Canva is a graphic design platform anyone can use for personal consumption or business strategies. It allows you to create stunning visual content using different tools for editing. It’s such a useful and helpful app that it now has 15 million users.

Yes, you can also use it to create posts on social media. Using Canva for Instagram to make visual content is easy thanks to its user-friendliness. It’s made for amateur and professional users alike.

However, it still requires even a bit of your creative input so you can maximize it. Learn how you can use it for your Instagram account, whether for personal use or your brand, below.

1. Create Your Style

First, you have to decide on the style of your Instagram feed. It must match your personality, views, and such.

If you’re finding it hard to develop your visual style, take a look at your logo (if you already have one). Develop your color palette by picking colors from it. This helps in building brand consistency.

If you don’t have one yet, look at Pinterest and other Instagram accounts for inspiration. Create a board and put everything you like visually on it.

In the end, observe what made you choose those images. Find some common grounds and develop your own style from there.

2. Plan Your Content Schedule

It helps to have content for a week or even a month in advance. That way, you don’t have to scramble for new content to post each day.

This especially helps when you need to post about an event or anything time-sensitive. You don’t want to find out you forgot to post about your online workshop the next day, do you?

Planning your content schedule also helps in curating stuff to post. For instance, your cat making cute poses might be a normal day for you. Yet if you know you need to post cute stuff that week, you’re going to take that chance to whip out your camera and take pictures for your Instagram.

You can then upload those pictures in Canva for editing later.

3. Browse the Photo Library

High-quality photos are a must when posting visual content, especially if you want it to go viral. The photo accompaniment must be relevant, as well.

A quality camera takes the best pictures, but thanks to the advances in modern technology, you can now capture high-quality images using only your phone. You only have to learn some tricks to make them look professional.

If you don’t have the time (or talent) to take beautiful pictures, you can look at Canva’s built-in photo library. Use the search bar to easily find what you’re looking for. The app has an extensive collection of pictures with different varieties of subjects and themes.

To use the photo, you only have to drag and drop it to the canvas. You can then edit the image by adding a filter, manipulating the lighting, and such.

4. Explore Different Typography Options

You now have an image to capture the viewer’s attention and provide a layer of interest. Now, what?

Now, you have to provide some details. Adding text via Canva for an Instagram post, Stories, and such is easy. You only have to click the text tab in the side panel and a text box will appear on the project.

Click on the text box to edit the text, and then this is where the fun begins. The text toolbar allows you to change the color, adjust the spacing, and browse for different font styles.

You can explore all the different typography options in the app to see which one works best. It has to convey the right emotions to the audience, and it must match with the imagery you use.

Canva even has a tool that suggests good font combinations. You pick a starter font and it will suggest what other font goes well with it.

5. Use Canva Templates

Do you need a little inspiration for your project? Or do you need to create a quick visual presentation?

Browse through Canva’s professional templates for different uses. You can search for a keyword, or you can explore the categories and subcategories.

The app has thousands of templates of different themes and sizes. Need a specific size? Choose among the optimized ones for banners, headers, and so on. Using Canva for Instagram stories is easy because of this option.

Don’t worry; this isn’t cheating. Using a template gives you a boost at the start since starting from scratch can be the hardest thing about creating a visual post.

You can then make the post yours by changing the details and adding to it. Make it reflect your brand’s colors, put your logo, and get creative. Most of the time, you’ll get your creative juices flowing once you overcome the hurdle of starting.

6. Learn More with Canva Courses

As you explore Canva’s features, you’ll get a better feel of how it works and how you can use it to create beautiful content for Instagram. Experience, after all, is the best teacher. Still, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look for other learning sources.

The good news is that the app itself offers tutorials and courses via the Canva Design School. It aims to improve the world’s visual literacy via free, interactive videos.

It teaches you how to utilize Canva’s features to create better visuals. The tutorials range from a quick overview of using Canva for Instagram.

You can also look at all the different ways to use Canva. You can learn how to use it for education, presenting, and such.

Beyond the features of Canva, the school also teaches you some other important stuff. You can learn about branding, social media mastery, graphic design basics, and more.

Get More Tips on Using Canva for Instagram

Using Canva for Instagram might be all you need to create high-impact visual content. With the right planning, you can craft amazing pieces to propel your visual marketing range through the roof.

Still, it helps to learn more about using it and creating content. Don't hesitate to explore our other guides, like this one showcasing how to use social media for successful promotion and more!