Advanced Elements - Social

Create and customize powerful, branded displays with social content in Tagboard's low/no-code graphic engine.

Adding social content into your Tagboard Graphics is a powerful way to highlight breaking news, viewer reactions, and generate conversations! In an effort to make the design customization process more streamlined, you and your team now have a low/no-code solution to build and customize your social displays. All from the Graphics Workspace in a fraction of the time.


This article serves as a how-to guide for putting together single display social posts within Graphics.

Questions? Please visit the FAQs prior to contacting your CSM or Support for assistance.

TL;DR

Prefer written instructions? Click here to advance to the written step by step guide!

Adding & Customizing Social Content in Graphics

Step 1

Go to your Graphics Workspace. You can:

1. Open an existing graphic by clicking in the row of the previously created graphic
2. Create a new graphic via a “Blank Canvas”
3. Create a new graphic via the “Upload PSD file” option
4. Create a new graphic via “Use Template”

Step 2

1. Select ‘Advanced Elements’ [under “Elements”] on the left sidebar.
2. Click on "Social" to add the social data connector.
3. Lastly, choose the "Full Screen’" option.

Note: 

"Full Screen" is referencing a single social post. You can make a lower third, tombstone, and other designs out of this option.

Step 3

You will then get the prompt to select the content type to display. Select the way you would like your social content to display. Then click “Add Template” in the bottom right corner.

Note: 

The social content that is curated and featured within your Boards needs to match the content type selected. If the featured content does not match the content type for the graphic, then you may see gaps in your displays.

For example, if you feature a social post with text only and display it in a graphic built with the content type "Text and Media", there will be an empty space where the image and/or video should be.

Step 4

After completing steps 1 - 3, above, you can customize the position, font style/color, animations, and many other elements. Once you’ve selected a layer you will see a sidebar appear on the right side of your Graphics builder. Here is where you can make additional adjustments.

Note:

In order to select multiple layers, hold down the Shift key then click each additional layer.

Additional Resources

Preview Boards

See what your featured social content would look like within your social graphic template by selecting an applicable tagboard where content has been curated. If you are unfamiliar with the process of curating social content, then take a look at our articles regarding social content curation within the Social section of our Help Center. 

Below is the process for previewing your own featured social content:

1. Select the “Social: Full Screen” layer on the left sidebar of your Graphic Templates builder
2. Click the “Select a Tagboard” menu in the right sidebar, which will drop down a list of your tagboards
3. Navigate through your featured social content using the “next” and “previous” buttons
4. If necessary, reformat your layout based on how your featured social content displays via the preview

Note: 

“Mute Preview” mutes the volume on any videos in your Tagboard. 

If you would like to preview with the sound, uncheck this setting.

Apply Social Display Settings

Once you have finished creating your graphic, apply social display settings. These are found within the right sidebar after selecting the “Social: Full Screen” layer from the left sidebar.

The display settings includes:

Hashtag, Mentions, & Link Styling

• • Hashtags, mentions, and other special text content have historically been one color. Now, those colors can be adjusted on an individual basis if you uncheck "Sync All Colors". No more need to request custom design work to edit the color of these text items. 

Production Settings

• • Cycle Speed = the time a social post is displayed live when auto-advance is turned on.

Animations

• • How the social content populates on and off screen as well as how it transitions between social posts. Animations can be applied to a group and to individual layers. 
    • NOTE: Animation applied to the group level takes priority over individual layer animation.  

Going Live with a Social Graphic

Now that you’ve (1) added social content into your graphic, (2) customized the design and layout, and (3) adjusted the settings... it’s time to display them on screen. Once this social graphic has been saved it will appear in your Asset Library in any production in Producer. You can drag and drop that content into your playlist and display it on your output.

Unfamiliar with Producer? Visit “Producer 101”.

 

❓ Frequently Asked Questions ❓

Can the social content be dynamically displayed?

No. Displays built in Tagboard Graphics are not dynamic. Therefore, the social content that is curated and featured into your Boards must match the content type selected and built in Tagboard Graphics.

For example, if you feature a social post with text only and display it in a graphic built with the content type "Text and Media", there will be an empty space where the image and/or video should be.

Can I make the social network icon a different color than the options available?

No. This is due to the brand requirements of the social network.

Why can’t I delete or hide the social network icon or the handle?

This is a requirement of the social networks. Attribution to both the social network and the original content creator is required,

Can I add more than one social element into my graphic?

Not at this time. Once you select "Social" from the "Advanced Elements" menu, you will not be allowed to add it again to your graphic. The option will be disabled. There are complexities to the behaviors when displaying multiple social posts in one graphic, especially when it comes to the interactions between the posts.

Can I display multiple graphics with social in a graphic group in Producer?

Not at this time. You will only be able to show one of the social graphics at a time, even within the same graphic group. If there are other graphics in the graphic group, those will show alongside the social graphics.

Can I change the color of the hyperlinks in the social post?

Yes. After selecting the "Social: Full Screen" layer [located on the left sidebar] there is a section that appears on the right sidebar labeled "Hashtag, Mentions, & Link Styling". Within this section, you can show/hide URLs, change the colors of hashtags, mentions, and more.

Note:

All link colors are defaulted to sync, but unchecking the box allows you to change the color of each individual option.

Can I update the cycle time for social posts?

Yes! You can set the default time for the graphic in the graphic editor. This can be done under “Production Settings”, which is accessible on the right sidebar after selecting the “Social: Full Screen” layer [from the left sidebar] within your graphic. You can also update the cycle time directly in Producer.

Currently, the default time is 15 seconds.