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Social media images: make your posts sizzle with Canva

Whether you use social media for fun or for business, adding images to your tweets and Facebook posts will make them much more likely to get a reaction and either give your business a boost or give you that buzz we all feel when we see the likes and retweets stack up.

Canva, a free app, allows you to do just that quickly and easily. It’s particularly good if you’re planning an event or making a group online and want your online presence to look professional.

Get Canva

It’s worth noting before we begin, that while the app itself is free and there are lots of free templates, images and other content, there are also premium elements for which you’ll need to pay vis an in-app purchase. Nevertheless, you can make some great shareable content just using the free elements so download Canva and let’s get started.

Canva main screen

1. Choose a template

When you launch Canva, you’ll see along the top of the screen there are templates for different social media platforms. These are formatted to fit the requirements of the platform. So, for example, Instagram templates are square, while those for Pinterest are tall and slim. We’re going to choose a Facebook template for this example. As you scroll through, you’ll notice that some are labeled Free while others have a cost associated.

2. Start editing

Once you’ve chosen a template, tap it and then tap on the first element you want to edit. Here, we’re going to change the font for the first line. To edit the text, double tap on the text box and type.

Canva edit text

3. Add more elements

Tap the ‘+’ at the bottom right of the screen and then tap on the type of element you want to add. We’re going to add a banner for the details box. You can re-order elements (for example, put the banner under the text) by tapping the dots at the top of the screen and selecting an option.

Canva add element

4. Share your work

When you’re finished creating your image, tap the Share button at the top right of the screen. Canva will save the image to your Library and then display iOS Share Sheets. From here you can share it directly on social media or save it somewhere else on your iPhone – the Files app, for example.

Canva share

Using your own images

Canva also allows you to use images in your Camera Roll as part of your design. Choose a template with a photo on it, then tap on the photo. From here you can crop the existing image, choose a new one from Canva’s library, or tap Camera Roll to access your own images.