We take a look at our phones about 80 times per day, or once every 12 minutes. With those staggering numbers in mind, it makes sense that we would like our devices to look as good as possible.
Chances are, you’ve carefully selected a wallpaper for your phone’s background and lock screen that gives you some kind of joy (or at least shows everyone round you how cool you’re).
For brands and organizations, offering phone wallpapers to social media followers is a good way to say thanks—with mutual benefits. Your followers get spiffy new phone backgrounds, and your brand gets to improve awareness and positive sentiment.
To find out more about this practice, I spoke to Hootsuite’s social media team, as well as social media marketers from Saje Wellness and Lush who’ve found success by sharing their own phone wallpapers—particularly on Instagram.
Continue reading to find:
- Why providing mobile wallpapers on Instagram is a great move for brands
- How top brands are sharing phone wallpapers
- Expert tricks and tricks for sharing your own mobile wallpapers
- How to simply Create Phone Wallpapers for Your Brand in less than 10 minutes
Why your brand needs to be sharing cellular wallpapers on social media
You might be wondering how your brand can possibly benefit from making a free resource for your audience. However, there are many benefits to sharing mobile wallpapers with your fans.
Brand awareness
When you create a relevant and aesthetically pleasing mobile wallpaper for your audience and they use it, chances are people will take notice.
Take Hootsuite’s Global Social Engagement Specialist Nick Martin. He has a Dungeons and Dragons themed phone wallpaper at present. When he is out with friends and people notice his cool phone background, he tells them where it came from, and where they could get one for themselves.
When you are looking to increase awareness about your brand, that is the perfect low-cost chance. Get a branded picture on the devices that your customers are all day long, particularly while round potential new customers, and it’s basically like having a built-in moving billboard.
To make sure your branded phone wallpapers reflect your brand, the social media team at Hootsuite suggests you:
- Match your brand’s look and feel. You need your wallpaper to make sense for your brand. While it does not have to be covered in your logo, it should be related and have some kind of connection to who you’re. Think about whether people could be shocked or confused to find out the wallpaper was made by your brand, and use that as a guiding point.
- Know your brand’s audience. Who’re the people most likely to use a mobile wallpaper from your brand? What’s it about your brand that they like, and that they’d be proud to have on their phone? You also need to think about whether they’d be more excited about a flashy branded picture, or something more subtle.
Positive sentiment
The joy of getting something free of charge is universal. By providing free mobile wallpapers to your audience, you are showing them that you appreciate their business.
By boosting positive sentiment via freebies like mobile wallpapers, you’re also more likely to enhance engagement and build trust. When done well, this type of proactive engagement will undoubtedly enhance positive feelings round your brand.
To ensure your cellular wallpapers really enhance sentiment—instead of decrease—our social media team has some suggestions:
- Share audience-made wallpapers. User-generated content is always a good way to generate warm fuzzies round your brand. Run a casual contest or call for submissions for your fans to share wallpapers they make themselves, and make sure to credit the creators if you post to your Instagram Story.
- Be sure that your format is right. There are a few formatting issues to bear in mind when creating wallpapers. Initially, keep in mind that your followers will be taking screenshots of the wallpaper to use, so do not put anything like text or GIFs over it. Additionally, most phones have the time displayed on lock screens so keep that in mind when creating your design.
- Make the process as simple as possible. It’s a great idea to walk your followers by the process of utilizing your wallpaper so they do not experience frustration. We advise making a Story to go before the wallpaper with instructions (e.g.,. hold down on the Story to remove all surrounding text). This will also give them time to get ready to screenshot.
How to easily create phone wallpapers for your brand
Now that you know the advantages of sharing phone wallpapers with your audience, it’s time to learn how you could really create some for your brand.
The online design tool Canva makes this process as simple as possible. We will walk you through how to create a wallpaper with Canva’s desktop tool, as well as their mobile app.
Desktop:
1. First, go to the Canva website. When you do not already have an account, it’s fast and simple to sign up either with your email or Fb account.
2. When you are logged in, use the search bar and kind in “Instagram Story.” Click on the advised option of “Instagram Story” when it appears.
3. Begin adding elements to the blank template.
4. To change the main color, choose the rainbow icon in the upper left corner.
5. When you have official brand colors, for instance, you could add the exact Hex Code to match it perfectly.
6. After getting your background color, it’s time to add other elements. You could add the writing (e.g.., for an inspirational quote), shapes, and other photos. Canva has tons of free elements like grids, shapes, lines, pictures, icons, gradients, and charts.
To make this phone background for my cat’s Instagram account, I posted an image, added a text box, and then used heart icons and a dotted line—all available at no cost in Canva (and done in under 10 minutes.)
7. When you are happy with how your phone wallpaper looks, click on the “Download” button.
8. After you download your Story wallpaper to your computer, send it to your phone and then add to your Instagram Stories as you usually would.
Mobile app:
1. Download the Canva app when you have not already. It is free for both Apple and Android users.
2. Open the app, and use the search bar to search for ‘Instagram Story’.
3. Click on on the ‘Blank’ template.
4. Tap to change the background, and then follow Canvas clear directions to edit other aspects and customize to your heart’s desire.
5. When you are finished designing, click on the blue arrow in the high right corner and save your picture. You are now able to share with your followers!
