After the rise of Tik Tok, many other social media platforms have started pushing video content to stay relevant. For example, Instagram has begun pushing videos, or Reels, over photo content. This has led to social media managers having to learn how to create short-form video content for their clients to stay relevant on Instagram. Although many businesses can collect and create content for videos as they do their work, it is more challenging for others to coordinate a time and document content.
One of our clients was seeing a decline in reach, and we knew the best response would be to create more reels for them. However, for this particular client, we rely on them to send footage of their work for us to turn into Reels. In an analytics meeting, I mentioned I could design an animated graphic to post as a reel. This client often posts educational infographics, and I could turn one of those into a video. After receiving a graphic from the client to use as a reference, I got to work!
Using the graphic I was provided, I was able to set up all of the assets I needed for the reel:
- The project size: 9×16 (to fit the reel format)
- The font
- Each of the icons separated into layers
- The logo
Once I had all of the elements in the project file, I looked at the original graphic to see how the eye naturally flows through the information presented. First, I looked at the title, then each icon and the information attached, and finally, the logo at the bottom. To present the information in motion, I decided to bring the title into the middle of the screen, and the logo below it, to allow the audience to read it. After a brief pause, I shrunk the title and moved it to the top of the canvas and the logo to the bottom. Next, each icon and the text that goes with it pop onto the screen for a few moments to allow the audience to read the information one by one. Finally, I reversed the motions of the title and logo to remove them from the screen. This made the reel loop without any harsh cuts.
Graphic example:
Animated Version:
As social media marketers, it is our job to find ways to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of content consumption on social media. These animated graphics will allow us to create reels for any client, even when finding footage to follow trends is difficult.
Keegan Jones
Social Media Coordinator
Read more about Keegan here.
