The different types of social media visuals and when to use them

We’ve all been there, when you know the message that you want to convey, but you’re just not quite sure of the best way to do it.

Allow us to help.

In this article, we’ll cover the three main types of social media visuals that any company can create for themselves.

These are static visuals, animations and videos. We’ll tell you what they are and how to use them, and by the end of this article, you’ll be the social media pro that your team has been dreaming of!

They are essentially just images that accompany your post copy. Typically, they feature key information, images and brand elements such as common shapes, patterns and icons used across all your materials. You could say a static is like a digital version of a poster.

You could use a static image for almost any post, but here are a few examples of when we see them work well.

People connect with people, so it’s a great idea to show off your team on your social feed. Not only do these posts tend to get more engagements, but it means that there is already a level of familiarity for new clients or customers coming on board.

You can create posts showing off your new team members, highlight their achievements or even just sharing fun facts.

Maybe you’ve written a paper with a quote you want to highlight? Perhaps a doctor has said something great about your product that you’d like to share? Pulling important quotes and putting them on a static post can add more impact to the words.

However, as with any static post, text alone might not be enough to grab the attention of social media users, so you need to make sure it’s bold, so people have no choice but to stop and take notice.

If you have a congress or an event coming up, social media is a great way to let your audience know you’ll be attending.

Having a static image with the key information on it such as the event name, date, location, and your stand number can quickly convey crucial details without the viewer having to read any lengthy paragraphs.

Also, don’t just do this once for each event; make sure to keep posting in the weeks and days leading up to it. Not only is this a great reminder for you audience, but it increases how many people are likely to see the congress posts.

They are perfect if you need a quick turnaround, for example, if you want to jump on a hot trend before it dies down. There’s no need for filming and vast amounts of editing. In fact, tools like Canva can take the stress out of creating static visuals altogether. You can also create templates to make static visuals even quicker and ensure that your branding is consistently maintained.

But this doesn’t mean they aren’t beneficial; it just means when creating your static, you need to make sure it stands out and engages your audience immediately. Make sure to only include necessary information and make your visuals eye-catching!

Animation is when still objects are manipulated using computer software to appear as moving objects. The difference between animation and video is that animation isn’t ‘real’ as it’s created purely on the computer.

Animation can be as simple as making text appear on the page, to the likes of Pixar movies.

Using animation to convey statistics can make them much more appealing to your audience. Seeing a bar chart rise or sections of a pie chart pop out is more interesting to your viewer than them reading a long list of statistics on a page.

Likewise, if you want to show a timeline moving or a map with different figures for each country. Having those visual elements move alongside the data helps your viewer understand it and therefore enjoy it more too.

Animation can be a great way to show how a device works as it can show the movement and design of the device. You could show the device by itself with text or a voiceover to explain the features of it or you could animate someone using it.

If you can’t show your device being used on video on social media due to guideline restrictions, animation might be an alternative way of communicating how the device works.

If you want to teach something on your social media, whiteboard animations can be a strong option. Whiteboard animations are just what they sound like sound, they’re an animation of someone’s hand drawing on a whiteboard to help explain something, like a teacher would on the whiteboard in school.

These can be great for educational videos where you need complex information to be conveyed in an easily digestible format.

The cost of professional animations depends on the complexity of the animation. For instance, animating a graph will be significantly cheaper than if you want to animate a device and a whole scene surrounding it.

Animations can also lack a personal feel, as its all computer generated you can lose that connection you get from videos which may result in less engagement.

Depending on what you want your video to say, or show will decide what style of video is suitable for you.

Whatever to choose to create, video is the fastest growing media, so you need to ensure you don’t get left behind!

Here are some of the few ways when we see video benefit a social media post.

Filming your device in use during surgery can be a great way to show your device in action, because what’s better than the real thing?

These videos can be a great insight into all the features of your device in a real-world setting. However, depending on the nature of the video you will need to check that platform guidelines allow this type of content.

Sometimes a straightforward ‘get to know you’ style video can be effective. Whether it’s an informal chat with the CEO or an in-depth discussion with a patient, interview videos are a great way of engaging and relating to your audience.

These could involve a whole camera crew, or they could be filmed by yourself on your phone, you should pick which best fits the tone of the video you want to publish.

Why not check out our top tips for filming yourself online?

Another benefit of video is how easy it is to repurpose. For instance, a long video can get cut down into several shorter clips for bitesize viewing without a lot of effort.

There is potential for videos to be time-consuming and expensive, depending on your in-house resources and the type of videos you’re hoping to create. For instance, if you want to create highly professional videos, it can involve several days of filming with a crew. There will also be waits for editing.

Videos don’t have the same turnaround time as a static post for example, as it takes a lot longer to make them look good.

This is a hard question to definitively answer, because it depends on what you’re trying to achieve and your circumstances.

Realistically, you’ll probably find that a combination of different types of visuals is the most achievable strategy for your company. Most of the time it’ll be easiest to create static visuals, but animation and video can be used for higher value content from time to time.

We haven’t gone into too much detail here about how to optimise your social media for maximum success, but don’t worry, we’ve got you covered there too. Check out our other Medical Device social media articles here:

Do you want to communicate more effectively with HCPs and patients? Do you want to be able to deliver high-quality social media campaigns as part of your larger multichannel marketing strategy? You’ve come to the right place.

Podymos is a healthcare marketing agency, specialising in downstream Medical Device marketing.

We’re more expensive than non-specialised agencies and freelance teams because we only work in the Medical Device space so we have specialist knowledge and experience that other agencies may not be able to offer you.

If you want high-quality, compliant campaigns that help achieve your business goals, we’d love to hear from you. Simply leave us your contact details below and we’ll get back to you very soon for a no-obligation chat.