From video to images from Facebook to Pinterest, it is hard to denial that social media is become more visual. The rise in mobile usage has pushed this point home.

Whether you are on SnapChat, Instagram, or Twitter, you are going to need a place to start.

Granted, we do not all have access to PhotoShop and graphic design skills may not be the first thing we list on our LinkedIn profiles. We do, however, have a solution. 

Canva is a photo editing site that will make your life much easier (and more visually appealing). I can go on about every single way to use it, and there are quite a few, but let's focus on the basics. 

Platforms 

We know that social media is more visual, and imagery does significantly well in terms of engagement, so to begin we will want to start where it counts.

Our social media profile should reflect the visual content being posted. It would be silly to craft wonderful posts all while using the default grey space as your Twitter cover photo. 

As a business, your logo should be your profile photo. This is true for all platforms, and this will assist with your branding efforts.

Sizing
We have a serious list of great platforms to pick from, but let's narrow it down to 4. Sizing seems like it may be on the bottom of your list, but each platform differs greatly on required size.
Bookmark these dimensions so you don't run into issues in the future. 

Tools Of The Trade

The sizing requirements above may save you as you craft your posts, but luckily Canva will size the items depending on what you select. 

Getting Started
The first step of creating beautiful social media profiles using Canva would be selecting your template. Sounds pretty straight forward, right?

As you can see, you can select from the above templates plus many more including social media headers, ads, and posts. This is the ultimate, easy design tool for a digital marketer. 

Selecting A Cover
While each template is different, the tools are essentially the same. I will give you a preview of each template layout, but we will work on a Facebook cover photo to give a run down of the tools. 

Canva is wonderful since it shows you the space you are allotted to work with. Keep in mind, you will only be editing within the white section of each box. 

Look & Feel
Next comes the fun part! The actual designing part may easily cause you to spend hours playing with the great features. Don't say we didn't warn you. 

Layouts
You will have the option to either select a free or paid pre-design layout, or create your own from scratch

From Scratch

1. Select pattern or background
   1. You may also upload your own photos
2. Determine Text or your text holder if applicable 
3. Add your visuals by selecting between the free and paid items from the following categories:
   • Something topical, currently it is Easter
     • This would be ideal for client holiday cards too!
   • Grids
     • This is how you determine the layout of the cover. In the example below, I divided it into 4 sections
   • Frames
     • Spice it up with a frame around the border
   • Shapes
     • Add various shapes and create using them!
   • Lines
     • Divide up the text with a huge select of lines
   • Illustrations
     • Give it that artsy, indy vibe with some illustrations
   • Icons
     • Need a tech icon? Social icon? You're covered! 
   • Photos
     • Select from a large inventory of free and paid stock photos
   • Charts
     • Perfect for an infographic
   • I <3 Canva
     • Show your love for Canva

Best Practices

While you may have went design crazy with all of Canva's user-friendly options, don't forget the best practices for adding those visual elements to your profiles. 

A/B Testing
Like anything else, remember to test various designs to see what goes best with your audience. 

Unique
As with any popular tools, people will know if you just used a default template or barely put forth any effort. Keep this in mind and create your own work! 

Change It Up
Now that you have access to an easy and mostly free tool, you can change up your cover photos to match different topical events or trends. 

Call The Professionals 
If you don't have time to make it work, call the professionals. Social media is growing to be more and more important, especially in 2015. Don't get left behind. 

Canva Favorites

While we are mentioning social media, we typically use Canva for our blog. This makes our designer's life a bit easier and cuts down on requests from our social media team.

What do you like to use Canva for? What are your other favorite design tools? Tweet at us and let us know!