Social media is a never-ending conveyor belt of content. Keeping up on trends, posting regularly, and offering insightful comments can lead to higher engagement but also serious burnout. I should know—I started my first Twitter account (now called X) way back in 2008. Amassing around 18,000 followers on X was the easy part. Keeping the flow of content was much harder, especially during a long period of time when I wrote two books.
I’ve struggled to create engaging content because it’s not my day job. I’ve been a journalist since 2001 and watched as the platforms germinated and grew. These days, LinkedIn is my platform of choice, mostly because it’s designed for working professionals. I still use X regularly, post a few times a week on Instagram and Facebook, and tend to experiment the most on the fringe apps Bluesky and Threads without taking them too seriously.
Recently, I decided to find out how a Google image generation tool called Nano Banana Pro could help me enliven my account, engage with new followers, and offer a few twists and surprises beyond my usual stream of article links and sarcastic posts about tech.
I created over 20 images, usually by describing exactly what I wanted in great detail. Nano Banana Pro is now integrated into the Google Gemini Pro 3 chatbot, so creating the images was quick and easy. What proved to be more challenging? Providing the right level of detail so that the image generation tool responded with something that was worth posting.
Here are the social posts that produced the best results, mostly on my LinkedIn account, along with the prompt I used and how people responded. My one surprise? The Nano Banana Pro graphics resonated more with my Instagram followers than I expected. On LinkedIn, my impressions shot up 57% during my test period—the reason has to do with an increase in comments and shares and the algorithm promoting my content more.
1. Design an explainer graphic
Prompt used: “Generate an explainer image I can use to promote an article [with link].”
I was most impressed by a few graphics that Nano Banana Pro generated like the one above that were meant to promote one of my articles. I call them explainer graphics because they are more like an infographic meant to illustrate the article concepts. For example, I asked the bot to create a graphic for an article that compared three chatbots doing job searches. My shocking discovery is that Nano Banana Pro, now part of the Gemini bot, incorrectly picked itself as the “winner” compared to ChatGPT and Grok. In truth, Grok won that test hands down.
Despite the obvious hallucination, the graphic looked amazing. The reason this prompt works so well is that the bot can ingest the article text, analyze it, and then create an explainer graphic. As with just about anything that works on social media, the secret is to tap into what followers like to see—images that summarize a concept often lead to high engagement.
That said, Nano Banana Pro didn’t add the Digital Trends logo to the graphic and the comments and likes were low. I needed to try something different with my audience.
2. Make an inspirational graphic
Prompt used: “Do a graphic with a quote by John Brandon. Show it on a poster in an office.”
If you have used social media regularly over the last few years, you know the most viral posts often involve an inspirational thought, a celebrity quote, or a motivational comment.
The big surprise? I didn’t realize Nano Banana Pro hallucinated quite this much. First the bot picked itself as the best tool for job searches, then it created a quote that does not actually exist. The poster Gemini designed said “You can’t hire someone else to practice for you” and attributed the statement to me. Here’s what actually occurred. The original quote is by Jim Rohn and is more like: you can’t have someone else to do your pushups. Why Nano Banana Pro created a false quote doesn’t make sense, but what’s even more surprising is that this graphic was a hit—it had well over 400 impressions, which is not bad for my LinkedIn feed.
On X and Instagram, the inspirational messages I tried (quotes from authors I liked, mostly) were also popular and led to a handful of comments. I could see using Nano Banana Pro to create this type of filler content to inspire followers intermixed with posts that have a link or call to action.
3. Create a controversial graphic
Prompt used: “Creating a really compelling graphic that says AI is a glorified search engine.”
We all know controversy is the key to success on social media. The human brain is drawn to negativity and controversy. As Psychology Today recently noted: “Early humans who were hyperaware of threats were more likely to avoid danger and pass on their genes.” When we see something we disagree with on X or an image pops up on Facebook about a controversial topic, it compels us to comment far more than a happy post about the weather.
I decided to try a few controversial graphics, and Nano Banana Pro was happy to oblige. I asked the bot to create one about itself, in fact. I wanted the image to say that an AI chatbot is nothing more than a glorified search engine. Curiously, this post did not attract too many comments, but a few people did take issue with my statement. The truth is that AI chatbots can often act like search engines but they are more conversational and helpful.
Was I wrong about controversial graphics leading to higher engagement? Not really. It’s just that I tend to keep things civil and the algorithm did not reward me for controversy. I’m okay with that and tend to avoid making blanket statements that are meant to stir up trouble. If I did regularly post controversial graphics, I’m guessing the engagement would go up.
4. Help me go viral
Prompt used: “Create an image that’s similar to other social media posts that have gone viral.”
After all of my testing over several weeks, creating around 20 social media graphics and posting them on several different platforms, I was mostly impressed with the results. Nano Banana Pro created some compelling graphics in mere seconds, and most of them looked professional. I still felt there was that typical haze of soullessness about them, as though a human was not involved. Most of the graphics lacked personality even if they were well designed.
That’s when I decided to try a new prompt. I wanted to cut right to the chase and achieve my goal of better engagement or outright virality. I asked Nano Banana Pro to create a compelling graphic that’s similar to other images that have gone viral.
I wish I could say it worked, but what Nano Banana Pro actually provided was…a cute photo of a dog and a kitten sleeping next to each other. Granted, a few people commented on the post on Instagram while LinkedIn users ignored it and went back to posting about the stock market. My take is that viral posts are not so predictable. It can take a combination of timing, insight, and jumping on the right trend that matches the interests of your own followers. Bots are not smart enough to help—yet. For one thing, they are tapping into my own feed and analyzing what has worked. It’s all generic.
Final thoughts
In the end, the graphics looked incredible and I was happy with the results, even if engagement was lower than I expected. I plan to keep using Nano Banana Pro to create graphics, but I will be treading carefully. They lack personality and vibrancy at times. Computer generated images can’t convey real feelings and personality, they only generate content using a prompt. That’s far different from what a social media producer can do. Only a human can convey humanity.
