Social Media Content Creation & Posting

(Starting at $275 per month)

The days of social media being solely for connecting with friends and family and sharing personal photos are gone! Social media has now become a crucial business asset. It’s expected that successful businesses have an active, ongoing presence on social media.

Why?

According to forbes.com “those that fail to leverage social media as a vibrant content platform will struggle to capture attention and convert customers.” That same article explains how there is power in showing what your business offers, not just telling what your offers are. Consumers want to see and experience a company’s products or services before they make a purchase.

How?

By appealing to the visual and auditory senses of your consumers! Utilizing beautiful photos, imagery, and video in social media posts enables your consumer to see, to hear, and as a result, feel the emotion in what you have to offer.

How often should you be posting?

If you Google “how often should you post on social media”, you will get answers anywhere from 1-2 times per day to 3-4 times per week. That really narrows it down, doesn’t it??

Remember Goldilocks and the Three Bears? Goldilocks was all about whatever was “just right.” When it comes to a small business and its social media presence, there needs to be a “just right” balance that considers budget, resources, and time. Something else to throw into the “just right” balance is that you want to be informative, not annoying!

The key here is regularity - a regular, consistent, schedule for posting content to social media.

What to post?

Here are just some ideas of what a small business can post about on social media:

• the launch of a new product or service

• welcoming a new employee

• highlighting community involvement/charity work, etc.

• upcoming special events/sales

• inform and educate consumers about your products and/or services

• provide a quick ‘how to’ guide

• direct consumers to another platform such as an online store

• facts about your products and/or services

• excerpts of lyrics or poetry

• flash sale

Smarvellous Designs Social Media Packages:

We just touched on the importance of a business having a consistent presence on social media. And, while Smarvellous Designs offers a variety of video production types, audio production, and narration to help you elevate your social media presence - you might be thinking: “I can’t invest in a full-blown audio/video production just for one social media post.”

That’s OK! We understand that businesses may have a relatively limited, maybe even small amount of money allocated for things like social media. Our motto at Smarvellous Designs is: “Smarvellous Pairs Well With Modest Advertising Budgets!” This is a key takeaway point for you!

There is NO shame in having a modest advertising budget. We have Social Media Content Creation & Posting Packages with pricing that respects your budget. In fact, our Budget Social Media package starts at just $275/month! And then, our Recommended Social Media package starts at $495. (Right now, we are only offering packages for posting to Instagram and Facebook.)

Budget Social Media Package: (starting at $275/month)

A TOTAL of 8 still image posts/month.

• Benefits - provides affordable consistency

• Method - design, schedule, and post a TOTAL of 8 still image posts (each post will be posted to Instagram AND Facebook)

• Goal - to create a consistent schedule of social media posts

• Aim - the objective of the posts will be discussed in detail during our consultation stage

Each post will have a description and hashtags.*

*If your business is bound by regulatory authorities, such as Health Canada, AGLC, etc., we respect these limitations and will work with you to ensure each post has proper portrayal and wording.

If you have access and permission to use marketing material and images from your suppliers, and possibly alter them to fit your business’s individual marketing needs, Smarvellous Designs will accept these assets for incorporation into your social media posts.

This package includes a basic monthly analytics report if such is required.

Recommended Social Media Package: $495/month

A TOTAL of 15 still image posts/month.

• Method - design, schedule, and post a TOTAL of 15 still image posts (each post will be posted to Instagram AND Facebook)

• Goal - to create a consistent schedule of social media posts

• Aim - the objective of the posts will be discussed in detail during our consultation stage

Each post will have a description and hashtags.*

*If your business is bound by regulatory authorities, such as Health Canada, AGLC, etc., we respect these limitations and will work with you to ensure each post has proper portrayal and wording.

If you have access and permission to use marketing material and images from your suppliers, and possibly alter them to fit your business’s individual marketing needs, Smarvellous Designs will accept these assets for incorporation into your social media posts.

This package includes a basic monthly analytics report if such is required.

Here are some examples:

Logo & Advertising Material Design

Logo Design (Starting at $315)

We have all seen countless numbers of them! We have all at one time – okay many times – succumbed to their seductive allure! And it’s said that even back in the Medieval Era they were being used on the signage of shops and pubs to symbolize the types of products and/or services that merchants had on offer. But with the advent of mass printing at the beginning of the 20th century, modern logo symbols became commonplace. 

A logo is a symbol - design - that can be comprised of shapes, illustrations, and colour/s, or some combination thereof. It can also be a name in text, as in a wordmark. A logo is intended to uniquely represent a company’s brand. It is to be a self-explanatory image that the public comes to readily, distinctly, associate with a specific brand.

A logo is considered effective if it can communicate the brand’s message in a unique, appropriate graphic form, that is both practical and simple.

Smarvellous Designs takes pleasure in conceptualizing logo designs that are graphically appropriate for the brand it represents, and that effectively communicates the company’s intended message to its public!  

Here are some examples …

Advertising Material Design (Starting at $195)

Advertising material, according to one source, goes all the way back to ancient Egypt. There, the earliest discovered print advertising was found on a papyrus fragment. Apparently, that advertisement was written on behalf of a businessman in the Weaving Industry. Modern-day advertising, reportedly, had its beginning in Europe in the 16th century with the arrival of newspapers and magazines. The first weekly publication is said to have begun early in the 16th century.

But is print advertising material still effective in our digital age? YES! Research has found that consumers pay significantly more attention and time to campaigns that integrate print advertising material in with digital media advertising, compared to campaigns that use only one media. In fact, at the time of writing this content, Smarvellous Designs was engaged in such an integrated campaign, using direct mail for a series of flyers simultaneous to running a series of online video ads!

Being that Lethbridge is the commercial hub for a vibrant agricultural industry, its residents don’t need a study to tell them that it’s not wise to put all of their eggs in one basket! And that truism is also the case when it comes to marketing campaigns. Multi-channel campaigns are more effective, because they more broadly advertise your brand, thus reaching consumers who may be only using some select information channel/s. And, when consumers are exposed to the same brand message from several different sources, it creates a more credible, more memorable, more impactful impression!

Smarvellous Designs delights in crafting the design of advertising material, such as:

• Business cards

• Brochures

• Flyers

• Door hangers

• Posters

• Banners

• Appointment Reminder cards

• Thank You cards

• Etc.

Here are some examples …

Audio Production

(Starting at $115)

More details Coming Soon!

In the meantime - listen to these.

We wrote and produced our own radio ads, which were played on CJOC radio in the summer of 2024.

Our audio production service can include any or all of the following:

• script writing

• voiceover/narration

• music

• sound effects.

Digital Art

Digital Art is any art form made or produced utilizing digital technology, such as software, computers, or electronic devices as an essential component in the artistic process. But, of course, the artist’s “creative juices” are still the major factor! The classification of digital art can include digital drawings, digital paintings, illustrations, animations, photographs, videos, and more. Photo editing and photo manipulation are two forms of digital art.

Photo Editing (Price based on project)

Photo Editing is a digital process by which the quality of the original image in a photograph is enhanced. And it may involve manipulations to the photograph, like retouching or even removing unwanted elements, such as people and/or objects. Other features of photo editing can include adjustments to colour, contrast, and brightness, as well as cropping, resizing, and the application of artistic filters. 

A common question: Is photo editing the same as Photoshop? When used as a verb, “Photoshop” commonly implies the digital editing of photographs in spite of the digital technology being utilized.

 Applications for Photo Editing:

• Business/Personal

  • enhance the quality of the original image

  • retouch or remove unwanted elements in the photograph

  • quest for that perfect picture

Here is an example …

Photo Manipulation (Price based on project)

Photo Manipulation, as mentioned, can include the simple removal of unwanted elements in the photograph. But with the unbridled element of creativity inherent in photo manipulation, this form of digital art can unleash innovative works that are limited only by the artist’s imagination. 

Photo manipulation can alter an original photograph by adding to its content, rearranging or reversing its content.  Even by blending multiple photographs together, thus creating new composite imagery that distorts reality — surrealism!

 Applications for Photo Manipulation:

• Business

  • surreal photographs present your brand’s products or services beyond material value

  • surreal composite imagery can communicate an image of products or services that musingly transcends reality

• Personal

  • cool artwork for your wall

  • super unique album or book cover

  • awesome greeting cards or postcards for friends

  Here are some examples …

Visual Brand Identity

(Price based on project)

Visual Brand Identity is the look of your brand. This involves the visual elements that represent your company or organization, its products or services. The basic elements are logo design, colour scheme, typography, and associated images.

When these visual elements are strong, the presentation of your brand to consumers can be very persuasive! After all, a key purpose of visual identity is for your brand to create an emotional impression on viewers, thus developing a connection with them. A brand can become instantly recognizable to consumers when its visuals are consistent across all marketing mediums. And this consistent, unified messaging can cause consumers to build trust in that brand!

Also, this consistency of visual brand identity elements can enable consumers to immediately associate the brand with a specific company or organization, product or service, making that brand stand out from competitors.

When you have a strong visual brand identity, it sets the stage for what consumers will come to automatically expect from your brand. In effect, having a strong visual brand identity is a great marketing tool!

Visual Brand Identity consists of the following elements:

• Logo design with alternatives*

• Colour scheme palette*

• Typography*

• Imagery

• Use of shapes

• Website and digital design

• Social Media Graphics/Design

• Business cards

• Business stationery

• Advertising material design (print or digital)

*These can be put into a mini Brand Guide that will help you maintain consistency across all your marketing mediums.

Here is an example ...