How Canva changed Instagram and online business forever
Canva and Instagram are a match made in heaven.
Canva, a graphic design platform for everyone, is the perfect complement to Instagram’s content-pushing machine. Canva has realized its mission to empower everyday people with graphic design capabilities — capabilities that simply weren’t accessible before.
For content creators, it’s clear how Instagram has informed Canva’s user experience. Following Instagram’s lead, Canva has made it easy to directly post onto the social media platform. It even has virality-focused capabilities geared towards the future vision of Meta, such as embedding memes, video editing, and animation.
But, has Canva changed Instagram?
We believe so. Canva’s impact on the social media giant is more than you think. And this outsized impact has likely changed the online business world forever.
Here are three ways Canva has completely transformed our Instagram experience.
1. Canva helped establish Instagram as a business hub.
From 2019 to 2022, we’ve seen a huge shift in how Instagram is used, particularly for small businesses.
Big brands have always had their stake in the Instagram game. But, with the arrival of Canva, the barrier-to-entry to having a well-designed brand has dropped significantly. Brands no longer need teams who are trained in difficult and expensive design software (like Adobe) — they can just remix a pre-designed Canva template.
As a result, therapists, coffee shops, yoga studios, hairdressers, freelancers, bartenders, realtors, dentists, and even dog-walkers see an opportunity to build an Instagram presence with Canva.
With Canva-fueled content, Instagram has mixed work with pleasure, evolving into a more entertaining and industry-inclusive LinkedIn.
Thousands of global companies are built on Instagram every year. For many, Instagram has become a replacement for traditional business “must-haves” — websites, traditional online marketing, market research, emails, CRMs, lead generators, and brick-and-mortar storefronts — in many ways thanks to Canva.
2. Canva raised the stakes for (personal) brands.
Canva-created Instagram content has upped the stakes for brands around the world. For better and for worse, there’s increased competition to visually differentiate on social media.
The online persona brand, a relatively new but deeply empowering phenomenon, has been bolstered by Canva-crafted designs.
Brands have growing pressure to be “omni-platform” — meaning, having a social media presence across top platforms (e.g. Instagram, TikTok, and, YouTube). With Canva’s compatibility with audio, video, and animation effects, brand content can be repurposed across all channels.
Thus, Canva helped accelerate Instagram into a truly multi-media platform.
3. Canva has evolved the SMM industry.
The “social media manager” (SMM) role has changed considerably since 2019. In 2019, SMMs were akin to on-site photographers with excellent copyrighting skills. Now, with Canva, SMMs increasingly resemble designers.
Social media marketing, as an industry, has been pushed further and further into the realm of graphic design. So, what does the social media team of 2022 look like? A configuration of designers, online marketers, brand strategists, videographers, pop-culture trackers, and creative directors.
What does this mean for your brand?
In 2022, it’s increasingly important to have a social media presence, especially on Instagram. But, it’s tough to navigate if you’re new to this world.
Recently, we debuted our Canva templates package that’s adaptable to any industry and any brand. If you’re new to graphic design (on Canva or otherwise!), we’ve got you covered with an included self-paced e-course led by yours truly. Message me personally if you’re interested in exploring this solution for your brand.
