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Social media templates are everywhere! From Etsy to Creative Market to content hubs and even inside many membership programs. Our eyes are automatically drawn to the new, pretty, and shiny. But is this really going to help fix any of your problems? Probably not.
Tune into this episode to learn about the key things to watch out for when it comes to buying social media templates online.
What To Watch Out For
If you’re feeling the itch to buy social media templates, pause, and think about why you are feeling this way. Consider the reason you are attracted to this social media template bundle.
Are you struggling with what to post on Instagram?
We all struggle with what to post on Instagram sometimes, especially if you don’t have a content calendar or scheduling tool in place. Maybe you think this template bundle will help guide your content ideas for the months ahead. There is only one thing that can solve this problem, and it’s a social media strategy plan. Maybe you can use it in the short-term, but you can’t rely on templates for endless content ideas. They are meant for you to personalize and almost never align with your brand or the content you should be putting out.
Are you looking for a feed makeover?
Maybe a simple way to make your feed more aesthetically pleasing and stand out? Social media templates can be great for that, but only if they are built for you. Keep in mind that using templates can limit originality on the platform. Just changing colors or fonts is simply not enough. People will start to notice the same templates being using over and over on your own feed but also on other people’s feeds. Remember, anyone can buy these templates and your audience can spot it from a mile away.
Remember that these templates are made for the masses.
The creator doesn’t know your audience, offerings, or products. They generalize designs and templates to fit multiple businesses so they can make more sales. You likely need something built exclusively for you because you are unique, friend!
Who Will Social Media Templates Work For?
Now, there are scenarios when social media templates do work.
Branding experts looking to save time.
Branding experts know how to take templates and personalize them for certain spaces. They might not have the time to make everything from scratch, so social media templates are helpful to save a little time in the design process.
Someone extremely proficient in Canva.
Most templates are delivered in Canva so the purchaser can easily edit them. But again, that doesn’t mean you understand how to edit them template to fit your audience or business beyond changing colors and fonts.
The other side to this is using templates in Canva. They have thousands (maybe millions) of social media templates. What we often see happens is someone will go into Canva to look for a template and either get overwhelmed by the choices and just pick one, or choose new templates every time they create a social media graphic. Eventually, their graphics become non-cohesive and not aligned to their brand at all.
Refer to a branding expert first!
A business owner with an extra strong strategy and clear audience persona.
When you have a strong strategy, you can keep the strategy in mind while you create the graphics. You aren’t creating graphics and publishing without a strategy. You understand what you need to post and how to talk to your audience. You can build templates that aligns with your strategy. Strategy first, template second!
Bottom Line: Don’t use social media templates as a band-aid to a larger issue on Instagram!
If you liked today’s episode on The Duo On Air Marketing Podcast, don’t forget to leave us a review & subscribe!
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Abbey Oslin and Courtney Petersen are Minnesota-based marketing experts, educators, and co-founders of boutique marketing agency Duo Collective, which specializes in SEO, social media strategy, and branding for small business owners and creative entrepreneurs. To learn more about Duo Collective, or to inquire about working with our team, head over to www.duocollective.com.
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And to submit a topic or a question for next week’s episode, send us a DM on Instagram! See you on Monday!
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