Social Media is a Powerful Conversion Tool

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Social media is a powerful conversion tool, and if you’re not leveraging it for your business, you’re missing out! Whether it’s Instagram, Pinterest, or posting on Facebook, even with the changing algorithms and the uncertainty in platforms’ futures, getting clients is still happening in all of those online spaces.

And not only that, but they’re an amazing place to set expectations for your future clients, and help people pre-qualify themselves for your services. If you’re a product seller… they’re a great way to bring people to your store, whether it’s brick and mortar, or e-commerce based! So all of this to say: It’s really, really, REALLY important, and you should pay attention to it.

But the thing about social media content, is it’s got to be targeted properly, or it’s not going to actually do any of that work for you! And part of strategy in social content, is color.

Neutral Social Media Presences Seem All The Rage

There’s something to be said for neutral palettes, especially since they’re pretty timeless. I mean, a neutral palette won’t fall out of style, because they’re classic, right?

In some ways, that’s totally right. Neutral palettes can feel like a safe choice, because beige is well… pretty vanilla. And if you think your goal is attracting the most people, then aiming for vanilla kind of makes sense. However, I wanna throw a wrench into that logic. Although it feels like it makes sense to choose a neutral palette that no one will find “too much” or “too bright” or “not colors they like” – that’s actually approaching your branding BACKWARDS.

When you’re choosing colors for your branding (and therefore for your social media!) it’s important to take a positive approach to it, instead of a negative one. What does that mean? Focus on what your clients LOVE, and what your people LOVE, instead of worrying about repelling people because you’re not… beige. This approach helps you to create targeted branding content (again: that translates to social media colors) instead of just kind of following the crowd.

Color communicates, and the colors you choose, matter!

Now, when I’m saying all this about neutral palettes, that’s really kind of a cop out. I don’t mean to call out beige brands, or grey brands, or brands that use black and white – there’s nothing wrong with those palettes. It’s about the logic behind it.

Are you choosing that palette because it lines up with what your ideal client profile is looking for? Or are you choosing it because you feel like it’s “safe”? That is the main question to ask yourself. Because color communicates, a LOT. Color psychology exists for a reason, and with all of the resources out there about what colors do, it would be silly not to leverage their uses in your content. It’s part of why I created my template suites, to help business owners (photographers in particular!) who are looking for a vibrant starting point. 

Keep things consistent with your branding…

So when it comes to choosing the colors that you’re going to use on your social media, the first place to start is your branding! If your business has a neutral brand, it might feel obvious that you wouldn’t want to use a ton of bright colors on your Instagram feed. The same goes the other way around – if you have a vibrant brand, that should be reflected in the things you post!

Like I said, these choices communicate with your people. And one of the things that it communicates? CONSISTENCY. And as we’ve talked about before, keeping consistent in your online content helps customers build the “know, like, and trust” factors, which leads to more people joining your clan of buyers. At that point, it turns into math!

1 – Color grabs attention

There’s more than that to how you use color in your content though!

Color is also a major way to grab attention. Specifically, the attention of people who vibe with your palette! Beyond that though, there are some strategic ways to use color even throughout your own brand palette that can lead people to taking more actions from your posts and social content overall.

For example, did you know that buttons in blues and greens get more clicks than buttons in black or red? It probably makes sense now, even if you didn’t already know, just because it kinda seems like common sense. But to break it down a little bit, green in particular is a “go” color – which ALSO probably makes sense… because “green lights”. Red is a “stop” color. Again… traffic lights. So think about the message you’re sending with how you’re using the colors in your brand – and when you put that button in your next Instagram story, consider choosing a color in your branding that lines up with “action taking”!

2 – Color creates the mood

We’ve talked about how color creates moods for branding sessions before, but the same concepts apply to your social media content! (Which you should have branding & headshot sessions for anyway, so… do with that information what you will.)

Your brand has a purpose. Your BUSINESS has a purpose. And if you worked with a professional designer to create the branding you use, then that branding has likely been rooted into that purpose, and the values that you hold as a business owner. Which means that the colors they helped you choose (or chose for you!) are intentionally chosen to create a mood. If you want your clients to feel energetic and uplifted, I bet there are some bright, light colors in your branding. If you wanted to communicate that you’re fun to work with, and set the standard that they can expect fun when they, for example, come into your photography studio… like someone you might know… then they might have created a brand for you with a ton of bright colors. Like the one you’re looking at right now… (did I get too pointed there? You know what I’m saying, right?)

But at the end of the day, we all experience the differences in mood created by colors. Walking into a bright white room is different than walking into one with deep moody walls, and a ton of art hanging up. And that’s the way I want you to think about your social media posts. Your clients and customers, when they visit your page, are walking into a room you’ve decorated for them. So make it a room they’re going to LOVE!!

3 – Color makes content memorable

At an absolute base level, color will make your content memorable not because of the SPECIFIC colors, but because of who’s looking at it.

If that didn’t make sense, I’m gonna explain.

When you see an ad for a shirt, and that shirt is your FAVORITE color, and you DEFINITELY want to get it, you’re going to remember that ad, right? Because you want the thing, because it’s your favorite color. Which just kinda makes sense, right? Well the same goes for your branding (and therefore your social media presence). The people who love what your business does, and line up with the values behind your business, are likely going to vibe with the colors you choose to promote yourself with. Unless you’ve done the “what will repel the least amount of people” strategy, and then that’s all out the window.

This even counts for neutral brands, because some people are really REALLY attracted to neutral colors. Those people aren’t me, but like… they exist!! (And no shame if you’re one of them, we don’t judge here!!)

4 – Color keeps content engaging

Whether you have a neutral brand or not, using color strategically in your social media presence also helps massively to keep your content engaging. Why? Well, lots of reasons, but mostly because people who go to your profiles are going to totally zone out if you have a monotone scroll. Like, if every piece of content looks exactly the same, which ones are going to draw their eye?

There are exceptions to every rule, and obviously there are accounts on social media that thrive with just white backgrounds and black text. But as a basic rule, even if you DO have a neutral brand, keeping the backgrounds of the posts you make varied across the colors you use for your brand helps to keep your pages engaging, and keeps people coming back.

If you’re looking for vibrant, colorful starting points for your social content, I’ve got you covered!

Now, if you’re looking to get more color involved in your social media presence, or you think the colors you’re using right now might not be the best fit for your business or your clients, then you have a ton of options. You can look at rebranding, or having a branding and headshot photo session to get some more variability in your palette!

Or, if you’re just struggling to use the colors you already have in your palette in an engaging way, then it might be time to grab some templates for social media posts, or hire out your social presence management entirely. And you’re in luck, because I offer BOTH of those things! You can check out my social media templates here in the shop, and see whether any of them would be a good fit to give you starting points for using the colors in your branding. Or, you can always read more about my social management packages! We can take things over for you, and get your accounts back on track. So no matter how you want to make changes to colors in your social presence (or WHETHER you want to make changes to your social colors)… I’ve got you. Let’s chat!

Bonus: Take a look at just a few results that my AMAZING team of collaborators and me have gotten for our social media management clients!