were presented with too much graphic or negative information, they were actually more likely to smoke because they paid less attention to the images.

Basically, simple designs cut through the noise and make your message easier to digest.

Which of the two images is easier for you to process, and has the biggest impact?

The second one right? It’s a no-brainer. Clear and crisp cuts it. Two colors, one font – that’s it.

There’s no arguing with the message either. It goes right through the noise, and into the hearts (and minds) of your reader.

If you look at most articles on highly shareable images – like this one from Jeff Bullas – all the ‘types’ of image have this simplicity in common too.

You don’t need to go too far to see it in action either. All it takes is a quick glance at the Buffer twitter feed to see simple, clear and crisp layouts getting a lot of shares:

Here’s some simple tips on how to create simplicity, and powerful emotion, in your images:

1. Less is more: Don’t give your audience too much to look at.
2. Focus on clarity: Is the message you’re trying to create easy to see?
3. Use plenty of white space: If in doubt, leave it out. Empty space isn’t wasted; it can actually add power to your designs.
4. Few filters and effects: The less filters and special effects you use, the better.
5. Don’t be scared to use a premade template: Apps like Share As Imageand Canva both come with templates you can use to fit your purpose.

It’s also really helpful to know the sizes for each platform you’re using too. But, there’s a wonderful – and constantly updated – guide to that right here.

2. Relevance

Choosing a Relevant Image

Relevancy is important in content marketing. Making sure that what you’re doing fits who you’re doing it for. But, never has that been more important than when you’re choosing an image.

Let me explain:

90% of the information the brain processes is visual, and it’s processed 60,000x faster than anything you read. That means when your brain first sees an image, it’s trying to join the dots between what you see and what youshould be seeing.

Essentially, your brain is trying to figure out if the image makes sense.

If the image doesn’t fit your:

• Brand
• Niche
• Status Update

Then you’re going to drive your audience away from the image—and the share button—and right onto the next post in their feed.

And while standout images that don’t make sense might make your reader stop and look, it’s not going to make them share. Which is why you’re here, right?

Source:http://www.searchenginejournal.com/best-typography-colors-templates-used-highest-converting-social-media-images/134539/