Consumer expectations for engaging, impactful and authentic content on social media is at an all-time high. This means businesses are constantly fighting to stand out in the feed, and the secret to stopping your audience mid-scroll has only become more elusive.

It’s a given that social media is a powerful tool for building brand equity and engaging with potential customers, but how can you do this without relying on big names and big budgets? We’ve picked out 5 businesses that are standing out with clever, effective and eye-catching approaches to social media content.

1. Make videos work in your favour, like Bellroy

(Australia)

Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

By Jimmy Gleeson for Bellroy

Creative Cloud apps used: Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro

Good design is at the core of Australian accessory brand Bellroy’s business, and their style and unique aesthetic is reflected in all their social media content. On their Pinterest and Instagram profiles, you’ll see sleek images that emphasise the practicality of their wide product range. But we’re most impressed with their YouTube channel, which is a treasure trove of stop motion videos and animated illustrations that showcase the features of each of their products, as well as various ways to style and use them. Each is bite-sized for easy viewing and maintains a consistently minimal and charming style.

2. Create impact with animations, like Tiong Bahru Bakery

(Singapore)

Instagram

Creative Cloud apps used: Photoshop, Illustrator

From its inception, Tiong Bahru Bakery has always understood the importance in creating a clear and fun brand aesthetic to reflect the style of its stores. While most of cafes and bakeries bank on stylish food photos, Tiong Bahru Bakery differentiates itself through short but quirky and bold pop art-inspired video animations and graphic design with designs that speak to the colourful personality of the bakery and all its tasty creations.

3. Let your content show off your brand’s personality, like Oxfordcaps

(Singapore)

Instagram

Oxfordcaps is Asia’s first and largest technology-enabled student housing community. It clearly understands the brand of humour that appeals most to its youth audience and employs it heavily in all its content. We love the quirky college phrases combined with video animations that closely reflect the brand’s style.

4. Tap on illustrations to engage your audience, like Good Pair Days

(Australia)

Instagram | YouTube

By Universal Favourite for Good Pair Days

Creative Cloud apps used: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Lightroom and Acrobat

In a highly competitive wine market, creating a strong brand personality is critical for wine retailer Good Pair Days, which relies on subscriptions and return customers. Their social platforms, especially YouTube and Instagram, excite and entice with quirky illustrations, bold photography and video, tied together with abundant clever use of puns and a visually pleasing pastel palette.

5. Keep your brand’s visual identity consistent, like TenX

(Singapore)

Twitter | LinkedIn

Fintech company TenX is all about simplifying the global payments process for cryptocurrency. The brand’s social channels combine simplicity with innovative technology as design themes, to create a consistently polished and sleek visual identity that speaks to a high-end, tech-savvy audience.

Feeling inspired? Looking for ideas? Motivated to show your own cool work? Head over to Behance and immerse yourself in more creative work.

If you’re ready to take the first step, try creating social graphics in Adobe Spark or videos on Adobe Premiere Rush. For experienced creatives, you’ll find more new ideas on the Adobe Live site or from Creative Cloud tutorials.

All the creative apps and productivity features your business needs are in Creative Cloud for teams, the all-in-one creative platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses.