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Instagram is an undeniably powerful marketing tool, but with over 200 million business accounts on the platform today, it’s critical that you take the time to create well-designed and thoughtful Instagram posts to stand out. You’ll need to apply a strategic design plan to your business’s Instagram to attract a loyal following and find success on the app, long-term.
However, creating a clean and cohesive Instagram feed takes design skills and time commitment you may lack, and with an algorithm that favors brands that post at least once a day, that could be adding to your stress.
If that’s the case, you’re in luck — in this post we’ll discuss how you can create pre-made Instagram post templates so you’ve got a stash ready to go. Plus, by ensuring you use the same templates for different posts, you’ll have an easier time creating a cohesive and aesthetically-pleasing feed.

Instagram Post Templates
Instagram templates can be used to serve different purposes, and we have a list of our own for you to brainstorm ideas and customize for free.
Panel Template

For those trying to spread the word on an upcoming virtual or in-person panel, you can promote it using our Panel Template.
Customize it by adding the speakers’ profile photos and usernames to build hype and give followers the chance to get an idea of what they can look forward to.
What We Like: Your followers won’t have to DM you for panel information, as the example given in the template provides all the context necessary for them to plan to attend.
Quote Template

Sometimes you want to keep up with the algorithm, and posting consistently using quotes in between announcements can help keep that relevance businesses need to be seen.
Interview insightful team members, or even use inspirational quotes that your followers would enjoy seeing as they scroll through their feed.
What We Like: The versatility of this template lets you change the background image to fit the tone of the quote you share.
Sales Announcement Template

I don’t know about you, but when I see a sales announcement I get excited to check out what’s available.
When you’re looking to sell existing inventory, or share a seasonal offer, this sales announcement template gets straight to the point to capture attention. Change the background image to fit the occasion and you’ll have this post ready within minutes.
What We Like: This template isn’t cluttered nor pushy; those who are already fans of your product will want to go to your site to take advantage of the opportunity.
Quick Tip Template

Sometimes your followers could be in need of some advice, that’s where our Quick Tip Template can fit that need.
If you’re catering to budding professionals or hobbyists, you can help them become more proficient in the skill they’re trying to develop. Change the imagery to reflect the tip of your choosing and share it with your followers.
What We Like: While it’s a simple template, it’s an easy way to engage with followers in between campaigns, and if you want to make the most of it, encourage commenters to share their own tips or advice they found helpful, too.
We’re Hiring Template

Yes, you could just post job openings on websites like LinkedIn, but you could reach exactly who you’re looking for on social media channels like Instagram, too.
Customize this template to either showcase a variety of positions you have open, or for a certain position that you can expand on in your post description.
What We Like: You can reach a further audience with Instagram using this template and by using the post-boost feature to better target the persona you’re looking for.
Offer Template

Promote things like eBooks or guides using our Offer template.
By giving followers a glimpse at your newer offers, you can use the post description to give them a call to action and download different types of resources. Customize it to reflect your brand’s color scheme and offerings.
What We Like: This chic template is the right amount of professional and minimalist approach that viewers will want to check out, as opposed to lengthy announcements littered with too much text in imagery.
New Product Template

When you’re ready to launch a new product, you should meet your target audience right where they are on Instagram the day it goes live.
By using our New Product template, you can give your followers an idea of what they can expect with this new innovation. You can also switch out the imagery to reflect the product solution.
What We Like: Without using words, your followers can get a clearer idea of what your new product can do for them if they purchase it.
Review Template

Whether it’s internal or external, sharing positive reviews of your brand or product can be a great way to add legitimacy to your business.
Use our Review template to share the positive experiences your clients or employees had from your business, this can attract customers and talent to the company.
What We Like: Sharing reviews can help customers build trust, and adding posts like these to your profile can aid in the process.
Podcast Template

Podcasts are on the rise, so to help get the word out, you should be promoting on your Instagram.
This simplistic template is a great way to announce the creation of your podcast. You can use the post description to give your followers an idea of what’s to come and encourage them to spread the word.
What We Like: You can distinguish the type of podcast in the image if you choose or frame it as a surprise. The possibilities are endless.
These aren’t the only templates available in our offer, so download the pack to brainstorm even more ideas for your future posts.

1. Download Instagram post templates.
Let’s face it — you don’t always have the time, resources, or personnel to design noteworthy Instagram posts. That’s why we recommend using Instagram Post Templates for Business which you can build from and customize.
Here are some options to create and save Instagram post templates, so you can have stunning posts on-hand whenever you’re ready to publish.

Featured Resource: 22 Free Instagram Post Templates for Business
Need templates to get started? Download HubSpot’s free Instagram post templates for both traditional posts and stories, which you can tailor as you see fit when it comes to your brand. You can alter any parts of the template – the image, the copy, and the design elements – to ensure you’re publishing posts to grow and engage your follower base.
2. Choose your post format.
While traditional Instagram posts to your permanent timeline are more long-lasting and allow for comments and likes, you shouldn’t underestimate the power of Instagram Stories, which can be used for more immediate needs and occasions.
In fact, 500 million accounts use the Instagram Stories feature daily. So, when you’re creating your post, ask yourself if it warrants publication as a story or as a traditional post.
3. Choose an image.
Maybe you’ve decided your post doesn’t need a photograph and that text overlay on a solid-color background will work for you. If that’s the case, hop over to the next step.
If you’ve decided you do want to use a photograph – particularly if you want one as the background for text overlay – you’ve got a few options.

Take a photo on your phone or with a camera. No need to be a professional photographer for your Instagram posts – you can learn how to take great photos with your phone here.
Use a photo from your company’s files. This works well if you need to utilize team photos or product photography, which may be better quality.
Use a stock photo that pertains to your business (just make sure you don’t use the same one multiple times!).

Whichever photo you decide to use, simply replace it as the background for the template you’re using in the HubSpot Instagram Post Template collection and resize the photo so it’s to your liking (and is good quality).

4. Add design elements.
Instagram post templates come with design placeholders for text with special fonts and other elements. Your next step is to alter, add, or remove any elements that you see fit.
This includes updating the copy to reflect the information you want followers to know and/or the action you want them to take.
5. Save the photo.
When you’ve done all you can in the template builder of your choosing, save your photo to be posted on Instagram. All you’ll have to do here is click File > Download > PNG Image or JPEG Image. Then, just name the photo file, email, or message it to yourself, and save it on your phone so you can post it.
6. Upload to Instagram.
Once you have your photo saved, it’s time to upload it to share with your followers. For a traditional post, open Instagram, click the + button in the bottom center, choose your photo, add any filter, description, or hashtags, and click Share. (Take a look at How to Post on Instagram: a Step-by-Step Guide if you’re still unsure.)
For an Instagram Story post, click on the camera icon in the top left of your screen, access your camera roll in the bottom left of the screen, choose your image, minimize the date that shows up to the point where it can’t be seen, and add any additional design elements – like a GIF or additional copy – to the image. From there, click Your Story on the bottom left.
Other Ways to Design Instagram Posts
Here are some other options to create and save Instagram post templates, so you can have stunning posts on-hand whenever you’re ready to publish.
1. HubSpot

As previously mentioned, HubSpot has some go-to templates for your Instagram posts and stories.
You can have access to fully customizable templates through Google Slides where you can alter the color schemes, images, and purpose of each template depending on the subject you’re posting about — many of which are already made to promote business events or product releases.
2. Fotor

If you’re looking for a free collection of templates to choose from, Fotor will give you over three thousand templates for any topic or occasion.
With Fotor, you can cater your post to reflect your brand image, while incorporating seasonal designs or special sales, or discount templates for your business.
3. Crello

Crello is an online graphic design tool made to enhance your content for many social media channels — providing users with plenty of templates to fill out your Instagram grid.
4. Creative Market
If you’re willing to shell out the cash, you might consider buying one of Creative Market’s Instagram Template bundles.
For instance, you could purchase this 1053 Quotes social media pack.

Alternatively, you can purchase a bundle with Instagram Story content, like this Animated Stories bundle.

Finally, you might consider purchasing a bundle to help you create a cohesive theme for your Instagram feed, like this The Grid template.

Curate Your Instagram Posts with Ease
We hope you found our guide and templates useful as you prepare to make a stylized Instagram feed. With these tools, you’ll be set to create and save pre-made Instagram templates, so you can focus on attracting a loyal following without tediously designing a post from scratch every day.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

The shrug emoji 🤷 is a popular image used to convey confusion or emphasize a question.
There’s no denying the power emojis have when it comes to boosting engagement and emphasizing communication. Sometimes you just need a symbol to get the point across, and emojis serve that purpose.

However, it’s worth noting the shrug emoji wouldn’t exist without its predecessor, the shrug emoticon. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Though emojis have come a long way, I’m still a big fan of typed emoticons. Emoticons bring me back to simpler times when my phone still had a physical keyboard and AOL Instant Messenger was my main method of communication. Those were the days.
If you still have an affinity for typed emoticons like me, especially the ¯_(ツ)_/¯ emoticon, here’s how you can type it in two seconds flat on a Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android.
How to Type the Shrug Emoji ¯_(ツ)_/¯ in Two Seconds Flat
The shrug emoticon is one of the more intricate emoticons to type, so most people resort to copying and pasting it from a website, like CopyShrug.
But copying and pasting the emoticon is really only a good option if you use it sparingly. If you’re an avid user of the shrug emoticon, you’ll need to keep revisiting the website to copy and paste it, which is a relatively slow and annoying process, especially on your mobile phone.
To type the shrug emoticon as fast as possible, we recommend creating a text replacement shortcut with your device’s autocorrect feature (which might be the first time autocorrect actually comes in handy for you).
How to Type the Shrug Emoji: on Mac

1. Copy “¯_(ツ)_/¯”
2. Go to System Preferences
3. Click Keyboard
4. Press Text
5. In the Replace box, type “shrug”
6. In the With box, paste “¯_(ツ)_/¯”
How to Type the Shrug Emoji:
on Windows Unfortunately, Windows doesn’t have an autocorrect feature, but you can download programs like
PhraseExpress to set up text replacement shortcuts and quickly type the shrug emoticon.
How to Type the Shrug Emoji: on
iPhone
1. Copy “¯_(ツ)_/¯ ”
2. Go to Settings
3. Press General
4. Tap Keyboard
5. Choose Text Replacement
6. Select the “+” button
7. In the Shortcut field, type “shrug”
8. In the Phrase field, paste “¯_(ツ)_/¯ ”
How to Type the Shrug Emoji: on
Android
1. Copy “¯_(ツ)_/¯ ”
2. From your text message keyboard, tap the three dots
3. Go to Settings
4. Tap Dictionary
5. On a Google Pixel, press Personal Dictionary; using a Samsung device, tap Text Shortcuts
6. Select your language
7. Select the “+”
8. In the Shortcut field, type “shrug”
9. Tap the ” ¯_(ツ)_/¯” that shows up on the keyboard

There you have it! A quick and easy shortcut to help you type the shrug emoji in no time.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in September 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

A great B2B marketer understands the utility of an informative and original piece of content. And while blog posts, press releases, and eBooks are all super effective mediums of content marketing, there are even more content formats worth exploring for your business — including reports. Marketing reports provide a comprehensive snapshot of your brand, your…
The post How to Create Your Own Report: A Step-By-Step Guide appeared first on Benchmark Email.

Adding popups to your website and landing pages is the best way to grow your email list. Learn the best practices and tips on how, when, where, and why to use popups and forms.

Hello everyone! Need some fair community feedback for the Ukrainian SaaS startup that I and my team are currently working on. It’s called AdBraze and it’s been made to save maximum time and effort for user acquisition teams. Would appreciate your opinion If you could choose a new feature for an ad automation platform, what would it be? Advanced automated rules Cross-platform analytics Creative generation AI Production management tool In case you can share some other unresolved pain for your performance marketing team – I’d be grateful. submitted by /u/Darling_Curse [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/linked_camp [link] [comments]

YouTube thumbnails, the small, clickable snapshots that viewers see when they search for videos, can be just as important as a video’s title because they provide a preview of your video and entice viewers to click through. 

If your video has an ordinary or sub-par thumbnail, it won’t persuade anyone to watch your content. YouTube could deem the video irrelevant and won’t rank it in the search results or distribute it through the “Recommended Videos” feed. Since your video’s click-through rate is one of the most important ranking factors in YouTube’s search algorithm, especially during its first hour on the platform, an eye-catching thumbnail can make a huge difference in ranking number one for a query and not ranking at all.

Creating vibrant YouTube thumbnails can also instantly grab people’s attention and this can help you differentiate yourself on a platform full of standard thumbnails all screaming for attention. Below, we’ll guide you through an easy four-step process for creating visually appealing YouTube thumbnails that will cut through the noise, boost your video’s click-through rate, and lift your rankings.
Table of Contents:

How to Make a YouTube Thumbnail
8 YouTube Thumbnail Makers

 

1. Visit a free online YouTube thumbnail maker.
There are eight free online YouTube thumbnail makers listed below, but we featured FotoJet in this guide because it’s one of the only YouTube thumbnail makers that doesn’t make you sign up for a free account before you can create a thumbnail. Their robust thumbnail maker lets you customize and download your thumbnails completely for free — no email address necessary.
The free version of this online app lets you download small and medium-sized image files, but large and extra-large are premium features. This means you’ll get to be creative with your designs to ensure they appear as crisp as possible on YouTube.

2. Upload a photo or choose one of the thumbnail makers’ templates.
YouTube will let you upload any picture from your computer as your video’s thumbnail. But if you don’t have a vivid visual on your computer or you need some inspiration, Fotojet’s got you covered. It has over 23 free templates that can serve as your thumbnail’s foundation.
To create striking a thumbnail in Fotojet, consider including a talking head. People are naturally drawn to human faces because it’s an ingrained survival mechanism to help us quickly gauge someone’s emotions and determine if they’re a threat or friend. Research Gate also discovered that Instagram photos with faces are 38% more likely to receive likes and 32% more likely to receive comments.

3. Add text, clip art, or a background to your thumbnail.
Once you’ve picked your picture or template, you can make your thumbnail stand out even more by adding text, clip art, or a background to it.

To further clarify your video’s subject matter, consider adding your video’s title to the thumbnail. If your photo, graphic, or text is bright, consider placing it on top of a dark background. The color contrast will make your thumbnail pop. The same logic applies to dark objects and bright backdrops.

4. Download the finished product to your computer.
After you finish polishing your thumbnail, press the Save button at the top of the page to export your thumbnail.

Last, title your thumbnail. When you’re naming the thumbnail, include either the title of the video, or the primary keyword related to the video. Save the final file as a PNG or JPG. Its resolution will already match YouTube’s recommended resolution — 1280 x 720 pixels — so you don’t have to worry about resizing it later.

 
8 YouTube Thumbnail Makers
Along with Fotojet’s free online YouTube thumbnail maker, there are seven other thumbnail makers that can help you customize your own YouTube thumbnails. Before you create a thumbnail with these tools, though, you need to sign up for a free account on their websites.
1. FotoJet

FotoJet is a leading YouTube thumbnail maker that comes with templates to help you summarize your video into a click-worthy image. You can get started with FotoJet as soon as you land on the homepage — no email or account setup required. Choose from a variety of stock images, font styles, and clip art elements to customize your design, then export it in either a JPG or PNG format. 
2. Canva

With more than 2 million images in their library, hundreds of fonts, and customizable backgrounds and colors, Canva gives you more than enough resources to unleash your creativity.

You can sign up for the free or paid version of the online design tool, but be prepared to take your own images as Canva’s image gallery can cost up to $1 per photo. Don’t let that deter you. This robust tool is jam-packed with free design elements that can help you create click-worthy YouTube thumbnails.
3. Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark lets you select from thousands of photos on the web and a variety of built-out themes with their own unique layouts, colors, and fonts to craft eye-catching YouTube thumbnails. Although the free version comes with a watermark on all content you download from the system, you can always upgrade to the paid version to have unique thumbnails that are truly your own.
4. Crello

With Crello, you can create engaging thumbnails by blending a multitude of designs, photos, backgrounds, text, and objects together. When compared to other popular design tools, Crello emerges as a less expensive option, but remember resizing your thumbnails could be a pain because of some improvements that need to be made within the app.
5. Visme

Choose from a wide selection of templates, photos, graphics, colors, and fonts to create a thumbnail in Visme. This app was made with video thumbnails in mind, so you won’t have to worry about sizing and finding the perfect layouts. Visme offers creators various templates to choose from so you can spend more time adding your finishing touches.
6. Fotor

Fotor provides templates under certain themes to help you create captivating thumbnails. It includes all the trending YouTube thumbnail features like photo frames, the lomo effect, and background remover. The options are virtually limitless with Fotor as the canvas for your YouTube thumbnail.
If your workflow can’t be completed all in one session, Fotor’s premium plan allows you to save the version history of your thumbnails so you can pick up right where you left off.
7. Picmaker

With over 100,000 graphics, 1,000 stock photos, stickers, borders, backgrounds, text, icons, and filters, and an automatic background remover, you can create a gripping thumbnail on Picmaker. If you have set brand colors, the free options won’t be the easiest to work with since you can’t save colors, logos, or fonts. But upgrading to just the starter tier opens up a variety of benefits including a brand kit, premium photos, and multi-sized designs.
8. Snappa

Snappa has over 500,000 stock photos, an assortment of professionally designed templates, and customizable graphics, shapes, and text to help you create a YouTube thumbnail. If you’re making over three thumbnails per month, Snappa might affect your workflow as the free version only allows three downloads per month. If three is enough for you, you’ll be glad to know there’s a drag-and-drop functionality to help you create your own custom thumbnail template.
Create Scroll-Stopping YouTube Thumbnails
Just like a peephole, the subject line of an email, and even caller-ID, a YouTube thumbnail gives the viewer a peek behind the curtain to see what’s on the other side. It’s a major component in a search result that will determine whether someone clicks and watches your video. Taking the tips and examples in this article, you’ll have to know how to make scroll-stopping YouTube thumbnails that will draw in new subscribers.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.