Graphic Design using PowerPoint – how to use PowerPoint for Social Media Design

Every day I need to create graphic content for my blogs, websites, social media and a good lot for my freelancing services as well. I was always looking to find an easier and faster alternative to Photoshop or Illustrator (Adobe products). That is when I first discovered graphic design using PowerPoint.

I say “discover” because it was always there, but I never saw it properly. And now that I see, I can feel the immense power hidden in that software. It can ‘really’ give a new dimension to the graphic designing that you do on a regular basis. And if you a beginner, then this tool can give you much more than basic support.

If graphic design interests you and you feel eager to know how you can create quick graphic content using PowerPoint for your social media and other usages, please read on. This article is just for you.

PowerPoint for presentations

To tell the truth, we do not look at PowerPoint as a graphic designing tool. We use PowerPoint only for presentations. Using transitions and animations on texts and images are all that we do on PowerPoint. Those who can do these effectively are satisfied and consider themselves masters – which is not totally wrong, though.

Microsoft PowerPoint is made to create presentations, and if you can create awesome presentations using that tool, you are awesome, no doubt.

But there is a whole lot of designing that we can do in PowerPoint, which even the masters should not overlook.

After I started a graphic design using PowerPoint, my life has become much easier than earlier. Not only I could create awesome designs with less designing knowledge, but also, I could create them quickly. PowerPoint made my designs cost-effective and enhanced my productivity.

Comparison between PowerPoint and Photoshop

Well, these two are different kinds of software and we cannot compare them on the same page. PowerPoint and Photoshop are distinctively dissimilar from each other in usage and concept. It will be very foolish to compare the two software.

Photoshop can create awesome graphics and do advanced photo manipulation, which you cannot even think of doing on PowerPoint.

Having said so, PowerPoint can do a lot too. If you know the various features and how to use them properly, PowerPoint can create awesome graphics content in quick time, with sufficient accuracy and awesomeness to attract, affect and mesmerize your audience.

PowerPoint for Social Media

Graphic design using PowerPoint is much effective when you use it for your social media. So, how to use PowerPoint for Social Media Designs?

Social media does not need very high-resolution graphics. Social media does not need a lot of image manipulation. Social media does not need you to “create” a lot of graphic elements too. You can “take” existing images and manipulate them a little to create memes and posts on social media.

PowerPoint lets you do most of that and in a much effective way. You can create memes and graffiti much quickly on PowerPoint, if you compare with any other software, provided you know how to use the various features of the tool.

Now, do not get confused by the statement where I said you do not need to create a lot of graphic elements for your social media. At times you need to create a few elements and bring them together on your design to create the masterpiece for your social media pages. PowerPoint can create a hell lot of these elements too. You will be amazed!

What all can PowerPoint create?

You can design a plethora of various graphic content using PowerPoint. PowerPoint can create Logos, banners, flyers, brochures, visiting cards, printable posters, calendars and all other similar kinds of printable content. You can even design book covers and interiors using PowerPoint.

If you are looking for social media content, you can create cover images, banners, ads, profile images, memes and graffiti of various kinds on PowerPoint. You can also create entire eBooks using PowerPoint.

If you take a look around my blog, I used PowerPoint for most of the graphic content that you see. PowerPoint created almost all of what I post on my Facebook Page or other social media pages. I also have gigs on Fiverr where I create deliverables on PowerPoint.

For me and my freelancing career, PowerPoint has contributed a lot. I cannot thank enough.

How to learn Graphic Design using PowerPoint?

So, what did I do to give back? I created a course, and it is live on Udemy for last few months.

The name of the course? Yeah, you guessed it!

Graphic Design using PowerPoint | Beginner to Professional

This course is intended to talk about the various amazing things that you can do on PowerPoint as far as graphics designing is concerned. I have put in a lot of efforts in creating this course because I believe that just by using PowerPoint properly, one can create a regular source of earning online.

You can create a lot of various gigs on Fiverr or other freelancing marketplaces purely based on PowerPoint. From graphic designing to PowerPoint presentations to animations and even intro or promo videos on PowerPoint – all these are awesome options that you can avail to create gigs.

You can sell these services online and earn money on a regular basis. However, for that, you must learn graphic design using PowerPoint. My course on Udemy provides you an awesome platform to get started.

Please check the course description and go through the various free preview videos to know more about the course and if you like the content, please feel free to enroll to the course.

And yes, for you, my reader here, I have a SPECIAL COUPON which will reduce the course fee to $10. Yes, you can get the entire course on Udemy for just $10 if you use my free coupon. That is only for my readers here on my blog.

When you are on the course page, please use the coupon TIF.GDP.SUPER10 to enroll or simply click here. You will be able to take the $160 course for $10. That is a gift and a promotion that I am running for my readers. You are also free to enroll without using this coupon if you click here.

Take the course. I keep adding new lectures and hands-on tutorials now and then.

Conclusion

I hope you are now clear why I was promoting PowerPoint so much. It can kick-start your freelancing career. If you have already started, or you are doing something else where you need to create graphics content on a daily basis, PowerPoint is going to be your best friend.

Here in this article, it is not possible to show any hands-on demonstration of all that PowerPoint can do. I would suggest you head out to my YouTube channel and check a few videos that I have there specifically on graphic design using PowerPoint. Those will surely help.

You can also check the preview videos of my course, which are again, mostly available on my YouTube channel. Feel free to check whichever you like. And then, if you want to learn more, enroll to the course. I will make some money if you do.

That’s all I have in this article. I hope you liked the content. Do let me know in your comments. Also, please feel free to ask if you have any questions regarding graphic design using PowerPoint. I will try my best to answer your queries.

Thanks for reading this article. I will be back with another one next week. Have a great one!

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You may also want to check out our YouTube Channel, where we post videos with various freelancing tips and tricks, which can definitely boost your freelancing career and business! The Channel name is The Indian Freelancer and can be accessed here: www.YouTube.com/TheIndianFreelancer.

Thanks a lot,
The Indian Freelancer
Let's Learn and Grow Together!

Amazon Influencer Program – what you should know and my Exclusive Store

Amazon started its Influencer Program a while ago, and last week, I registered for it. I have created a store (Buddhir Dhenkir Dokan) where I have listed products which I feel will be excellent for my audience, friends, and family. It would be best if you had a Social Media page with a huge following to qualify for Amazon Influencer Program and create such a store of your own. 

In this article, I am going to talk about all that you should know about Amazon Influencer Program – how to qualify, how to get started, etc. I will also take you to my store for a walk through and tell a few things that I like about this program. If this sounds interesting and you want to know about this, then please read on.

What is Amazon Influencer Program?

Amazon Influencer Program selects influencers and allows the participant to promote various products of their choice on their Social Media pages. 

Now, who are these influencers? Influencers are regular users of social media who have a big following on any of their social media pages – Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc. These are the people whom people subscribe to or follow on these social media platforms. These people are called influencers because they can influence the buying decisions of their followers or subscribers.

Amazon provides the participants with their vanity URL, with the same name as their qualifying social media page, where they can recommend products available on Amazon. In this way, these influencers promote Amazon’s products to their followers. In return, Amazon would pay some commission to these influencers.

The commission paid is similar to that in the Amazon Associates Program, which is nothing but Amazon’s affiliate program. However, the advantage to the participant here is that now, with the custom vanity URL, he or she can send the followers to one single page on the internet where all the recommended products are listed.

I feel this will also bring along credibility to the participant or the influencer. Followers, fans, and subscribers would know that this program is not available to everyone. Hence, whoever can qualify for it would be someone who has that knowledge or followership on social media.

How does the Amazon Influencer Program work?

This part is straightforward. For the participant, there are only two steps. First, add products you care about and recommend to your Idea Lists – or sections on your store. Second, share that store, or that exclusive vanity URL with your subscribers or followers and promote.

When someone buys from your store, you get paid similar to that of Amazon’s affiliate program. Now, you will have one particular link to send all your traffic to and generate affiliate income!

How is this different from Amazon Associates?

Now, this is a good question if you are asking. There are a couple of visible differences between the Amazon Influencer Program and Amazon Associates Program. 

In this new one, you get an exclusive vanity URL for your store where you list your products. You do not have to use Hyperlinks to send your subscribers to your products.

Secondly, this would be your 'own page' on Amazon. As if you have opened a new shop in the marketplace or shopping mall, called Amazon.

Still, you are not selling products directly, as in drop-shipping but you are only redirecting your traffic to the actual sellers on Amazon.

The influencer program gives the participant exclusivity, and I guess that is the most significant difference.

Who qualifies for this Amazon Influencer Program?

It is open to everyone who has a good following online, to tell an orange and orange. Presently, Amazon is looking for your followership or subscriber count on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. There is no particular number as such – at least I did not find any – but I guess it is based purely on the kind of content that you create and relevancy of that content with products available on Amazon.

If you have a Social Media page with a good number of followers, you may try applying for it (CLICK HERE) and check if you are eligible. I guess this is the only way to find out.

Select the account which has the most substantial following while applying. You will need to login to that account to provide authentication. If you choose your Twitter or your YouTube channel, then you can get approval instantaneously, in real-time. However, if you are applying through your Facebook or Instagram accounts, it might take up to 5 days for approval.

This process is the current system, but as things evolve, even this system may change shortly. So, if you try and find that you do not qualify, don’t worry too. Keep an eye on the program page and look for the latest updates.

How do I get started with Amazon Influencer Program?

It all depends on the eligibility as of now. Once you qualify, you will get a vanity URL which will look like Amazon.in/shop/YourHandle. I have used my YouTube channel, and hence, I got my channel name on it like that. It can be your profile name too if you choose a different social media page.

How to create your Store?

Once you are logged in to your account after qualification, you will have to update your information and create a new ad channel handle with Amazon, if you do not already have an Associates handle. You can choose existing or create a new. 

After that, you will get a simple page, where you will have to create or edit your storefront. At the storefront, you will update your store name or Page Title and Page Tagline, which shows below the title on your store on Amazon. 

You may want to add a store profile image and a cover image. The later is not mandatory. Image upload guidelines for Amazon Influencer Program tell that the profile image must meet the following guidelines:

• Minimum width:105px
• Supported file types: .jpg, .jpeg, .png, or .bmp
• Maximum file size: 5mb
• Greater than 72dpi

Once you are in your store, you can click on “Create an Idea List.” Here is where you create lists of products that you want to recommend or promote. These lists are groups of products. 

You can enter a List Name and an optional List Description in the next window. There is a limit of 140 characters for the List Name and 600 characters for the List Description. I will tell you what I did here. I have written an excellent and lengthy description of all my lists. I am not sure now, but it may help with SEO later on, as it develops. Also, my list names are all “call to action” names, like “Buy a Self-Help book.”

Now, hit the Create button to create the blank list. It will be empty because there are no products added to the list as of now. You will add the products or the items next.

Either you can write the name of the specific product that you want to add in the search bar and hit enter or click on search, or search for a category and add products from that category.

To add from the list that pops up, click on the plus (+) sign on the top left corner of the product that you like. Try different keywords in the search bar to find various types of the same product. Once you have added sufficient product for the list, you can close the list using the cross on the top and done! Repeat this process if you want to add more items. 

Also, you can delete items from the list by clicking on the cross on the top left of each item listing. Additionally, you may write something about each item by clicking on the comment option on the top right corner. Add a comment about a specific item, if you want to mention something specific.

This process is pretty much the system that I have seen, learned and followed as of now. You can repeat the same method to create multiple Idea Lists, as I have already done on my store.

If you want to delete an Idea List, you need to click open it and edit the description by clicking on the pencil. Then, in the next pop up you will see the option of deleting the list at the bottom. Confirm the query to delete the list.

Where to go to know more about Amazon Influencer Program?

Well, if you have questions left, you can ask me in your comments. I will try to answer them as much as I can. Still, if you want to know more about the program, you can visit their Frequently Asked Questions page and check out the detailed answers that they have provided. For even more queries, probably you can reach out to Amazon’s customer support.

My Store

Here is my store on Amazon which has all the products that I use, like and would recommend. Please take a look at Buddhir Dhenkir Dokan.

That is all I had to talk about Amazon Influencer Program. I have told everything that I know about the program. I will share more about it in the future, as and when the program evolves. As of now, please understand that this is an extension of the Amazon Associates Program, with the difference that you are awarded exclusivity through your 'own page' or store on Amazon. 

I loved this concept. What are your thoughts on this? Please do let me know in your comments. Also, do you think this should be open to everyone and not only the influencers? Do tell me about that as well. I will be pleased to read your comments.

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Thanks for reading this post. I hope you liked it. If you did, please do not forget to subscribe to us.

You may also want to check out our YouTube Channel, where we post videos with various freelancing tips and tricks, which can definitely boost your freelancing career and business! The Channel name is The Indian Freelancer and can be accessed here: www.YouTube.com/TheIndianFreelancer.

Thanks a lot,
The Indian Freelancer
Let's Learn and Grow Together!