This is a featured blog post by Amy Cesal, Product Evangelist at everviz. A three-time winner of the Information is Beautiful awards, Amy is an instructor at Maryland Institute College of Art and co-founder of the Data Visualization Society.
Creating charts for social media requires you to think about the medium. The same exact chart that you created for a report rarely works well just uploaded to Instagram. You need to grab people’s attention and give them enough information in a small space.
Step 1: Know your audience and platform
While you don’t have to know your exact audience, it’s helpful to know the contexts for social media platforms. Users interact differently and have varied expectations for platforms. People often engage with a post on LinkedIn in a more professional manner than they would for an Instagram reel.
Take a look at this graphic by Alli Torban about how different audiences engage in different contexts:
Most social media falls into the lower left quadrant of Low Interest and Distracted. Keep this in mind as you design for social media. You not only have to grab people’s attention but also give them more information on the topic since they are probably not proactively seeking out and searching for this information.
LinkedIn Specific Tips
- You can share up to 20 images per post, ideally limit yourself to fewer
- Only the first few lines of the post will be immediately viewable, so include your hook early
- Tag relevant people or companies which can create engagement
- Include alt text
LinkedIn Specific Tips
- Use carousels for multiple charts where each chart makes a single point
- Keep the amount of information bite-sized and very visual
- Include a caption and tag relevant people or companies which can create engagement
- Turn a chart into a reel by adding animations or a voiceover describing the chart and key takeaways
- Include alt text
Bluesky Specific Tips
- Have a genuine and casual vibe rather than corporate. Bluesky is more chill than LinkedIn or Instagram
- Add personality and invite commentary to increase engagement, this platform is a conversation
- Content that does well on this platform often reveals a surprising truth or offers expert insight in a clever format
- Really make sure to include alt text
Step 2: Know what you want them to do
Now think about what you want your users to do with the information. These goals require different amounts of information and calls to action.
Here are some likely reasons for posting a chart on social media. You want people to:
- Re-share the information
- Find out more and go to your website
- Engage with the information and comment
Goal: Re-share the chart/post
- Include a call to action
- Make sure the chart has enough information to tell the whole story. You may need to add additional data or text to explain the context.
- Make use of the caption to keep the text on your chart minimal
Goal: Find out more information on your website
- Have the chart just be a hint to the total amount of information you’re sharing.
- Pique readers’ interest and drive them (with links) to the rest of the content directly on your website
Goal: Engage with the information and comment
- Instead of a takeaway title, consider using a question as your title
- Actively reply to comments to create discussion and interest
Step 3: Grab Attention
1) Highlight your point and simplify
Instead of just showing numbers, highlight what they mean and add context.
For example, a client had this on their Instagram account from the National Association of Realtors to make the point that the percentage of people who have a higher interest rate than the current market rate is quite small.
It’s very hard to see that from this chart, because you have to know the current interest rate, and add multiple sections to calculate the percentage of people who are unlikely to move, because they have a lower than market interest rate. Way too much work for an instagram post.
Here’s an updated chart of how the data could be combined and simplified using everviz:
2) Adjust Text
Avoid too much text on the chart make sure your text is large enough and readable.
For example, in the chart above I combined unnecessary divisions to create a clear message, and added a title that states what people should be looking for. everviz has export options specifically for social media that resizes the text and chart automatically for different social media platforms. It’s also easy to choose what format works best for posting.
3) Animate
Adding motion can grab interest and can walk people through the story.
In everviz you can easily add animation to any chart and download it as a gif or a variety of other formats.
Another way to use animation is to highlight a place on a map for context. everviz has dynamic location maps that can be customized for specific regions and places with animation. These can help grab people’s attention and draw them into a story.
