Throughout this course, you’ve learned a lot about what content can do for your social media presence. In this reading, you’ll learn how to design a post for your social media pages.
What is Canva?
Canva is an online graphic design tool used to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents, and other visual content, including videos. As opposed to other graphic design tools that require some level of expertise, Canva is specifically laid out for ease of use, which means novice users can feel more comfortable starting out with the tool. Canva offers a large number of pre-built templates so that digital marketers can create on-brand posts at an expert design level.
Navigate the Canva interface
To create a new social media asset in Canva, you’ll need to log in or create a new account. To begin, navigate to Canva.com and complete one of those steps.You will be directed to provide your email address and create a password, or log in via your Google, Facebook, or Apple account.
Next, select create a design. Select the type of post you want to create. You’ll have the option to create a video, presentation, Instagram post or story, poster, Facebook post, logo, flyer, infographic, resume, and other types of content. Since we are covering social media in this course, for now, select an Instagram post.
Now, title your post in the bar at the top of the page. Make sure to give your post a descriptive title. For example, your title might include the name of the discount being offered or an upcoming holiday.
After you’ve titled it, browse Canva’s various templates by entering keywords in the search bar that involves the specific topic of your post or business, like electronic store, or more vague terms, such as colorful.
Note: The free templates do not have a crown icon. The items with a crown require a paid Canva Pro account.
When you find a template you like, select it to add to your post. You can adjust and edit all the elements within the template by selecting an element. A toolbar will pop up, allowing you to make any changes you want. You’ll have the ability to change colors, sizes, fonts, text alignment, spacing, and more. If you want to select more than one element, you can click and drag your mouse over the elements you wish to edit, and they’ll be selected together.
When you’re ready to add header text, go to the Text menu and select Add a heading. Move the heading to where you would like to place it in the post. You can also click on an existing text element in the template to edit or delete it.
Note: If you’re on desktop, Canva has a series of keyboard shortcuts you can use to streamline your design process. These shortcuts allow you to easily complete actions like: create a new text box, bold your text, resize your images, copy your elements, and much more. Visit this link to learn more.
To adjust text, select the text you want to edit and choose a font from the dropdown menu. To ensure your text is accessible, avoid complicated fonts and italics, bold, or other special lettering.
If you need to add additional body text, go to the Text menu and select Add a little bit of body text. Move the text box to where you would like to place it in the post.
Next, click on the Elements tab to find graphics, photos, videos, and more. Type a keyword in the search bar to find relevant elements for your design. When you click on an item in the elements tab, it will automatically be added to your canvas, but feel free to drag it around and place it where you want.
You might want to share your post with collaborators before posting your new post on social media. To share, click the share button. Here you can set the sharing permissions from nly people added to Anyone with the link. You can also choose what access to allow, from full editing access to view only. You can either click Copy link or add in your collaborators email addresses.
Finally, be sure to save the work you did to complete this activity. Canva automatically saves your work, but you can also save it by clicking File and selecting Save. After you save your work, navigate to the homepage to the Your Projects tab, where you can find your saved projects.
After you’ve experimented with creating an Instagram post for this course, we encourage you to go back and try to design other kinds of assets in Canva. The skills you learn in this course can be applied to any kind of social media post.
Key takeaways
Canva can be an invaluable tool to your social media presence as a digital marketer or social media manager. Make sure to spend time getting acquainted with its various capabilities and features so you set yourself up for success in future roles.