Social media templates in Canva

Using social media templates in Canva

Canva is a web-based design platform with free and paid versions. The free version is sufficient for working with RLadies+ social media templates. You need a free account and an internet connection. Google Chrome is recommended — Safari has known compatibility issues.

Templates are also available in the RLadies+ Canva workspace. See the Social media management guide for how templates are organised and posting workflows.

Info

The social media templates follow the RLadies+ branding guidelines. Do not change the fonts or colours of the elements, or add new elements (unless adding logos) to maintain brand consistency.

The Canva interface

When you sign in, the Canva homepage shows categories like Presentation, Social media, Video, and Print.

The Canva homepage showing the design prompt, Templates tab, and category icons for Presentation, Social media, Video, and Print
The Canva homepage

Once inside a template, the editor shows a sidebar with tools (Design, Elements, Text) and a canvas area with your template pages.

The Canva editor with the Elements panel open, showing an RLadies+ social media template with placeholder text and the logo
The Canva editor interface with an RLadies+ template

Available formats

Templates come in various dimensions for different platforms:

  • Social media posts: 1:1 (square), 4:5, 9:16, and 16:9 formats
  • Banners/covers: 3:1, 4:1, and 16:9 formats

Accessing templates

  1. Click the provided template link
  2. Select View Template
  3. Click Open in Editor to create an editable copy in your Canva account

Two side-by-side screens: the shared template page with the View Template button (step 1), and the confirmation dialog with the Open in Editor button (step 2)
Accessing the shared RLadies+ template in Canva

Template layout

Each template page has pre-formatted placeholders for text and images. The arrows below show where to find each editable region.

Annotated RLadies+ social media template showing text placeholders on the left and the image placeholder on the right
Template layout with text and image placeholders

Customising content

Text

Click a text placeholder and type your content. Use bold for emphasis only. Avoid italics, underlines, or all-caps for accessibility.

Images

Browse Canva’s photo library via Elements > Photos in the sidebar, or drag images from your computer directly into placeholders.

The Canva editor with the Elements panel showing Photos (step 1) and the template with the Photos category highlighted (step 2)
Finding photos in the Elements panel

An RLadies+ template with a group photo inserted into the image placeholder
A photo inserted into the template placeholder

Use the Crop tool to adjust positioning. Images should fill the entire placeholder.

The Canva editor showing a selected photo with editing controls (Edit, Crop, Flip, Animate, Position) in the top toolbar
Photo editing toolbar for adjusting the inserted image

Logos

Drag and drop institution or chapter hex logos onto pages, or use Insert > Image.

Animations (for video posts)

To animate text, select the text element, choose an animation style (e.g. Typewriter, Ascend, Shift), and adjust timing on the video timeline.

The Canva Animate panel showing text animation options and speed controls, with a timeline at the bottom
Animating text elements for video posts

To add transitions between slides, click between slides on the timeline and select a transition effect.

The Canva Transitions panel showing options like Dissolve, Slide, and Circle Wipe, with a duration slider
Adding transitions between slides for video posts

Exporting

  1. Click Share
  2. Select Download
  3. Choose PNG or JPG format (or GIF for animated content)
  4. Select which pages to export
  5. Click Download

Three panels showing the export workflow: the template page, the Share dialog with the Download option (step 2), and the Download panel with format selection (step 3) and page selector (step 4)
Downloading the finished design as PNG