Written by Grace Parkin
As anyone who has ever worked in social media will know, the value that a social-first designer can bring to a team is invaluable.
Although, shockingly, agencies across the country are still without this resource. Here, we’ll detail why we think they’re essential.
Be a trend-setter (not a trend-follower)
If there's a trend that you’d like to get involved with as a brand – making sure you’ve read my essential dos and don’ts to see if it’s a good idea first – your next step will be to brief your designer. Whether it’s a meme or something more complicated, having a social-first designer on your side means that you’ll be able to participate in the trend before it becomes uncool. Don’t forget, being late to the party is fine, but never arriving (or turning up the morning after), won’t do you any favours in the fast-paced world of social media.
They just get it
Sometimes, if you’re working with more traditional design agencies that have no social specialism, they may struggle to see your vision. After all, social media professionals are well-versed in meme culture and TikTok trending sounds, and this can be outside of a traditional design team's comfort zone. However, a full service agency, like Fluid, will have social-first designers that are sure to understand, and often elevate, an idea that you’ve had.
Take this recent set of infographics Fluid created for SDL Property Auctions. When faced with the massive success of Stranger Things, we saw the perfect opportunity to get involved on social media and garner some PR coverage too. Read more about the digital PR piece here.
Code-breakers
Not only do they understand, they also have a unique skill that they can decipher whatever you’re seeing in your head into something tangible – keeping in mind the target audience, copy-writing and brand guidelines.
Take our client Zero.Zilch.Zip, some of the content ideas can be slightly off-the-rails. However, our social-first designers turn those ideas into social media magic.
Social media strategy
When planning your social media content, it’s easy to get carried away with only posting content that “looks good”. However, with a social-first designer you can have your cake and eat it. Not only will your content look slick, it’ll also fit within your well-crafted social media strategy.
Often when briefing our designers, we’ll have a back and forth about where this sits, whether it’s relevant for our audience and what copy can we include so it hits that social media sweet spot.
Good eggs
Here at Fluid, we’re proud of the work that the Search & Social team produces. And, when it comes down to it, our social-first designers Vicky and Nick (affectionately nicknamed “Nicky”) are genuinely good eggs, great fun to be around and are guaranteed to surprise and delight with their fabulous creations.