How to Create a Social Media Design Brief

The need for high-quality visual content on social media is indisputable these days. But even the best designer will struggle to create without proper guidelines. Learn how to create a great social media design brief that will make a big difference in your content production workflow.

Social media is a powerful tool for promoting your brand and engaging with your target audience. To make the most of your social media presence, it's important to have a consistent and visually appealing design that reflects your brand's personality and values.

There are several ways you can get your social media designs done professionally (more on that in the last section). Still, whatever route you choose you’ll need to create a quality design brief to have your designer create visuals that are on-brand and help you achieve your social media marketing goals.

A quick Google search would easily find you a social media design brief template, some of which are better than others. But as a design company that produces hundreds of designs every day, we certainly know a thing or two about a good social media design brief.

So, here we will share with you the absolute paramount elements of an effective designer brief. Before we get into that, however, let’s answer one simple question: why do you need to create a social media design brief?

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Why create a social media design brief?

You’d expect any professional designer to have at least some knowledge of social media, and what kind of graphics can be found on each platform.

However, the power of social media is that it can provide a highly personalized experience. Consider the kind of content you consume on social media. And how about your mum? You don’t even need to look at a different generation - I bet that friends with different interests from yours see vastly different content across their social media profiles.

SImply put, a social media design brief is a document that outlines the key design elements that you want to include in your social media content. But on a deeper level, it’s much more than that. It’s an insight for your designer into your industry, target audience’s preference, your vision and goals.  By creating a design brief, you can:

• Ensure consistency: A design brief helps to ensure that all your social media content has a consistent look and feel, making it easier for your audience to recognize your brand.
• Save time: With a design brief in place, your design team can work more efficiently, knowing exactly what you're looking for and what elements to include.
• Improve quality: A design brief helps to ensure that your social media content is high-quality and aligns with your brand's values and messaging.

Elements of a great social media design brief

Whether you decide to use a social media design brief template or create your own briefing, here are some of the elements you must include.

• Overview: Start with an overview of your brand, including your mission, values, and target audience. This will help your design team to understand your brand's personality and design accordingly.
• Goals: Outline the goals of your social media campaign. This could include increasing brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, or generating leads.
• Design elements: Specify the design elements that you want to include in your social media content, such as color scheme, typography, and imagery. Be as specific as possible, including examples of designs that you like.
• Brand guidelines: If you have a brand or social media style guide, include it in your design brief. This will help your design team to ensure that your social media content aligns with your overall brand identity.
• Content requirements: Specify the type of content that you want to include in your social media post briefs, such as images, videos, or infographics. You should also include any copy requirements, such as tone of voice or messaging.
• Timeline: Specify the timeline for your social media campaign, including any key dates or deadlines.
• Budget: Finally, include your budget for the social media campaign. This will help your design team to work within your budget constraints and ensure that the designs are cost-effective.

Adding all of this information to your brief will help the designer to stay on the right track from the get-go, and can mean you receive polished graphics much quicker!

To make things easier, we’ve created a simple social media design brief template that you can easily customize with Canva!

Get it here!

Where can you get social media design?

Now you’re able to give clear instructions to your designers, and you even have a nifty social media design brief template to use over and over again. But, where can you get your design done? 

There are several options for getting social media design, depending on your needs and budge.

In-house design team

If you have an in-house design team, they can work on your social media content. This gives you more control over the design process and ensures that your team understands your brand's vision.

Another benefit of getting your social media design from an in-house team is that you can have a steady stream of social media graphics in order to keep building your social media presence. You'll also likely spend less time on simple social media post briefs, as the designers will know what to do.

The main downsides of an in-house team are expenses and limited skills. The average monthly salary of a graphic designer in the US is around $5,000. On the other hand, no matter how talented a designer is, they can’t be experts at everything. So, let’s say on occasion you want to post something a little different on your social accounts, such as motion graphics or intricate illustrations. In that case you might need to hire a freelancer to help out, resulting in additional charges and time spent.

Freelance designer

You can also hire freelance designers to work on your social media content. This gives you access to a wider pool of talent and can be more cost-effective than hiring an in-house team.

However, bear in mind that social media design needs to be created regularly. If you don’t want to use graphic design templates, the cost of social media design can add up quite quickly with freelance services.

If you opt for this option, it’s usually better to purchase so-called social media design packages, or social post templates in bulk, as this will give you more control over your budget. On the other hand, this might mean you have to compromise on your creative vision and you might miss out on important social media design trends.

Design agencies

Design agencies specialize in creating social media content and can provide a full range of design services, from strategy to execution. This can be a good option if you have a larger budget and want a comprehensive social media campaign.

Although a design agency will also require some sort of social media design brief, this will usually be followed by a series of meetings and presentations to establish the right course for your social media strategy.

Social media agencies charge thousands of dollars for their comprehensive service, so it’s usually not a viable option for most small businesses.

Unlimited graphic design

What if you could get the reliability of an in-house team with the flexibility of freelance design? It’s possible with unlimited design services, just like our own at ManyPixels.

Our comprehensive list of design services covers social media, as well as illustrations, web design, presentations, print design, and more! Best of all? You can request an unlimited number of design projects and always pay the same flat monthly fee.

Another great feature of the service is that you don’t have to worry about a complicated social media post briefs. Requests are made through our simple and intuitive app, which prompts you to add all the necessary information. You can even create brand profiles and link all your brand assets in just one click!

Want to try it out? Pick your plan and start today with a 14-day money-back guarantee. Or book a call with us to ask any questions!