How to Use Canva to Create On-Brand Social Media Graphics (Video Tutorial)

Branding StrategiesDesignSmall Business StrategiesWeb Design

Apr 30

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One of the most incredibly empowering tools that's debuted in the past couple years for small businesses is Canva. Specifically, Canva for Work.

Canva for Work lets you stay on brand while you create designs for your small business with ease. What you can create is practically endless: everything from trifold brochures to Instagram posts to letterhead – all using your brand's fonts, colors, and assets. It's versatile, convenient, and awesome.

A peek inside the HDco Canva account

In fact, we know from personal experience just how bomb Canva can be for a small biz: we actually make all of our own social media graphics in Canva for Work.

Some of the best parts? Canva is incredibly intuitive and affordable.

Here's what we mean by intuitive:

When you're a small business owner, you've got to wear a lot of different hats. And if one of those hats is being your own marketing team, you need a solution that you can learn in a reasonable amount of time and actually put in practice.

Opening up Canva and getting to work feels natural to anyone who's used Microsoft Word or Google Docs. The learning curve is extremely low – meaning that with just a little practice, you'll have mastered the workflow.

And by affordable, we mean $120 for a full year. That's a total steal.

Professional programs that you'd use to create similar graphics are going to cost you way more – a subscription to Adobe's Creative Cloud (where you'd have access to Illustrator) comes in at $49.99/month – that's $600/year. Ouch!

And, although *ahem* certain bloggers might like to you otherwise, Canva's capabilities cover all bases you'll need as a small biz owner. If you're not running a professional design agency, you don't need professional design software.

A much easier learning curve and way more affordable price than traditional professional design programs make Canva for Work the hands-down choice for small businesses owners who need to create their own marketing materials.

But! If there's one thing you need to pay super close attention to while in Canva, it's staying on brand.

**Ready to see how to use Canva to create on-brand social media graphics?**

Video tutorial, coming right up!

What staying on brand really means

What exactly does staying on brand mean?

Well, to put it briefly, it's keeping your fonts, colors, image styles, patterns, and language CONSISTENT in everything you do.

Consistency is key to maintaining a strong brand.

You want to get to the point where your customer base can see a graphic or flyer and know it's yours without having to look for your name.

After investing time and money into branding that's perfectly suited to your business, it's absolutely essential that you maintain your brand integrity in everyday use.

Canva for Work's example of maintaining brand consistency using your own fonts, colors, and assets – image via Canva for Work

The BIGGEST temptation that will draw you off-brand in Canva are pre-made templates. Avoid them!

These templates look awesome. They display really cool quotes, or designs for a birthday invitation, or in an anniversary announcement with trendy fonts, layouts, patterns, and colors.

So what's the problem?

Canva’s pre-made designs will never be on-brand for you.

I know! They look so appealing – it can be extremely tough to resist clicking on them to make a quick Instagram post in a cool design. Resist the temptation to use fonts and elements that aren't yours.

Here are a few examples of pre-made templates that are very cool but will almost certainly NOT be on brand for you:

How to stay on-brand– even when you're tempted to experiment

Any time you create a design in your Canva account, you need to make sure you're using ONLY your fonts, colors, logos, and other elements that we've already uploaded for you. That's not going to be the case if you start from a pre-made template.

The good news is that Canva's streamlined interface makes it easy to always implement to your brand elements.

So, if you do choose to work off of a pre-made design, you need to make sure that you convert absolutely ALL fonts and colors to your brand materials. Use your logo, your fonts, and your photo styles – not the ones that Canva has pre-loaded.

Please.

To help you out, we made a video screencast showing you how to create on-brand graphics in Canva – using our client Meriwether Café & Bike Shop as a perfect example.

Video Tutorial: Using Canva to Create On-Brand Social Media Graphics

And here's a play-by-play breakdown if you prefer reading to watching:

1. Get started by Choosing Your Dimensions

First, log in to your Canva for Work account at canva.com.

Your design team (that's us!) will have already loaded in your brand elements (your fonts, your logos, color palette, and assets like patterns and textures) so you can hit the ground running. (Note: If you didn't work with us, here's how you can upload your brand elements yourself).

After you log in, you'll see a screen where you can choose the dimensions that you want your design to be.

You've got lots of options with dimensions that Canva has already set up for you – from Instagram posts, to perfectly-sized Facebook headers, to tri-folds and flyers.

Select the design dimensions you want and you're ready to get started.

Screen Shot 2017-04-30 at 6.35.49 PM.jpg

2. Beginning your design

You'll likely see pre-made designs from Canva filling your screen I left. Once again, resist the temptation to use them.

(If you do want to use a pre-made design, make sure to change EVERY design element to your brand – don't use any of the fonts or colors from the pre-made design.)

Instead, fill in the background with the color of your choice, or drag and drop a photo from your upload section to your background.

You can also upload a completely new photo by simply dragging the image you want over your Canva screen.