Ever wonder what goes into making the thumb-stopping posts you see at Ripl?
In this post, we're going to take you behind the scenes with Ripl's in-house template designers on how to create attention-grabbing social media posts for your small business.
Click any section to jump ahead:
Meet the Ripl designers, Megan and Harrison
Megan is a content designer at Ripl with over 7 years of professional design experience. Learn more from her own words:
"I have been a content designer at Ripl since 2020. I love designing templates in Ripl because of how easy it is to create scroll-stopping content for our customers in a matter of minutes."
Harrison is a graphic designer by trade and has 4 years of experience as a content designer. Here's a little more about him:
"I have been with Ripl since 2019. I love helping business owners create social media posts and always try to improve the content and usability of Ripl for our customers."
A majority of the pre-made templates you use in the product have been created by one of us. We wanted to share some of our most valuable tips and tricks when it comes to creating eye-catching posts for social media.
Creating a Ripl is an easy way to produce content you can share with your followers on social media, but there are a few things you can do to really make sure you stand out from the crowd. Are you ready to take your Ripls to the next level? Read through for our top 6 social media design ideas to get started.
Social media design tip #1: The call to action
When it comes to text, less is definitely more. Whether or not you have an image, a shorter amount of text is easier for the viewers to process. You have only a few moments to grab someone’s attention before they scroll on by. So in those few moments, we want to make sure your voice and call to action (CTA) are received.
Here are a few rules to follow:
Start the CTA with the desired action
Provoke emotion (Example: By using an “!” you add a sense of urgency.)
Give your audience a reason to click on your ad or post.
Pro tip: Get creative and have fun!
Social media design tip #2: Photos for days
When you have the opportunity to use a photo, do so! The old adage is not far from the truth; A picture is worth a thousand words and you can usually make a stronger impression on folks with a good photo versus lines and lines of text. To make the most captivating Ripl, build your post with engaging photos and that witty CTA you just wrote!
Pro tip: Don’t forget, Ripl has a robust collection of stock photography that you have access to. To add stock photos to your post, click on the “media” tab. From here you can search or scroll through the stock photography library. Yes, stock photos look great, but authenticity is best. Using your own photos of your product or service helps showcase what your business offers. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a professional photographer. Good lighting and free photo editing apps can help you look like a pro in minutes.
Social media design tip #3: What should we look at first?
Visual hierarchy is the principle of arranging elements to show their order of importance. It's how humans process information in front of them; what do they notice first? Second? Third? As creators, our goal is to communicate our message clearly to our audience.
Follow these simple steps to achieve a good visual hierarchy, keep in mind the following:
Use font size to emphasize your CTA and other pieces of important information.
Use color to help information stand out. Example: Use light text on a dark background to make your text jump off the page.
Pair 2 fonts together. This will help make reading your posts easier and your posts more interesting to look at. (Pro tip: If you are unsure of what fonts pair well together, Ripl templates have fonts that are already paired!)
Don’t forget to let different elements on your post “breath”. Simply put, allow a bit of space between different elements on your page.
Social media design tip #4: We love movement
You need to stand out from the crowd, and one of the most effective ways to accomplish this is to animate your post using pre-made Ripl templates. All Ripl templates have the ability to animate.
It’s an easy and effective way to grab your audience’s attention. Here’s how:
Pick the template you are going to use from the design tray.
Toggle the slider under the design from “Static” to “Animated”
You will then see a play icon added to the tray.
Click on the new icon, and watch your post animate!
Pro tip: Each template has its own unique animation, so don’t be afraid to try a few. Don’t forget to add your brand fonts and colors, they will be carried over to any template you choose!
Social media design tip #5: Text - How much do I need?
When it comes to social media you only have a few moments before your post is scrolled, swiped, or flicked past. In those few moments, you have to grab your viewer’s attention, and after your photography, the text is the next item your viewer will look for. With that being said, it is important that your text be clear and concise. Here are a few tips:
Body text should be kept to a minimum. (15-30 characters.)
Increase the size of your headlines to grab viewers’ attention.
Use Ripl’s brand setting to consistently use the same typeface and colors that represent your brand
Social media design tip #6: Color, color, and more color!
Ripl has built-in customization tools to make your post stand out above the rest. One of the easiest ways to make your posts pop is using color! You can add colors to your posts by using the text and overlay color picker.
Ripl also offers a feature that allows you to save your brand colors within the app to easily access them and automatically apply them to all future posts! You can find this useful tool under “brand setting”. Get our guide to optimizing your branding in Ripl.
Tips for using color:
Add color to text to help it stand out from a background or photo of similar color
Use color to pull attention to what viewers should be looking for
We hope you find these tips and tricks helpful. To get more from your social media, check out our guides on optimizing your profiles:
