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Posted: Thu 14th Nov 2024
Last updated: Wed 19th Mar 2025
13 min read
If you run a small business, social media can be one of the most powerful and cost-effective ways to reach your customers.
But to stand out online, you need more than just a few random posts – you must have well-designed, purposeful social media assets.
In this blog, we explain exactly what social media assets are, how to create them and how to use them effectively to promote your business.
Whether you're just starting out with social media marketing or want to make your existing content much better, you'll find plenty of tips, tools and ideas here to help you.
Social media assets are the visual and written materials you use to promote your business online.
They're a crucial part of your overall marketing assets – the tools and materials you use to communicate your brand.
Images and graphics
Videos and reels
Captions and post copy
Hashtags
Templates for posts or stories
Branded elements like logos, colour palettes and fonts
These assets are what your online presence is built on. When done well, they make your marketing efforts – and your business – look more professional, recognisable and trustworthy.
Whether you're selling handmade crafts in Birmingham, running a café in Swansea or offering services in Glasgow, supplementing your social media posts with great assets can make a huge difference. Here's how:
Consistency: Helps you build a recognisable and memorable brand across platforms.
Efficiency: Reusing templates and visuals saves lots of time.
Professionalism: Makes your business look credible and well-established.
Engagement: Eye-catching content gets more likes, shares and comments.
Support your marketing strategy: Social media assets are essential assets in marketing, helping you promote products, tell your brand story and reach potential customers.
Before you dive into your designing assets for your social media channels, it helps to have a plan. Here's what to consider:
Who are you trying to reach with this social media content? Think about the people involved: Their age, interests, location and the problems they have that your business could solve.
Focus on where your customers are:
Facebook and Instagram: Great for local businesses and visual content.
LinkedIn: Ideal for B2B (business-to-business) or professional services (such as consultants, accountants or financial advisers).
TikTok: Brilliant for showing personality and behind-the-scenes pieces of content.
What do you want to achieve with these social assets you're spending time on? Some examples…
Promoting one of your products or services
Building brand awareness
Driving traffic to your website
Encouraging people to make bookings or sign up for something
Plan your posts in advance. This not only helps you stay consistent with your marketing, but takes away all that last-minute stress.
Choose two or three colours, one or two fonts and a tone of voice that reflects your business's personality.
VIDEO: How to create a social media content calendar
Get expert tips on developing an easy-to-use social media calendar that keeps you organised and focused on your goals:
Here are the key assets you'll want to create and use regularly as part of your ongoing social media strategy:
Logo (a square version for profile pictures)
Cover image or banner for Facebook or LinkedIn
Bio or "About" section copy
Photos of your product or service (ideally your own, high-quality images)
Branded quote cards or tips
Event announcements, special offers and sales graphics
"Behind the scenes" photos or staff introductions
Customer reviews or testimonials
User-generated content (shared with permission)
Short-form reels or TikToks
Product demonstrations
Meet-the-team clips
Customer testimonials
Time-lapse videos (for example, packaging orders, setting up shop)
Instagram Stories: Behind-the-scenes, updates, polls
Highlights: Organise your best content (for example, "Menu", "Reviews", "FAQs") with branded icons
You don't need to hire a graphic designer or buy expensive software. Here are some easy (and free!) tools you can start using today:
Canva: Perfect for beginners. Offers pre-made templates, drag-and-drop editing and a free brand kit feature.
Adobe Express: Another user-friendly design tool with great templates.
VistaCreate: Similar to Canva with a good selection of visuals.
Use a consistent colour palette and fonts.
Keep all your visual assets clean and uncluttered.
Add your logo subtly but visibly.
Use readable text – especially on mobile.
Avoid overloading your image with too much information.
Tailor content sizes to each platform (for example, square for Instagram, portrait for Stories, horizontal for Facebook).
Use free stock photo sites like Unsplash, Pexels, or Pixabay when needed.
Include alt text and descriptive captions for accessibility and SEO.
Keeping things organised helps you save time and stay consistent.
Set up folders (such as "Logos", "Templates", "Photos", "Videos") in Google Drive or Dropbox as a place to store your creative assets.
Once you've created a template, save it so you can use it again for things like weekly offers, testimonials and quotes.
Be sure to repurpose digital content across a number of different social platforms. For example, you could turn a blog post into a carousel, a testimonial into a quote graphic or a photo series into a behind-the-scenes reel.
This not only saves you time, but makes sure your marketing assets work harder for you across several important touchpoints.
Don't feel overwhelmed – no-one builds a perfect social media presence overnight.
Start small by creating a few basic templates, then using them consistently across your social channels. Add more over time as you learn what works (and what doesn't).
Your social media assets are just one part of your broader marketing assets, but they're one of the easiest and most powerful places to begin.
Enterprise Nation member Mariko Broome runs courses through her photography business to help business owners take better pictures.
She says a lot of budding content creators tend to lack the confidence to take photos using mobile phones. She recommends creating a library of photos you can use that are unique to your business.
"Make sure your photos are interesting and inspirational and add value, because people don't want to be sold to all the time.
"Create a library that isn't just photos of your products. Try to inspire or motivate to help them connect."
Mariko has a number of guidelines for people who are starting to take their own photos for their social content:
Don't use zoom or flash.
Tap the screen to choose where you want to focus.
When you're shooting for Instagram, think about how you shoot. It will come up in a square so your composition will change.
Try turning on the phone's grid. You can line up the horizon (the horizon should be flat to avoid putting the viewer off) or something of interest with one of the lines.
It really helps to practise. If you see an opportunity to take a photo, get a number of shots. Try portrait and landscape, or shoot from above.
Experiment with different layouts. Experimentation will help you get comfortable and find a style that suits your business.
Mariko recommends:
GIMP (free photo editing software)
Adobe Photoshop Express (monthly fee, includes options to create grids and layouts)
VSCO (free and paid options, good for general fixes), and
Snapseed (free, accessible photo editor, great for more technical work) for editing
She says:
"My top tip for editing is don't over-edit. If you want your image to be recognisable on all your social media platforms, one way to do it is to use filters or presets. You can find filters that you can add to your images to get consistency."
Video strategist Lucy Griffiths says being professional on camera is at the forefront of everyone's mind because video is the fastest and most cost-effective way to market a small business.
In her view, video needs to resonate with customers, so you need to be creating good-quality videos. How can you do that? Lucy explains:
"It's about building a relationship with the lens and learning to love the lens, so that you can look and feel more confidence."
Video doesn't have to cost the earth and Lucy has several tips to help you get started making your own videos.
Lighting: When you put nice lights on, you look so much better. Think about buying a lighting ring attachment for your phone.
Sound and image quality: Start by using your phone and the light. After that, you can look at things like a microphone (she recommends Rode microphones, but there are cheaper alternatives).
Tripods: Using one of these will help you avoid camera wobble, which is always the mark of an amateur.
In terms of filming, having the camera horizontal is often better because it looks more professional.
However, vertical can look best on mobile, so mix it up. Make eye contact by fixing your eyes on the lens rather than the screen.
Wear clothes that are on brand and try to avoid stripes and patterns. Think about your framing and backdrop – what objects and scenery give the right impression? It's worth writing a bullet-point plan of what you want to cover.
Define your brand style (colours, fonts, tone).
Set up an account in Canva or Adobe Express (or another tool, if you prefer) and create a few templates.
Take fresh photos of your products or services.
Plan a basic weekly content calendar.
Save your marketing assets in an organised folder.
If you haven't created any social media assets yet, now's the perfect time. Start with one or two platforms, create a few branded templates and build your asset library as you go.
Your future self will thank you – and your audience will notice the difference.
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