Graphics have been one of the biggest tools I have used in growing my business. While there are plenty of mediums that can be used to help a business grow such as video, copy, audio and of course graphics. I personally have had the most success from graphics.

I find that most business owner will be strongest in one of these areas but will use many or all of them. Using a variety of mediums helps you reach people in different ways, and helps you to keep putting your message in front of your audience in different ways so it begins to click with them. However if you can pin point your strong point and the medium you can most shine in, you can put extra focus and attention in that area to accelerate your brand growth.

For me, this has been graphics. While I have used and experimented with a variety of growth strategies, I have always seen my best results from graphics. Probably because it is the medium that comes the most naturally to me. I am a graphic designer after all.

This post isn't about showing off massive numbers or stats but rather to show how personally I have found graphics the most successful form of media for growth in my business. It's to show that the best form of media is the one you feel most comfortable creating and works best for your business. There is never a one size fits all, and all businesses should diversify and try a variety of media to create content (so even if video is your main content type, you can still benefit from graphics). It is also to show that just because everyone is raving about video doesn't mean it is the thing you should put the most focus on in your business. Know what works best for you and your business and always work on improving in all aspects.

‍

How I have Used Graphics to Grow

The main platforms I have used graphics on are Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. Pinterest is used mostly to send traffic to my website and to get people on my email list, and Instagram and Facebook are used to connect with my audience and provide more active bite sized content.

‍

PINTEREST GRAPHICS

Creating graphics for Pinterest has been the biggest driver of traffic to my business. Because the content is evergreen, I continue to gain traffic even from old graphics. As seen here, even when I am not super active on Pinterest I am still getting over 900k a month impressions, because of old pins. When I put more energy into getting active and producing a lot of new Pin graphics it usually goes over the 1M mark. This shows that by putting in the effort and creating a good range of pin graphics, they can keep working for you and bring you traffic and growth even when you take a break.

‍

Here are my top performing pins, as you can see I only had to design these graphics once but they continue to get traffic. While this is a slow strategy, and you're not going to see stats like this right away, it is a very effective long term growth strategy, as old pin graphics can bring you growth for years. These graphics don't take a long time to create, and you can design several graphics all leading to the same content, which means you don't need to have a huge amount of content to create a lot of pins.

‍

Pinterest currently generates about 40% of my website traffic, making it a very valuable growth tool in my business. It is also the primary way I am getting people onto my email list, by either sending them to a blog post that has a sign up graphic or by directly sending people to a sign up page.

‍

INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK

On social media I have used graphics as a main form of content. When I first started out I had mostly been sharing photos, as that seemed to be the thing to do, but it was when I realised I could start sharing graphics instead that I started to see a lot more momentum and growth.

Graphics are powerful on social media because they are a fast way to get a message across. People on social media are scrolling, they aren't investing a lot of time looking at one piece of content unless it really draws them in, so a graphic can be a great way to quickly grab attention. They can quickly look at it and know if it something they are interested in or not. It can also help communicate things better. Things like infographics and illustrations can make your message clearer and easier to understand.

It is also easy for your audience to save or share your content. And this is what I tend to focus on in my graphics on social media. Either making something that people will want to share or something they will want to save because it is valuable.

I also use graphics as a way to connect with my audience and to promote launches and sales.

Compared to using video on social media, I have personally had the best results from my graphics. Now I am not saying graphics are better than reels, video, photos or stories or IGTV, these are all very valuable tools. And for some people they are their main drivers for growth. It goes back to finding your own strengths and the forms of media where you can really shine. The media that comes most naturally to you is likely where you will see the most growth come from, as you will find it easier to create and have less resistance around creating it.

I know these are my most successful forms of media, as my insights have shown that I am getting the most saves and shares from these kind of posts, and I have also found I get the most followers from these kind of posts too, as it is far more targeted. With reels, I often notice when they go viral, they go in front of a lot of people who don't fit my target audience, however viral graphics do tend to get in front of more of the right people, which results in better engagement.

‍

As you can see here all my top reach, shared and saved posts are all graphics.

‍

‍

‍

OTHER WAYS I USE GRAPHICS TO GROW

I also use graphics within my website and blog posts to promote opt in freebies, sales and launches. I also sometimes share graphics in my emails if I think they help illustrate a point. Graphics also include thumbnails and cover images, which can be effective in attracting people to my videos.

Graphics are helpful in any business because they can help attract and send people to your main content or be used to promote things in a less intrusive way, such as graphics within blog posts.

‍

The Benefits of Using Graphics for Growth

Here are some of the reasons I think you should start using growth graphics in your own business.

‍
Helps build brand recognition- Using graphics regularly in your business means you will be using your brand's identity (such as your fonts, colours and logo and other elements) regularly in different ways, and this cements your brand identity in people's minds and strengthens your brand recognition and memorability. You begin to train your audience to identify your brand content, and so they will spot it in a sea of content and they will also begin to remember your message and brand more, as there is a visual memory associated with it.
‍

Easy and quick to create- Setting up for videos or audio recordings or writing long blog posts or emails all takes time. A graphic can be comparably quite quick to do. It means you can get your message out quickly and effectively. If you use or create your own templates to work with it will speed the process up even more.

‍

It helps you explain things visually- Some concepts just make more sense or click with people more easily when shown visually in a graphic. Using things like infographics or illustrations or simple graphics can help you explain things your audience might be struggling to grasp. It can also make it a very quick way for someone to understand something, rather than a lengthy explanation, a simple graphic can get to the point quickly and make it click fast.

‍

It is easy for people to share and save- A graphic is easy to share and save, as it only takes one look for someone to take it in. Trying to share text or video or audio requires the recipient to invest time in it, and so you may lose a lot of people who won't bother, when you share a graphic it is more likely to get noticed by the people it is shared with as it is super easy to consume. It is also easy to save and reference back to, you don't have to take much time looking for it, as it is clear right away what it is you saved.

‍

People can quickly know if it is for them- Similar to when sharing, when your graphic shows up in someones feed, it only takes one look for them to know if it's for them and take a closer look or know it's not and scroll on by. You aren't expecting people to invest time into checking it out, a simple glance is all it takes and so you are making your content accessible and easy. They also don't have to worry about sound playing, so if they are somewhere where they need the sound off or even have hearing impairments, graphics are highly accessible.

‍

It breaks down ideas to better help your audience- Rather then overloading people with a lot of information and leaving them overwhelmed, a graphic often simplifies a single concept so someone can easily take something away from it without it feeling overwhelming.

‍

It is easy to repurpose- A graphic can easily be resized to use on different platform. All you have to do is change the canvas size and move a few things around, super easy.

‍

It can be created in comfort- No need to dress up, do your makeup or warm up your voice or set up any equipment. Just get cozy on the couch with your laptop and make some graphics. What could be better.

‍

‍

So are you ready to start creating growth graphics for your business?

‍