Great Facebook and Pinterest Idea: Quote Graphics

I'm going to go ahead and put this out there: I'm not a quote person. I mean, I like to quote bad movies and Prince songs and of course anything from Patrick O'Brian (​"Jack, you have debauched my sloth!" is a personal favorite, though admittedly difficult to use in everyday conversation), but when it comes to inspirational quotes and their ilk, I find myself unable to get on board. I once dated a girl who told me very early on that she was really into motivational quotes, and I remember thinking that was sort of strange. Though it's entirely possible I'm just bitter because she broke up with me.

My own personal aversion aside, there can be no doubt that inspirational quotes are social media gold - lots of people love them and, more importantly, love sharing them. ​Which brings me to this great example from Capella University:

​The name Zig Zigler will never not be funny. It just won't.

And be sure to check out their "Capella Inspires" Pin board for more examples. These are ideal for Facebook and Pinterest, but they could also work very well on Instagram if they are designed to be squared-shaped.

In a lot of ways, these types of inspirational quotes make sense for higher ed social media, because the mission of every university - at its most basic level - is inspiring the minds of students. Looking over Capella's collection of quote graphics, many of them offer encouragement and support for students who may be struggling or feeling overwhelmed: very apropos for mid-terms, finals week, etc. On Facebook, many of them have gotten a significant number of shares, which is a clear indication that people enjoy them.

For me, quotes like this are especially suited for days when you just can't come up with anything to post. It would surely be helpful to have a few of these in the can and ready to go whenever you need one.​

The main challenge to doing this is that you have to have some pretty serious graphic design chops to pull this off.

Also, I know this goes without saying for all the brilliant marketers who read this blog, but this example from Capella provides a good reminder that it's always important to add your school logo whenever you create something for social media. It's one thing to reach a lot of people... it's another to actually have people know that content is coming from you.

​So hooray Capella for this good idea!

And now, my favorite inspirational quote relating to college: "​I got kicked out of university after delivering a brilliant lecture on the aggressive influence of German philosophy on rock and roll entitled You, Kant, Always Get What You Want. My academic career was over." - Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Hmm... I'm not really cut out for this quote thing, am I?