Social media content is meant to be just that; social.
This type of interaction with consumers is fast becoming standard, and it’s one of the most useful marketing tools in your arsenal. You’re bypassing traditional methods and connecting with people on a personal level, where they’re most comfortable.
Businesses utilise these platforms to engage with their customers, where the aim is to create a message that people want to share with their own circle of friends; essentially doing your marketing for you… if you get it right.
But how do you create shareable content that gets your audience interested in the first place? The trick is finding a balance between visually appealing graphics and a meaningful message. Although that can sound daunting, here are some content creation tools that will help you keep up with the pros.
Photoshop
One of the staples in nearly every creative profession, Photoshop is the O.G. of social content creation. This program gives you free-reign with little to no limitations when it comes to altering and manipulating graphics. Although this is not a free software, I highly recommend you invest in this useful tool. You can get a free trial of this software here: Photoshop Free Trial.
If you like the idea of Photoshop, but don’t want to fork out the cash, try Pixlr. It’s an online adaption of Photoshop, sans some of the features
Canva
If you want a program that lets you create visually stunning graphics in a simple and efficient manner, then Canva is the one for you. From social posts, blog designs and invitations to page and email headers; this free* online application has many pre-designed layouts to let you create with ease.
(*There are some layouts, images and designs that cost.)
Unsplash
Unsplash is a double whammy; it offers hundreds of high resolution images for free download to use for your content, as well as being a great inspiration point if photography is your game. It is a free subscription website that showcases 10 new photos every 10 days; you can also upload your own images to share with the world.
Also see Dribbble for a similar concept, but for graphic campaigns and advertising material rather than photography.
Chrome ColorZilla
ColorZilla is a simple tool that you install into your Chrome web browser. The colour dropper allows you to find the code of any colour pixel on any webpage and is great if you need specific shades for brand guidelines, or if you just like the colour!
CoSchedule Headline Analyzer
The previous tools have been very design-heavy, but CoSchedule Headline Analyser one is for written content. The headline or title of your blog post can be what makes or breaks your hard work. It’s simple: put in your title and hit analyse- it gives you an overall score based on how many common words are used, if any unique words are used and if there is any emotional or powerful language to draw people in.
I highly recommend this tool as it not only tells you in a nutshell how your title will perform, it also pushes you to improve your vocabulary and encourages a more though-out creative process.
Of course, there are hundreds of tools that can be helpful for many different purposes; the trick is to find the ones that work for you and your business. My advice is to conduct trial and error test until you find the programs that suit your creative direction.
