Compelling content is key to a successful online campaign. How persuasively you tell the story of your mission, campaign or organization can mean the difference between a winning campaign and a flop. And we know that share images in particular have the power to engage audiences. In fact, social shares on Facebook have been proven to get an 87% interaction rate from fans! Having a small budget doesn’t mean you can’t make beautiful campaigns on social media platforms, you just have to be resourceful. Here is one great tool we discovered called Canva. And it’s 100% free!

You will need to log into Canva from your Facebook account. From there, you can select what kind of size you would like to use that is optimized for the platform you are posting on. Under + More, there are options for creating pamphlets, booklets, cards, invitations, infographics and more.

Once you have selected your base, you can either upload a photo to work off of, or select a template and background that already exists in Canva. Canva also sells stock images and snazzier icons for $1 each.
 

Much like in Photoshop, you can overlay colors and shapes on your design and fade them with a transparency slider tool. You can also drop text over images, picking from a wide variety of Canva fonts.

After your image is created, you can download it as a share image or an HQ PDF. If these are educational materials you are creating, you have the option to add pages, like in the image above. You can either download the image or share it directly to Facebook or Twitter.
 

Here, I shared my #EqualPayEqualWork inspired design with Twitter:
 

And finally, of course, make sure you have reviewed Creative Commons and free re-usable image protocol to ensure that you are sourcing your images legally.

If you’ve applied our lesson on creating share images in your blog or website, share a link with us, because we’d love to see how, too. Have fun!