Top 20 (Mostly Free) Tools for Social Media Content Marketing
Do you ever feel like the social media playground is getting a little crowded? There are always the noisy, brash kids who get a lot of attention, and it can feel like all your efforts are getting you no further than screaming into a pillow. Here’s the good news: louder is not necessarily better. Good quality content that’s aligned with your brand and posted consistently will draw in your ideal clients and keep them following you for more.
As our world moves more into the virtual space, a lot of people admit to feeling more isolated. Often content can feel a little too contrived, too perfectly curated and unrealistic. That’s where a good social media strategist will suggest to “keep it real” and show the authentic and human side of yourself, while still presenting an esthetically pleasing newsfeed.
We talked to a few social media gurus and asked them to share their favourite apps or websites for content creation and posting. You don’t need a degree in graphic design to create beautiful, cohesive, and most importantly original content. With the right apps, you’ll be surprised what you can create in just minutes!
The following is a list of apps and website to help you create a newsfeed that invites engagement and converts to sales.
Research and Inspiration
With Google, the world really is your oyster! There seems to be no limit to the information you can find, although it’s important to cite your sources and also confirm they’re accurate. Hashtag Dictionary can help you understand some of those tricky hashtags that pop up, while Pinterest is visually so inspiring, it’s hard to stay focused on the job at hand!
Photo Editing and Storing
Snapseed is completely free, as well as Lightroom mobile. Lightroom for the desktop and PicMonkey are both paid but also exceptional at editing, and in the case of Picmonkey, content creation. If you’re collaborating with a team and also want to share files with your clients or colleagues, Dropbox does it all seamlessly. All four of these have beautifully user-friendly mobile apps.
Content Creation
While many people feel Canva has the market cornered on graphic design simplified for the non-designer, Adobe’s Spark Post should not be overlooked. In fact, Spark Post has more extensive options for text effects. Both work equally well on the mobile app and desktop. PicCollage is masterful at collages, is app only and completely free. We recently discovered remove.bg and it’s so easy to remove backgrounds plus totally free!
Stock Photos
All of these free stock-photo sites are incredible resources for quality images in a wide variety of genres. Pexels and Pixabay both have mobile apps; Unsplash and Little Visuals don’t, but their sites are very easy to use on mobile. If you can’t find what you’re looking for,
Adobe Stock (paid) will deliver infinite options for just over $4/image with a monthly subscription.
Fonts
Both of these are great resources for free fonts. Google has all the well-known fonts that you see most commonly on the web and print, while DaFont has more unique, indie fonts that can set you apart.
Scheduling
Both platforms work great for scheduling posts; however, there are limitations to the free plans. If you’re a casual Instagrammer with a single account and post no more than 30 times per month, you’ll need no more than the basic free plan. The great thing about using scheduling software is that you can do all your posts for the month in just a day or two and it saves you so much time that you can be pouring into growing your brand.
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