Social Media - Ignite Search

By Lydia Barley

Blogger, influencer, graphic designer, small business owner, content marketer. No matter who you are (or what your title is), Canva is an extremely useful graphic design tool for you. Whether you’re creating a branded email header for your client, an attractive menu for your business, an interesting (and clickable) thumbnail for your latest YouTube video or an aesthetically pleasing blog header for your latest blog post. Canva is a world-renowned tool that is loved by all, no matter it’s application.

Canva is used frequently amongst staff at Ignite Search, so the recent release of Canva 2.0 is something we looked forward to. After playing around with Canva 2.0 ourselves we decided to give you a walkthrough on the features of Canva 2.0 and explain how it’s different to Canva 1.0.

What is Canva 1.0?

Before jumping into Canva 2.0, I think it’s important we first address what Canva is. Canva is an online graphic-design tool website. Now don’t be alarmed by the phrase ‘graphic design’, you don’t have to be a graphic designer to use the site. Canva was actually invented due to difficulty of use of the limited amount of graphic design tools available on the market. Melanie Perkins, Canva founder, taught students how to use programs such as InDesign and Photoshop, programs which everyone found hard to learn and harder to use. From there Melanie Perkins created Canva which is now known as one of the world’s leading graphic design websites; used by individuals and businesses alike.

So, What is Canva 2.0?

Canva 2.0 is a newer version of Canva. Canva 2.0 is basically the same as Canva was previously except that it’s packed with new features. Alongside a sleek new look and feel Canva 2.0 has 20 new ways to publish your designs and has a search function (allowing you to search for templates). Supposedly Canva 2.0 is also faster and more reliable.

Let’s Get Started with Canva 2.0

To find Canva 2.0 login to your Canva account (if you don’t have one yet, go create an account here). Once you are logged in on your desktop the primary navigation menu will be present on the left-hand side of the screen. This menu now includes a button that says ‘Explore Canva 2.0’.

Click on that button and a new window will pop up.

The pop up will share information on the brand-new features that are available in Canva 2.0. Click ‘I’m in! Show me Canva 2.0’ and you’ll be taken to Canva 2.0.

Canva 2.0 – The Search Function

The first thing you’ll notice when you’re transferred to Canva 2.0 is the new search function. This function allows you to search for the design that you are after. If you’re a regular Canva user, it’s likely that you just breathed a sigh of relief. The search function will save time typically spent scrolling through the page of designs to find the design template you desire. And whether you’re a marketing professional, a blogger or a business owner, your time is precious, so any feature that saves time is well received.

Pictured: The new search feature.

Pictured: The old design layout.

Element Organisation

The elements are the same as they were in Canva 1.0, expect that they are now more organised, saving a significant amount of time that would have been spent navigating through the previous layout. Elements are now categorised into; free photos, grids, shapes, charts, illustrations, icons, lines, frames

Present Feature

Canva 2.0 has a ‘present’ feature. Previously this feature was only available for ‘Canva for Work’ users. Now simple Canva users can enjoy this feature. The feature allows users to animate their design, publishing their design as a full screen presentation. With this presentation users can pick their transition style and timing.

Publish Feature

Canva 2.0 also allows users to publish directly to their social media accounts. Click on the publish button and you will see a list of different social media platforms, including the most popular: Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter and WeChat. You can publish your design directly to these social media accounts, all you have to do is set up and connect your social accounts.

Place Print Orders Directly

One of the new features of Canva is the ability to place print orders directly through the site. Click the ‘Publish’ button, scroll down and you will now see printing options; print business card, print flyer, print invitation, print document (A4), print postcard and print poster. Click on the format that you desire and the print details will pop up on the right hand side of the screen. You can select the print size, the paper quality, the print finish, the number of copies you desire, you delivery option (standard or express) and the total price.

If you are happy with these details click continue and Canva will take you through the steps of making your design print ready, including: checking the quality of your images, removing any white edges, checking the danger zone, and reviewing your PDF proof. Once you have gone through these you are required to fill in your shipping details, confirm your order and make your payment and your print materials will be on their way!

Take Me Back to Canva 1.0

With all the new features of Canva 2.0, we’re not sure why you’d want to change back. But if you do click ‘use Canva 1.0’ that is in the main menu on the left-hand side of the screen. A pop up will come up and will ask for your feedback on Canva 2.0. While you don’t have to give them feedback it would be great if you do, then Canva can continually improve the tool to suit your needs and desires. Click submit after entering (or not entering) your feedback. Then you’ll be taken back to the normal Canva 1.0.

Using Canva, whether it be Canva 1.0 or Canva 2.0, is extremely simple. So, if you haven’t already set up a free account, play around with it and create some amazing designs. You’ll thank us for it. Because once you start using Canva, you’ll forget what life was like without it.

By Lydia Barley

YouTube, known as the place to go for hours of endless entertainment, whether that come from cute cat videos, funny fail videos, talented musician performance videos or video tutorials. But YouTube has actually become much more than that, it’s become a place for education and has built an online community of over a billion users. Most importantly however, YouTube has become a dynamic social media marketing tool for you and your business. YouTube is hugely popular, pulling in 1.8 billion users every month, making it no surprise that business are looking into uploading on YouTube, if they aren’t already.

Huge businesses are already uploading to YouTube including cosmetic retailer giant Lush. On it’s channel Lush brings in users with ‘how to’ videos that share how to use their products, ‘#LushLabs’ videos which show the bath art that comes from their products and ‘how it’s made’ videos which share how their products are made, alongside many others.

Uploading to YouTube can seem extremely daunting, especially if your business doesn’t already make videos. However, no matter how daunting it seems, uploading to YouTube is fairly simple. In this blog we will discuss uploading to YouTube so that you’re one step closer to becoming a YouTube pro.

Where to Start?

First you need to create your video. We won’t delve too deep into the type of content you should create as this depends on the industry that your business is in and your own personal branding. However we will share a few tips to help you:

Be yourself (Your video will come across as more genuine and natural).
Ensure that the video you are creating reflects your branding and how you want your brand to be perceived.
Think of your settings. If you’re selling luxury cars we wouldn’t recommend using your laptop to create a video in your bedroom and similarly if you’re promoting a charity we wouldn’t recommend setting up a camera in your luxury car to create a video. The quality of your video and your video surroundings should reflect your brand.
Make it unique and interesting. It’s great to have a catchy title that people want to click but if your video is boring you’ll have a very low watch rate (and your brand reputation may take a hit!).

Set up an account

Now this one is pretty obvious. To upload your video to YouTube you need to actually have a YouTube account. For more information on how to create a new channel checkout Create a New Channel – YouTube help.

Let’s get uploading

Now that you have an account and you have your video ready, it’s time to start uploading. In the top right-hand corner is a little video icon with a plus on it. Click on this icon and you will have the option to upload a video. Click on ‘upload video’.

You will then be transferred to another page where you can select the video file you want to upload.

Once you have selected the video. It will begin uploading and you can begin entering the details for the video. Overwhelmed by all the details you have to enter? Don’t worry we break down what each of them mean and how you should fill them out.

Title – The title is the title of your video. Similar to a title tag for search engines you want your YouTube video to contain your targeted keyword. This will assist in your video ranking highly in YouTube for that targeted keyword. Again, similarly to a title tag you want the title to be clickable. Make the title something interesting to grab attention and make users want to click – however don’t make it ‘clickbait’ make sure your title accurately reflects your video.
Description – Similar to a meta description viewers will be shown a snippet of your description in the search results so make it attention grabbing and interesting. Your description should include a brief summary of what viewers can expect to see in your video. In the description you can also include any relevant links (such as a link to a specific product that you discussed in the video).
Tags – Tags are similar to the keyword tag however in contrast to the keyword tag for search engines the tags on YouTube do affect your ranking in the YouTube search results. The tags you give provide information to YouTube on what your video is about. Make these keywords that you want to rank for and that are relevant to the video. You do not have a limit on the number of tags however the maximum characters per tag is 30 and the text field maximum is 500 characters.
Video Thumbnails – YouTube will auto generate thumbnails, but often these are very unflattering! You can upload your own custom thumbnail to use however. Take the time to create your own custom thumbnail that is attractive and catches the attention of viewers. You can easily create your own thumbnail with Canva.
Playlist – You can put your video into a playlist if you wish. A playlist is a group of videos that play one after another. Playlists are great to set up when you have a collection of different videos, you could make a playlist for ‘how to’ videos and a separate playlist for ‘business event’ videos.
Visibility – You can set the visibility of your video to public, unlisted, private or scheduled. If you select public your video will be accessible by anyone. If you select unlisted your video can be viewed by anyone who has a link to your video, but others cannot discover the video. Private videos are hidden and are only seen by users you allow to see it. Scheduled videos are uploaded to your channel but are not public until the time you chose. For maximum reach we recommend setting your video to public, how else are you going to draw new people in to your business.

Publish – Ta da!

Select publish then ta da, your video is up. While the process of uploading a video may seem foreign and daunting, that’s all there is to it. Now just sit back and relax, well, not quite. Make sure to regularly monitor the video, checking out how many views it has and how viewers are responding to the video. Take the time to respond to comments and engage with your audience, this will allow you to build a relationship with your audience, increasing engagement and following. You can also push your YouTube video on your website and on your social media channels, promoting your video across these channels will increase your reach.

By Lydia Barley

While the idea of being everywhere seems fantastic, you likely don’t have the time or resources to do so. Social media can be extremely time consuming, especially with the time it takes to stay on top of new features, trends and the best practices for each channel. It’s better that you do extremely well on one platform and gain several conversions from one platform than to be on all of them, do mediocrely and get the odd conversion. So, with that in mind, you’re probably wondering, ok so which platform should I be using?

It would be great if we could give a set response of one platform that all users should be on but which platform you should use depends on your business. In this blog post we will discuss 5 popular platforms that your business could use. Before we discuss each social media platform you need to define your business goals, figure out where your audience is, find out what your audience likes and what content you create. Then as we discuss each platform keep those thoughts prominent in your mind and relate each platform back to those questions. Think to yourself; will this platform help me reach my social media goals, is my audience on this platform, would my audience like this platform and do I create content suitable for this platform.

1. Facebook

First up is Facebook, with 2.01 billion monthly active users worldwide and 1.23 billion daily active users worldwide it’s no surprise that Facebook is seen as the king of social media. Facebook explains itself as a platform that gives people the power to build community and bring the world closer together; where users stay connected with friends and family, discover what’s going on in the world and share and express what matters to them. On this platform users can share text, images, videos and GIFs. Facebook is used by social networkers across all gender, age and location segments. Due to the size and the audience variety of Facebook majority of businesses have a Facebook account core to their social media strategy alongside additional platforms.

Note: Facebook has had recent algorithm changes that make it harder for businesses to be seen on this platform, driving the need for paid promotions.

2. Instagram

Next up is Instagram, which at 800 million monthly active users worldwide is known as one of the fastest growing social media platforms. This platform attracts a younger audience, particularly those under the age of 30. Instagram is an extremely visual platform where users share photos and videos. Therefore the key to success on Instagram is attractive visuals, hence why visual based businesses such as artists, photographers and clothing companies predominantly use Instagram. Instagram describes their platform as a place to check what your friends, family and interests have been capturing and sharing around the world.

3. Twitter

Twitter, which is less popular than Instagram, still has approximately 3 million monthly active users from Australia alone. Twitter explains itself as the platform to find out what’s happening in the world; from breaking news and entertainment to sports and politics. Describing itself as a ‘live commentary’. Like Instagram, Twitter also attracts a younger audience, particularly those under the age of 30. While Twitter is most commonly known for text sharing in the form of short ‘tweets’ (up to 280 characters), users can also share images and short videos (up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds). Twitter is extremely popular amongst news companies however with the increasing user-capability on Twitter, a variety of businesses are including it into their social media campaign.

4. LinkedIn

Typically LinkedIn is the choice for B2B businesses as it’s a business and employment oriented platform that is predominantly used for professional networking. LinkedIn describes their platform by saying that it is for managing your professional identity, building and engaging with your professional network and accessing knowledge, insights and opportunities. Due to this professional focus LinkedIn lacks appeal to the under 30s and is predominantly used by those over the age of 30. However, LinkedIn in still quite popular with approximately 4.2 million monthly active Australian users. On this platform users can share text, images, videos and job listings. On the advertising side of things, LinkedIn has been ramping up it’s efforts to create more opportunities for businesses to reach potential customers, with the release of native video uploading function for company pages. Expect more changes to come in 2018 from LinkedIn.

5. Youtube

And the final platform is YouTube. YouTube is a video sharing platform which is quickly increasing in popularity. In September of 2017 alone YouTube had 15 million unique Australian visitors. YouTube describes itself as a platform where users can enjoy the videos and music they love, upload original content and share it with friends, family and the world on YouTube. This platform predominantly attracts younger audiences with 75% of those between 18-29 being active users of YouTube. However, Youtube also attracts older audiences with 45% of 30-39 year olds and 54% of 40-49 year olds being active users. A variety of businesses who have the capability of creating videos utilise YouTube. Particularly those businesses that can share educational videos such as Walmart whoshare easy recipe videos or behind the scenes videos such as Lush Cosmetics North America who show the suppliers and production process of the business.

Conclusion

By now a few platforms should be standing out to you for your business. Before making the decision on which platform/s to utilise remember to ask yourself these questions:

Will this platform help me reach my social media goals?
Is my audience on this platform?
Would my audience like this platform?
Do I create content suitable for this platform?

Ensure that the platform that you are looking at using aligns with your business and each of these questions. And remember that the best way to find out what works best for you is to test and retest. So, make sure to test different social media platforms and see what works for you.

Are you looking for assistance with your conversion rate optimization or search engine optimization? Contact us on 08 9467 9883 or send us an email at info@ignitesearch.com.au