New feature for VK 2021 posters – adding your own backgrounds

VKontakte posters are one of the functions of the social network that allows you to create original posts in the form of an image with text overlay.

Until March 2021, only themes proposed by VK itself could be used as an image. At the end of March, it became possible to add your own backgrounds to text.

And here is the first example of such content.

In this article we will look at how to create VKontakte posters, what to write, where to get backgrounds, how to use this function, etc.

What can you write in posters?

And let's start with probably the most pressing topic that interests many social network users: what to write in a VK poster. Please note that this question can be asked not only by group and community owners, but also by ordinary users. This is because this function is also available on the account page.

Themes:

• Quotes, sayings of great people;
• Small excerpts of poetry (in this case it is necessary to remove the command “from the red line”);
• Short excerpts from books;
• Puzzles;
• Questions for the group audience or friends;
• Call to action;
• Ads;
• Congratulations;
• Drawing attention to indicate an event or information in a group.

Tricky ways to attract subscribers

Well, now we have reached the most interesting section of this article. The methods that will be described here, in my opinion, are very unusual and original. Honestly, I don’t know how effective they are, but the fact that they attract attention and force you to click on the link is a fact. So, get inspired and test them in your practice.

Continued in source

One of my favorite tricks! The advertising post provides a small part of the information, and the rest is available via the link. The user becomes curious, he goes to your public page, and if he likes your content, he will most likely subscribe to you. From my own experience I can say that this technique is very effective, because... I myself have repeatedly subscribed to pages that I ended up on from such an ad.

However, if you use this method, you need to follow an important rule - after clicking on the link, there really should be a continuation of the story. If there is no continuation (and quite a lot of public sites do this), or it is not what the user expected, then this will cause him negativity, and he will not subscribe to your page, even if you have superb content.

Continued in the source (scandalous stories)

Probably the most common type of advertisements that I see in my feed are posts of a scandalous nature with a “Continued in source” link. Such advertising arouses terribly interest among a huge number of users, and they click on the link to satisfy their curiosity. It differs from the previous point in that it relies on a person’s craving for scandalous stories, while in the previous example users are lured with useful information.

Continued in the source + funny picture

Another type of scandalous posts with continuation in the source. Only here they are accompanied by a funny picture with a call to like or repost. To understand what the point is, look at the examples below.

The first part of the post encourages us to go to public and find out the continuation of the story, but no one likes or reposts such posts, because the ending of the story is unknown. But SMM specialists figured out how to solve this issue - they simply added a second part to this post, more cool and fun, and asked users to react to it somehow. As a result, not only Vanya Urgant and the cute dog received likes and reposts, but also Lenin with terrible torture. That is, the entire advertising post received greater coverage.

Continued in the source (riddles)

We continue the series of posts with a link to the source. But this time, not scandalous stories are used as a “tempt”, but harmless puzzles and riddles. Many people like to solve riddles, especially if they are difficult and few people can solve them. Users immediately become excited and have a sense of their own uniqueness (“no one can do it, but I can do it!”), so such posts also turn out to be very effective.

Enumeration ID

In the screenshots below, the text of the advertisement lists page ids, and users get the impression that if they click on these links, they will end up on the most terrible VKontakte page or on a page that breaks the logic of girls. But in reality, this does not happen. All these ids lead to one single group.

Is there an element of deception involved here? Partly. Will people who follow the link become subscribers of your group? May be. In any case, the technique is very unusual and is worth paying attention to.

Survey

Another tricky way to get referrals to a group. At first glance, the advertising post is a survey. But as soon as you click on any of the answer options, you realize that you were simply lured to the public page. The survey itself consists of emoticons (code ⚪) and links. All links, of course, lead to the same group.

Select year of birth/age

This advertising works on a similar principle. Only here users are asked to select their year of birth or age. After a person clicks on the link, he is taken to the public page.

Just like in one of the previous paragraphs, this technique is often used together with an interesting or funny picture and a call to like or repost. Two examples of such posts:

Click on the link and you will be happy

But I myself would never use this technique, because, in my opinion, it is not entirely fair and beautiful in relation to users. But I couldn’t not include it in this review, because... it is truly original and is likely to produce good results. The gist of it is this: you provide a link to your public page and tell users that if they click on it (or subscribe to the public page), something very good or bad will happen to them. And since many people have a malleable psyche and believe in this kind of “predictions,” they prefer to do what they are asked to do in order to play it safe.

Famous person's page

The person who came up with this is just a genius! I'm sure this post received a very large number of clicks, because... Everyone is interested in what group Pavel Durov’s son created. And even those who know that Pavel does not have a son probably clicked on the link to satisfy their curiosity. I don't know how people come up with such ideas, but it's very smart and creative. Even though there is deception involved.

Shock! Sensation! Super unique method!

The only VKontakte group, a stunning secret to losing weight, a super unique method of increasing IQ, etc. All these phrases disgust content marketers because... they sound too loud and provocative, but despite this, they undoubtedly have an impact on a certain contingent of people. Therefore, this technique takes its rightful place in our review, and it’s up to you to decide whether to use it or not.

How to use VKontakte posters

To start creating a poster in VK, you need to enable this function. Outwardly, it looks like an icon in the form of a multi-colored circle in the middle with the letter A. When you hover with the mouse, a hint appears that this is a poster.

Clicking on the icon brings up a picture with the phrase Write something... Please note that the text is entered directly on the picture. All you need to do is position your mouse cursor on the text field and start typing.

VKontakte offers many template options. The templates are divided into 3 categories:

• Images
• Emotions
• Gradients.

In my opinion, the cutest templates are pictures. Their disadvantage is that they have a narrowly focused topic. These are birds, flowers, pink unicorns, palm trees, leaves, etc. Suitable for women's groups. But if this is a “business” community, it is unlikely that a Henry Ford quote can be framed as a theme that depicts unicorns. For such cases, there are classic template options in the pictures, but there are not many of them.

Templates with emoticons allow you to reflect the emotion of the message.

Gradients are intended to express thoughts where details in the form of pictures are not needed.

VK poster templates can be switched by clicking on the image to the right or left (back and forth) or through the bottom panel of the post.

Post design

When browsing the VKontakte news feed, users first of all pay attention to the visual content and, if they are interested in it, begin to read the text. This feature must be taken into account when planning advertising on this social network. How to do it? Use the following techniques:

Pictures that evoke emotions

Choose pictures that will stand out from the rest of the news in your feed and attract your attention. I hope I don't shock anyone with the following photos, but I just can't help but use them as an example! These pictures really catch your eye. And it doesn’t matter whether you are a woman or a man. Scrolling through the news feed, you will in any case linger on them and at least read the headline of the news that relates to them.

In this case, it is not at all necessary to select pictures with naked women. I just cited them as an example. Any images that stand out from the rest of the news in the feed and evoke emotions will do: laughter, anger, curiosity, pity, admiration, etc. Try opening your news and see what images your eyes catch on. I am sure that very soon you will discover a certain pattern.

Pictures depicting what the target audience dreams of

This technique is often used by various casinos, bookmakers and information businessmen. What does their target audience dream about? About earning easy money and providing yourself with a more comfortable life. That is why the images for their advertising posts in 99% of cases depict money, expensive cars, clothes and beautiful women. Think about what your target audience wants and make this frame the main “hook” of your advertising. Just don't use stock images! It's better to take your own photo (even if it's on your phone), because... it will inspire more confidence.

Bright pictures with large text

Most VKontakte pictures have either a small or medium inscription. At the same time, the colors are not always well chosen: very often the inscription merges with the background and because of this does not produce the desired effect. If you want your image to grab the attention of as many people as possible, use large lettering and good contrast with the background. Thanks to these two ingredients, your advertising will not go unnoticed.

Pictures with attention-grabbing phrases

Imagine: you are calmly scrolling through your news feed, and then bam, they say right to your forehead: “Your consciousness will not be the same!” What's your reaction? I think you'll definitely take a look at the recording to understand what its essence is and whether it's worth your attention. Try using this technique in your advertising. Come up with a phrase that will make your target audience stop scrolling their mouse wheel for at least a couple of seconds. This way, you will at least have a chance to get your main message across to her.

Six pictures with captions

Sometimes a single image is not enough to convey the desired message to your audience. In this case, you can use several at once. For example, six, as shown in the screenshot below. In my opinion, this number is optimal: in the feed, such a post looks bright and neat, plus six pictures are enough to place some attractive phrase (as in the first example) or words (as in the second). In the first image, the authors included an inspirational quote because... they advertise meditation courses, and on the second - the main advantages of the product, plus information that the customer will receive a gift when ordering. In both cases, the space in the pictures was used correctly.

By the way, the number of pictures can be increased or decreased if desired. To do this, you need to create one image and visually divide it into the required number of cells. Here, for example, is what a headphone advertisement would look like if there were 9 cells in the photo:

An arrow that attracts attention

Another cool technique that VKontakte SMM marketers use is images with arrows that point to the main advertising post. Every time I see advertisements like this, I can't help but look at the post they point to. Therefore, I can say with confidence that this is a very effective method for attracting attention!

Several links in a row

When I first saw an advertisement with several identical links, I didn’t understand why it was done. I clicked on each of them, made sure that they led to the same page, and then it dawned on me! Firstly, several links in a row catch the eye (which is why I paid attention to them), and secondly, they arouse curiosity and, accordingly, receive more clicks. Would you have thought of such a technique on your own? I'm definitely not

Emoticons and symbols

Using emojis and symbols, you can direct users' attention to the most important parts of your advertising message and make your post look more beautiful and professional. Exclamation marks, arrows, index fingers - all this attracts attention. The “gift” emoji immediately tells users that something nice is waiting for them. When we see “palm tree” and “sun”, we immediately understand that we are talking about relaxation and something pleasant. Use emoticons and symbols in your ad, but don't overdo it. If there are too many emoticons and they do not fit the meaning of your message, you will achieve the exact opposite effect.

Where can I get emoticons and symbols for the VKontakte social network?

I have three favorite places that I constantly use in my work. Here they are:

• Piliapp . The main advantage of this service is that all emoticons in it are combined into groups, and they are very easy to copy. But what I like most is not even this, but the fact that the service remembers your last used emoticons. And this, as it turned out, is a very, very convenient function.

• Emoji Vk . Another catalog with emoticons for VKontakte. There is a section “Popular” and “Current” (to be honest, I don’t know what the difference is), and opposite each smiley there is a symbol that represents it.

To use an emoticon, you need to copy the code, remove the underscore from it and paste it into your post.

• Catalog of symbols . But here only symbols are collected (if anyone doesn’t know, they differ from emoticons in that they are black and white). The catalog is good, there is a convenient breakdown by topic. That's probably all.

Gifs

Recently, all GIFs in the VKontakte news feed are played automatically (unless, of course, the user has unchecked the corresponding box in the settings), and this gives marketers another opportunity to effectively interact with the audience. After all, what exactly is a gif? This is a piece of some video translated into another format. And video has always been more effective than text. Especially if it starts playing automatically.

Video

VKontakte videos do not play automatically, but this does not mean that you should always give preference to GIFs. Video has a number of advantages over gifs: with video you can present information in a better and more detailed form - it can contain words and music, have a longer duration and higher image quality. Also, with the help of it you can show the charisma of the speaker or explain some complex concept. This is unlikely to be possible with an animated image.

Look at the examples above. A reality show is advertised on the left, so marketers simply attached one of its episodes to the post, because... this is quite enough to interest the target audience. And in the picture on the right is the author’s weight loss program, and in the video, of course, the creator of the course speaks. By the way, I really liked this ad. After I clicked on the link, I ended up on this girl’s page, and the first thing I saw was an offer to read the reviews of the participants in her program (all the reviews were positive and, as it seemed to me, quite real).

Before-after image

Show users how their lives will improve after they complete your target action (subscribe to your newsletter, buy a product, order a service, etc.). Use a “before-after” image, as public pages dedicated to weight loss or bodybuilding often do.

By the way, this method is suitable not only for pages related to working on the body, but also for many other topics. You can show how the user’s life will improve after he subscribes to your public page, takes a master class, or uses your product or service. In general, you can come up with anything you want. There would be a desire

Adding a background

As I already wrote at the beginning of the article, in March of this year it became possible for VKontakte posters to use their own backgrounds rather than templates. These can be ordinary pictures from the Internet or processed in special programs such as Photoshop.

The second option is preferable, because here you can prepare your own unique template as a business card for your community or group. Typically, such templates feature a single design with the addition of special elements, for example, the name of the group, its address, logo, etc.

The VK community “Business Quotebook” came up with the following option - this is a picture with the attributes of a business topic and address in the form of a text string.

To add a new background for a poster, just click on the link of the same name.

The next window allows you to upload an image in jpg format and size 1440x1080 px. Those. Poster size in VK 1440×1080 px.

As you may have guessed, you can use any pictures, but there are 2 conditions - format and size.

Surprisingly for me, users are concerned with the following question: are there free posters on VK or not? This feature is completely free for everyone. Moreover, each of us has the opportunity to download the background we like from any VKontakte group. The only drawback is that the copied template will contain the author of the background and a link to this community.

When you add a background, a text color scale appears. And it allows you to add contrasting text that will stand out in the image. You can use not only the suggested color options, but also copy the color you like from the screen using an eyedropper.

The finished poster is published on VK, like other posts, via the Send button.

What is different about publishing a new post in a group?

All the same tools are available here. You can pin a post, add content and emoticons. But there is no option to add a product to this list. This is done differently in communities.

The main difference is that you can add a signature and advertising tag to the post. If this is a group, then it is possible to post on its behalf. There is no such function on public pages. If you need it, you can transfer the public page to the VKontakte group.

If we want to publish via phone, then the only available functions will be to select the author of the publication.

Selecting the author of the publication

Don't forget that you can always pin a post to your wall so that it appears at the top of your list of posts. And you can offer your posts in the group. If the administration approves them, they will appear among the available content.

The nuances of adding posters to a personal account or to groups

So, we figured out how to make a poster on VK. This function, like when publishing other VKontakte content, has additional settings.

In communities, the “gear” located next to the Send button is responsible for this.

You can turn off comments for a finished post, add a signature, turn off notifications, or indicate that this is an advertisement.

The delayed publication function also works here.

In your personal VKontakte account on the wall when adding a poster, you can turn off comments and notifications. And here there are 2 more settings: show the finished poster to everyone or only to friends.

How to create a Poster in VK

To check the performance and functioning of the poster for VK, you only need to take a few steps:

1. Switch to the wall of your group (community) or the wall of your page. In the form for adding a record (located in the right corner), you need to click on the poster icon (it is shown as the letter A)
2. After that, just select a color tone (background image) and add text.

A few points to note:

• Now the developers have added only 3 types of image templates to the function - these are emotions, gradients and simple pictures.
• In order to change the type of template, just click on the corresponding button located at the top of the work area. There is a button below to change the subtype.
• Besides the text design and pictures, the user will not be able to change or attach anything else to the poster.
• To the great regret of many users, at the moment the creators have not introduced a delayed recording function into their brainchild.

Following these simple steps will help you create your own text product in VK Poster in just a few minutes and show it to your friends or all users of the social network. This is possible thanks to a few simple settings. In particular, there is a “ban on commenting”, “disable notifications” and “private showing only for friends” setting. All three options can be toggled, and the poster itself can be changed, deleted or edited at any time after it is published. In this regard, the tool behaves like a standard post.