Enhance Your Social Media and Marketing with Canva

Enhance Your Social Media & Marketing With Canva

Which Social Media Platform To Post On?

It's a pretty busy, crowded, noisy virtual space out there in social media land. Where do you tend to lurk?  Diluting yourself across too many platforms can be exhausting (believe me I’ve been there), especially when you aren’t clear on your marketing message and where your ideal clients hang out. Many of us get stuck with what to post, when, why, and who, our heads spin in a state of overwhelm, we’re not sure where to begin so we don’t share a thing. 

In this blog, I write about "How I" started off in 2012 creating social media posts for a business group, which later included using Canva to engage an online audience. 

Keep It Social and Simple

There's a big clue in “social media” and this is something I learned from my good friend AyPee (RIP) and co-founder of Random Dialogues - to keep it social and simple!  Considering who you are online is also topic we used to teach and which I continue to weave into my creative workshops. 

Do You LOVE What You Do? 

In 2012, I decided to set up a networking group to help grow a business I was involved with. There weren’t many around at the time in the area, and I wasn't interested in the suited, booted, and serious ones.  I invited seven talented lady friends to gather at my house to help get it going and growing. We sat on the sofas giggling, hatching plans, and drinking wine, whilst my young children slept upstairs. It started to snow so everyone had to dash and go but not before we’d christened it "LoveWhatWeDo". This was a great story to talk about with our fresh and growing supportive audience. 

As a team, we ran a number of pop-up shopping events, socials and other "How I" workshops, it was very offline and community-focused.  

Of course, we created social media posts to promote our events, however with every bit of market research we carried out, we discovered the event’s great footfall largely came from word of mouth, particularly mums chatting on playgrounds.  We also learned that one bad word can spread faster than a good one, so we always worked on our public relations. 

I worked closely with my wonderful graphic design friend Jo Ogilvie. She would create these amazing flyers that we’d distribute and use in our event posts, mostly on Facebook where we found out the mums tended to hang out of an evening. 

I Didn't Know Who I Know or What I Know Now 

Time flew, our kids grew, I travelled to teach in Tanzania,  and whilst Love was always in the air,  we moved on to brands and projects new.  At the time, I didn't know which direction to take with LoveWhatWeDo,  I didn't know who I know and what I know now - ode to the magic of powerful networks like "Networking In Surrey" with experienced mentors and guides, such as our Keith (even if we have to put up with tales of ales and bad jokes).  

Something I used a lot during this time, for quick social media posts and brand storytelling were Facebook lives, and Canva.  

“Canva is a graphic design platform that allows users to create social media graphics, presentations, posters and other visual content”

People often asked me for tips and tricks on ways to use it,  so this year, using my teaching and creative facilitator skills,  I decided to host a monthly online “Beginners Canva Coffee Morning” as a way to gather community and teach them ways to enhance their social media and marketing so they don’t feel so alone and overwhelmed by it all! 

These Canva Clinics are on zoom and are capped at eight participants. They are mostly people I’ve met networking,  have been referred to me by previous attendees, or are returnees (people pay once and return as many times as they wish to not bad for £15). 

There are interactive polls, presentations and posts,  however these aren't always appropriate, I prefer to go with the flow and group dynamic and get them creating something quickly. I don’t have the answers for everything, so I offer a free 15-minute follow-up to each participant, especially if they want to go bolder than a beginner’s post. For example, they might like to create a LinkedIn carousel, embed a video in a Facebook post, or make an Instagram story or reel cover.  

During February's session, Keith asked how to remove a pair of unsightly curtains from an image. This is possible to do on Canva however I tend to use https://www.remove.bg/. It's also super easy to use, try it, have a play and add it to your bookmarks in Chrome. 

I also taught the group how to make shadow text, change backgrounds, resize and blur images. Here’s one I made earlier for a bit of fun. As you can see, I’m no graphic designer.  I simply share “How I” use Canva with the intention that it inspires you to give it a go too.  

And finally

Here’s some feedback I’ve received over the past six sessions, of course, I’ve used Canva to repurpose them into social media posts and videos too.

"Jane did a great job with a Canva Training Workshop she delivered to our expanding team of Buzz hosts. The feedback was excellent and the top tips she shared with the group were really well received." Katrina Sargent Business Buzz

"The course was very well attended and she managed to show us how we could create our own simple graphics to help promote our Businesses or Organisations. Jane was very thorough and offered the delegates a chance to return any time for further help" Stephen Spencer

“Jane is a very inspiring teacher with so many social media skills to share. I can highly recommend her Canva workshops and following all her great work across many social platforms” Steph Sullivan

"I attended Jane’s Canva workshop as I’m new to using it and wanted to learn how to get the most out of it.  Jane was great at explaining the different aspects step by step and answering our questions. I would highly recommend attending.” Rachel Norrington Face2Face HR

You may like to come and join me at next month’s gathering, or prefer a one to one, prices and dates listed here www.bit.ly/canvaclinic

Happy Creating!

Jane Tyson 

Teacher / Creative Spaces Facilitator / Connector

Founder of Random Dialogues & Resilient Kids

TOGETHER | WE | LEARN