Social media promotion
What this deliverable is
A promotion package for your blog post: featured images, social graphics, and platform-specific social copy. This is where your writing meets its audience.
You wrote a blog post. Now make people want to read it.
Why promotion is a separate skill
Writing and promoting are different jobs. A great blog post with a bad promotion package gets zero reads.
When your blog post link appears in someone’s feed, three things determine whether they click or scroll past:
- The headline — is it specific enough to be interesting, but open enough to require a click?
- The featured image — does it stop the scroll and signal what kind of content this is?
- The social copy — does the caption add something the headline doesn’t?
Each one does a different job. Together, they convert a scroll into a click.
A note on headlines
You’re not writing headlines for this assignment — your blog post already has one. But understanding how headlines work will make your featured images and social copy stronger.
A good headline is specific enough to be interesting, open enough to require a click.
- “Why independent coffee shops are invisible online” — works. You know the topic, and you want the answer.
- “Coffee shops should do better” — too vague. About what? Why should I care?
- “You won’t BELIEVE what this coffee shop did” — clickbait. The promise outpaces the delivery.
Betteridge’s Law: Any headline ending in a question mark can be answered “no.” Not always a problem, but worth knowing. “Is your local coffee shop good at Instagram?” — the implied answer is no, which undercuts the reason to click.
Featured images
What they do
Featured images (also called OG images or social previews) are the graphics that appear when a blog post link is shared on social media. They’re not decorative — they’re conversion tools. A strong featured image dramatically increases click-through.
Technical requirements
- Dimensions: 1200×630 pixels
- Format: PNG or JPEG
- File size: Under 1MB
- Safe zone: Keep text and important visuals within a 1100×530 center area — edges get cropped on some platforms
Design principles
One clear focal point. Half a second before the scroll. Give them one thing to look at. Test: cover the image, uncover it quickly — what did you see first? If the answer is “I’m not sure,” simplify.
Think at thumbnail size. Your image will appear at roughly 250–300px wide in a feed. Design for that, not for the full canvas. Check at 25% zoom — if text is unreadable or faces unrecognizable, redesign.
Text is optional, but when you use it, make it count. 6–10 words max. High contrast. If you can’t read it at thumbnail size, it’s not working.
Match the tone of the piece. The featured image is a promise about what’s inside. A sardonic industry critique should look different from a warm community profile.
Don’t repeat the headline. The image appears alongside the headline in social previews. If the image just restates the headline, you’ve wasted your visual real estate. Extend or complement it instead.
Example
For a call-out piece titled “Your local coffee shop is invisible”:
Visual concept: A phone screen showing a generic latte photo with zero engagement. Bold text overlaid: “The last post was 7 weeks ago.” Dark tone, high contrast.
Why it works: It communicates the problem the article addresses. A reader who manages a small business’s social media sees this and thinks “wait, is that us?” — and clicks.
Social graphics
How they differ from featured images
Featured images get clicks on a link. Social graphics stop a scroll.
Featured images have the article behind them — if someone clicks, they get more context. Social graphics are the whole thing. They either land on their own or they don’t.
Technical requirements
- Dimensions: 1080×1080 pixels (square, optimized for Instagram and Facebook)
- Format: PNG preferred, JPEG acceptable
- File size: Under 1MB per graphic
- Logo: Include your brand mark on every graphic — small and unobtrusive is fine
The four graphics
Design four distinct graphics — not four versions of the same template with swapped text. Each should serve a different purpose:
- Text-forward — a bold quote or statistic on a brand-colored background
- Image-forward — a photograph with minimal or no text
- Informational — a simple infographic, fact list, or how-to
- Promotional — campaign-specific, targeting your persona directly
Design principles
The 3-second rule. Cover your graphic. Uncover it for 3 seconds, cover it again. What did you take away? If the answer is “I’m not sure,” the design isn’t working.
Text must win. If you place text on a photo or complex background, the text must be readable. If you can’t read it with the image blurred, the layout doesn’t work.
Consistency without repetition. All four should feel like the same brand without looking like copies. Consistency comes from fonts, colors, and visual logic. Variation comes from content and format.
Social copy
You’ve done this before — now do it with intention
You already wrote social posts alongside your blog post for the critical copywriting assignment. This time, apply what we covered in class about platform-specific writing. Each platform has a different native register — copying the same caption across all of them is a rookie mistake.
Platform differences
| Platform | Tone | Length | Key behavior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twitter/X | Direct, punchy | 280 chars max | No hashtags (they reduce reach); link in reply if needed |
| Conversational | 125–150 chars visible before “More” | Hashtags at end (3–5 targeted); use line breaks | |
| Professional, perspective | 150–300 chars visible | First line must hook — “See more” cuts at ~210 chars | |
| Casual, community | 40–80 chars for best engagement | Questions and CTAs perform well |
The caption should add, not repeat
Your social copy shouldn’t summarize the blog post. The headline and featured image already told people what the piece is about. The caption’s job is to add something new:
- A personal angle (“I’ve been thinking about this since visiting three local coffee shops last week”)
- A provocative question (“How many weeks since your last post?”)
- A specific detail not in the headline (“One shop we found hadn’t posted since October”)
- A direct address to your persona (“If you run a small business Instagram, this one’s for you”)
Twitter/X: the discipline of 280 characters
The limit forces economy. Every word earns its place.
- Lead with the most interesting thing — not context, not setup
- Cut every qualifier (“kind of,” “somewhat,” “in some ways”)
- Make a real claim, not a soft one
- End with something that makes the reader want to click or respond
Example:
Your local coffee shop probably has a better story than Starbucks. They’re just not telling it. Here’s why independent cafés keep losing the discoverability battle — and what the ones winning are doing differently.
(254 chars. Specific enough to be interesting, open enough to require a click.)
Vary the angle, not just the words
The hardest part isn’t writing one good caption — it’s writing several that sound like the same voice but aren’t copies of each other. Change the angle, not just the phrasing:
- The fact — “We’ve worked with the same farm for four years.”
- The question — “How much does it matter where your coffee comes from?”
- The contrast — “Most cafés buy on the spot market. We don’t.”
- The human element — “There’s a farmer named Pedro who texts us every February.”
- The invitation — “Come ask us about it next time you’re in.”
Same subject. Five distinct entries into the conversation.
What to submit
| Deliverable | Specs | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| Featured images | 1200×630 px, PNG or JPEG, under 1MB | 2 |
| Social graphics | 1080×1080 px, PNG or JPEG, under 1MB | 4 |
| Social copy | Platform-specific captions (one must be Twitter/X) | 3+ platforms |
Also include:
- Alt text for every image
- All assets consistent with your style guide (fonts, colors, visual language)
Submission:
Add all image files and your social copy document to your project Google Drive folder. Do not embed images in a Google Doc — upload the raw files. Submit the folder URL in Canvas.
Tools
- Canva — has templates for both 1200×630 and 1080×1080, easy to use
- Figma — more control for precise layouts
- Adobe Express — good middle ground
- Unsplash / Pexels — free stock photos if you don’t have originals (credit them)
Common mistakes
- Using the same template for all six images. Each featured image and social graphic should have a distinct composition and purpose.
- Designing only at full size. Always check featured images at 25% zoom. Always check social graphics with the 3-second cover/uncover test.
- Same caption on every platform. If your Twitter and Instagram captions are identical, you haven’t written platform-specific content.
- Opening with “We’re excited to…“ This tells the reader nothing. Start with the thing itself.
- Featured image that repeats the headline. You’ve got two channels of communication — use them to say different things.
- No CTA in social copy. Even “drop a comment” is better than nothing.
- Ignoring your style guide. These assets are part of your brand’s visual system. Use the fonts and colors you defined.
- Forgetting alt text. Every image needs a description that communicates what the image conveys, not just what it depicts.