Social Media Branding - a DIY Tutorial

In this tutorial, we're going to show you how to create a set of cohesive social media assets based on your branding guide. It only requires basic computer skills and the best part is you are going to have fun designing it! 

Please note: if you purchased our PRO+BRAND+LAUNCH package, you will receive Canva templates and social icons ready for you to use.

Your branding is a powerful tool that gives you the ability to create a truly unique and instantly recognizable style. Being on-brand is really the key to so many things. Your clients will see you as a professional, solid and trustworthy brand and you’ll attract the ideal clientele and maximise sales ✓

I’m going to show you how a set of files, font info and color palette can be translated into a beautiful Instagram post, a Facebook cover, and a Facebook post.

Let’s do it!

For this example we're going to use one of our client’s premade logo and branding (the PRO+BRAND package) consisting of very nice, feminine hot pink, blush pink, gold, grey and navy blue.

After your branding is finalized, you will receive a set of files, font names, a moodboard and a custom colour palette with colour codes. For this guide you will need the .png files which have a transparent background and your color codes.

CREATING COLOR TINTS

Using a tint and shade generator such as https://maketintsandshades.com/ you are able to generate sets of additional color codes, providing you with a vast choice of additional codes, consistent with the original scheme.

USING CANVA TO CREATE SOCIAL MEDIA ASSETS

Canva is a great tool with plenty of free options for you to use. It’s a great alternative to Photoshop and doesn’t require graphic design software knowledge. You can of course use a different platform/app if you like. I’m using Canva for this tutorial as it’s free and quite simple to use (although it’s my first time using it!)…

To start go to:

https://www.canva.com/templates/search/social-media/

SELECTING A TEMPLATE

You should begin by searching for a particular format, for example: Instagram post. Remember each social media platform requires graphics to be designed in particular sizes so important to choose the right template. For example Instagram post is going to be square, while Facebook cover is a rectangular design.

In this tutorial, I used a free stock photo provided by Canva, a set of fonts to match my branding - Montserrat, and a bold serif. If your branding font isn’t listed in the free selection, just use a visually similar one and stick to it. I also added one of their premade graphics and customized its colors with my own codes from the tint and shade selection. You can see the Instagram post template before and after below:

CREATING MORE DESIGNS

We then picked one of their Facebook cover templates and customized it again, making sure fonts and colors are consistent with my previous design. We also uploaded my png logo assets for a more branded look. The side panel has all you need - ready stock images, (free and paid ones), premade graphics and shapes you can color-customize and an option to upload your own elements. Remember to keep things consistent and not mix too many fonts or images together.

The great thing about Canva’s premade graphics is you can adjust each color separately - see how I matched the leaves and stems with my branding palette? It’s super easy.

Adjusting elements is pretty straightforward with Canva and the double-click cropping tool is also very intuitive. There is also a helpful set of tutorials available for anyone wishing to learn more about designing with Canva: https://designschool.canva.com/tutorials/

THE END RESULT

The final outcome is a beautiful set consisting of: an Instagram post graphic, a Facebook cover design and a Facebook post - all nicely branded and ready to rock!

We hope this post inspires you to use the branding guide and create something amazing for your social media! 😍