How and Why to use Social Media Collages on PicMonkey.com

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How and Why to Use Social Media Collages on #Picmonkey somethingswanky.com

One thing I LOVE about Picmonkey (and that I haven’t seen offered anywhere else) are their ready-to-go social media collage templates.

Ok, so that’s kind ofย  a mouth full, right? “Social media collage templates.”

And if you’re like me, you hear the words “social media” and you start to cringe, or just totally check out all together.

Good news, friends! This fun feature over at Picmonkey is actually going to make your social media life EASIER! Novel thought, isn’t it?

Before I get into the “how,” let’s spend just a second on the “why” to use social media-ready collages. The answer is: presentation, presentation, presentation. It’s the same answer to every blogging question you’ll ever have: the vast majority ofย  blog readers/pinners/FB frequenters are VISUAL people. So all of your photos need to be neatly arranged, and the RIGHT SIZE in order to look their best. Picmonkey takes the guess work out of the equation! As long as you use their collage templates, you can easily create your own Facebook page cover (the banner that goes behind your profile picture), and perfectly Pinterest-sized collages.

FACEBOOK COLLAGE

Your banner on Facebook is SO important. Just like your blog header, it’s the first thing people will notice when they get to your fan page. It can be the difference between someone “liking” your page or not– I know it makes a difference for me when I visit pages! And, at the rate Facebook is going these days (promoted posts, sponsored posts, pages tabs, blah, blah, blah), we’re losing precious page visibility as it is! If someone sees your page, you want it to GRAB them, and you want it to tell them everything they need to know about your site in one 3-second glance. It’s a visual description of your blog.

So here’s how to make it perfect:

Step 1: Go to Picmonkey.com and select Create a Collage:

Create a Collage #picmonkey somethingswanky.com

Step 2: Select the Facebook collage template from the toolbar:

Facebook Collage Template #picmonkey somethingswanky.com

Step 3: Add your BEST photos from your blog (I’ve also included some clip art from my header). Don’t forget that your profile picture will be covering part of the lower left hand corner of the collage, so try to choose a photo that will look okay partially covered. You may also want to consider leaving part of your collage white, so that you can add text or color to it (see step 5).

Screen Shot 2013-02-11 at 10.22.27 PM

Step 4: Save the collage and upload on to your FB page cover!

(optional) Step 5: I always like to add text to my collage, so that it resembles something more like a blog header. I think it makes it look a little more professional, and sends a clear message as to what sort of things your blog/site represents. To do this, return to the main Picmonkey page, and click on Edit a photo. Select your saved FB cover to edit.

If you didn’t leave a white space for text, use the overlays feature to create a space where text can be seen clearly (as shown below)…

Facebook cover collage using #picmonkey somethingswanky.com

Facebook cover collage using #pickmonkey somethingswanky.com

Your finished product will look something like this:

Create a FB cover using #picmonkey somethingswanky.com

PINTEREST COLLAGE

Ok, so this one took me a little while to really grasp the importance of. I’ve been making collages as the main “title” photo for my round-up posts forever. But I never really took note of how those collages translated to pinterest. They were always smaller! And, on Pinterest, small photo = less likely to get re-pinned = less traffic to my blog. Plus, when they’re small, it’s harder to read the title of the collage should you put any text on there!

Picmonkey provided an AWESOME solution. They’re Pinterest-y collage templates are the perfect size to create NOTICEABLE collages to be pinned on Pinterest!

To illustrate, take a look at this screen shot of pins from my site:

Screen Shot 2013-02-11 at 11.32.44 PM

I have a really fab contributor who did a great job with the “40 Perfect Popcorns” collage, it’s beautiful! But look at how much smaller those two pins are compared to the Red Velvet Confetti Cake Cookies pin in between! They’re almost half of the vertical size! No bueno.

So here’s how we fix that:

Step 1: Go to Picmonkey.com and select Create a Collage

Create a Collage #picmonkey somethingswanky.com

Step 2: Select the Pinterest-y collage template from the toolbar

Create a Pinterest Collage with #picmonkey www.soemthingswanky.com

Step 3: Upload photos and fill the collage (just like we did with the Facebook collage).

Step 4: Also, just like with the facebook collage, consider leaving a blank (white) area for text. I like to leave that top rectangle empty.

Step 5: Save collage. Either upload it to your post, just like you would any other photo. Or, continue to Step 6…

(optional) Step 6: Just like we did with the facebook cover collage, you can choose to add text to you collage. This is an especially good idea for round-up posts– to clearly state what exactly you are “rounding up.” It’s also always advisable to watermark your photos (especially if you’re making a collage of your OWN photos, and not a round-up collage of other bloggers’ photos).

This is a recent one I did for a Valentine’s day round-up, simply using overlays and text to create the title (and I uploaded my watermark as an overlay):

Over 50 SWEET Valentines for all of your sweet hearts โ™ฅ  #valentines #dessert #recipes

And this is what it looks like pinned:

Create a Pinterest Sized Collage in #picmonkey somethingswanky.com

Much more visible!

As a side note, you can also easily create a Google + banner using collages! Simply use the “Ducks in a Row” collage template and size it to 940 x 188 (the dimensions are at the bottom of the page).

That’s all there is to it! Stand out on your social media pages by creating AWESOME collages using Picmonkey.com!

Disclosure: I am receiving various forms of compensation as a result of my partnership with Picmonkey.com, including free Royale services. However, these opinions are 100% my own. Donโ€™t believe me? Check out some of my previous DIY design posts. Iโ€™ve been recommending these guys and their paid services for a loooooooong time, even before we establishedย  a partnership.

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22 thoughts on “How and Why to use Social Media Collages on PicMonkey.com”

  1. These are. Just. So. lovely!! Thanks so much for thie idea and for your beautiful and inspirational blog. I can’t wait to create my FB collage now :)! Keep it up w/all your cool PM tutorials!!

    Reply
  2. Thanks again, great tips and so easy to follow and execute! However…. I’ve used Picmonkey in the past and all was well but since a couple of weeks each and every time I open Picmonkey I get the blue screen. Desktop shuts down restarts.. I’m using Chrome.. Any idea ?

    Reply
    • Whoa! I’ve never seen that before! I would send in an email to picmonkey and see if they have any experience with that. They’re really great about responding to inquiries!

      Reply
  3. Thank you for sharing these tips. I upgraded to Picmonkey Royale, yesterday. I’m just learning to use the services and appreciate the guidance.

    Reply
  4. I used pic monkey to start on my blog design and started with a new background. It looks like its correct on my desktop, but not on the iPad. Do you have any thoughts on this? The numbering trick sorta worked, but now I’m thinking maybe it didn’t.

    Reply
  5. Thank you so much! I’m wondering… if you want to change the photos for your FB cover image, is there an easy way to do it without having to re-create the little banner that has your blog name each time? It was easy to do the first time, thanks to your great tutorial, but I worry that if I want to re-do it with new pictures occasionally, I will never get the colors and sizing of the banner the same each time. There is probably an easy solution to this and I just don’t know it. P.S. – thanks for the comment luv ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  6. I was making collages like this for my sisters blog/pinterest post and some of her friends told her she could get sued by the bloggers who own the images. Is this true? How can I make a collage without getting in trouble? Thanks!

    Reply
    • The problem isn’t the collage itself (for instance, all the collages in this post are my own). The only way to use somebody else’s photo without getting in trouble is to obtain permission first. And depending on how you want to use the image, many bloggers are happy to let you use their image with a link back to their site. But it’s important to ask them first and let them know how you intend to use their image ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  7. I love these tips. I am having trouble getting the pics small enough to see the website reference…did you save them straight from Pinterest or did you resize them before saving.?

    Reply

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