I’m sure you are aware of the fact that Instagram is one of the most used social media tools on the planet. People spend a lot of time there every day. So it only makes sense to make this platform work for us when it comes to improving our sales and marketing effort.
Social media platforms have become a common feature and method of communication in our society, with millions of people using social media as an instant way to share, interact and express.
Depending on the sector you’re in, social media is becoming a really important part of branding, marketing, and advertising. As more and more people use social media every day, it’s important that your social presence is managed appropriately to remain as relevant as possible. This means you need to be able to edit and make content for your company look its best; your posts need to be dynamic, eye-catching, and engaging.
Pixlr
Pixlr is a very popular photo editing app available for both iOS and Android that can take your social media content far. This free app has much great social media photo editing and enhancing options that can help your posts stand out.
Using both basic and custom social media photo sizes, you can use it to make collages, apply photo effects and filters, and enhance the quality of your photos with great features like color splash, double exposure, or focal blur.
Pixlr main features:
- Instantly adjust the color of your photos with auto-fix
- Crop, resize and change the border of your photos in a few easy steps
- Use color splash to add color effects and enhance photo color
- Choose from a multitude of effect packs you can add to your social media photos
- Use the stylize feature to sketch or add photo effects
- Add shades, cool down, or amplify the photo tone
- Create amazing collages with plenty of options for style, ratio, and background
- The double exposure feature allows you to easily apply effects with adjustable layers and transparency
- Easily learn how to edit photos to remove red eye or whiten teeth
- The add text feature comes with many font options
- Focal blur effect
VSCO
VSCO is a photo and video editing app and a photo-sharing platform. It’s a very easy tool you can use to enhance the quality of your social media posts.
It’s user-friendly and has a clean and simple design and menu. When you become a VSCO member, you also get access to a community similar to Instagram. There, you can browse photos and videos in the discover feed and also connect with friends or join weekly photo challenges.
VSCO main features:
- VSCO has 10 free, quick, and easy photo editing presets
- For more advanced editing, you can use the manual adjustment options and add your flair
- The app enables simple importing and editing options for RAW photos
- You can change photo perspectives with crop and skew and adjust exposure, clarity, and saturation
- You can change photo perspectives with crop and skew and adjust exposure, clarity, and saturation
- You can edit contrast and saturation or use the grain and fade options to add an old film effect to your photos
- The photo enhancer allows you to modify the strength of the photo filter
- To easily recreate your favorite edits, you can save them in recipes
- The camera features allow you to adjust focus and exposure and choose flash modes and interface color
- The built-in camera can be set up manually to adjust shutter speed, ISO, and white balance
- You can use the same VSCO presets and editing tools for your videos
- You can also create GIFs with VSCO
- The VSCO montage feature allows you to make a video collage by combining video, photos, and shapes; options include adjusting the opacity of layers and double exposure.
Infltr
If you are looking for an easy way to make your social media pop, meet Infltr. It edits photos with the help of photo filters and offers the most filter options out of any photo editing app.
It has over seven million possible filter combinations and advertises itself as the easiest editing tool in the field.
InfItr main features:
- You can instantly change the filter by touching the screen and choosing one of the seven million options
- As you drag your finger across the screen, the combination of photo filters in effect changes
- Editing options include adjustment of saturation, brightness, contrast, tint, temperature, as well as filter intensity
- You can choose the filter before or after taking the photo
- You can add filters to HD panoramic shots
- You can also create and edit videos, GIFs, and live photos
- You can choose and add your favorite filters to a filter library
Adobe Premiere Rush
Created as a simpler alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro, the Premiere Rush app allows you to create and edit high-quality content for your social media platforms easily and without any complicated headaches.
Adobe Premiere Rush main features:
- You can use the built-in camera feature to film directly from the app and start editing instantly
- Choose from a range of motion graphics built-in templates
- Motion graphics editing options include color enhancement and customization of fonts or size
- Easily add audio tracks to your video choosing from over 30 royalty-free options
- Add effects like picture in picture or split view with multiple video tracks
- Simple sharing options that allow you to resize videos or change them from landscape to portrait or square
- You can add thumbnails, schedule your posts, and publish on multiple platforms at once directly from the app
- Ideal for video for Instagram and Facebook with its 4:5 aspect ratio
- Premium features include sound balancing and auto-ducking, access to the premium content library, and the possibility of exporting videos in 4K video quality
iMovie
iMovie is a free video editing app for iOS that comes pre-installed on Apple devices. It’s ideal for simple video editing and very user-friendly.
It can take your social media content to the next level and help your brand stand out on platforms like Instagram. You can also use it to add voice-overs or music to your videos and upload them to iCloud.
iMovie main features:
- Animated drop zones make selecting videos and photos simple
- You can record directly in the app
- Includes 14 movie trailer templates
- Easy customizing options for cast names and credits
- 8 unique movie themes with matching titles, transitions, and music
- 13 Apple-designed video filters
- Slow-motion and fast forward options
- Simple access for adding a picture in picture, green screen, or split-screen effects
- Add a soundtrack to your movie with the built-in feature that automatically adjusts to the length of the movie
- Add sound effects or narration
Lumen5
Lumen5 is another great creative tool for creating social media videos your audience will love. Their tool gives users the power to storyboard your video idea, choose the layout that works best for you and add audio to the background to finish it off.
Their video editing software also provides a library of templates to help your team get started, and their AI-powered tool is a great way to ensure your final product will always be engaging and something that will help convert your audience. You can create videos for Instagram Stories, Facebook Ads, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even YouTube intros.
Lumen5 has a free forever plan that allows you to create and download three videos per month with their watermark on it. For a premium plan with no Lumen5 branding, pricing starts at $29/month.
Biteable
Biteable is a popular tool for creating bite-sized social media videos. And as their tagline says, it’s a pretty quick and easy video editor to use.
Yet another tool that offers templates for you to start with, users can also easily bring their own ideas to life from scratch. Their editor offers stock videos that you can place in the background of your videos as well as animated text options to share your messaging.
Users can also upload their own video clips to create more branded and personal videos, as well as insert their brand style guide to keep all fonts and colors cohesive.
Biteable has a free plan with unlimited downloads, but all videos have their watermark. To remove that branding, paid plans start at $29/month.
InVideo
As you can see on InVideo’s homepage, they offer a variety of different social media video sizes, from stories to landscape to square. From bite-sized ads to video testimonials, InVideo allows your team to create engaging video content that helps you get away from the boring static content that fills social media platforms.
Start with a template, then customize it to insert your messaging, branding, video background, and more. Add animations to the elements on your canvas to further improve your video content, before downloading it to share on social media using your social media scheduling tool.
InVideo offers a free plan with up to 60 watermarked downloads each month. To gain access to more premium features, you can sign up for a paid plan starting at $20/month.
Wix Social Posts
There are many visual editing tools available online, but this free tool’s huge advantage is that it was created specifically for designing social media posts. The main goal of Social Posts is to support small biz owners in creating professional, eye-catching visuals quickly and easily. As a Wix user, you can choose from a variety of templates and customize them to fit your brand’s identity. Social media posts are a great way to engage with your followers across multiple platforms as well as announce special sales and events. Plus, every social media post is an opportunity to drive traffic and business to your website. With a large pool of visuals, colors, patterns, fonts, and stickers to choose from, you can create unique posts to draw your followers’ attention right away.
To create a Social Post:
- Go to Wix.com (If you’re not a user already, it will only take a few seconds to sign up. Plus, it’s free!)
- Open your site’s dashboard
- Click ‘Marketing Tools’ on the left
- Select ‘Social Posts’
- Hover over and click on a template to edit or click ‘Create Post’
- After you’re done creating, share your beautiful creation on all your social media platforms
Giphy
GIFs are one of the most enjoyable aspects of using social media. They can say so much with so little and they are extremely contagious. This is what makes GIFs such a great visual element for social media and a proven way to boost engagement. Giphy is your one-stop shop for all things GIF. You can either browse through its amazing library of content, which is fully available for use, or you can create your very own GIFs and make some viral content.
Gravit
Gravit is a favorite in the open-source graphic design community. Basically, you can use it to design almost anything, from mobile apps, through professional presentations, to Facebook cover photos. Its powerful platform makes it very popular with professional designers, but it is not limited to users with design experience only. The regular version is intuitive to learn and work with, but if you like to keep things super simple, you can also use Gravit Klex, which offers the same great look but with more basic capabilities.
Canva
A leader in the field of online image editing, Canva is an incredible tool that offers both basic and advanced features to create or enhance beautiful graphics. You can use Canva to design all kinds of visuals, but for social media marketing, you’d be particularly interested in the Social Media Graphics tool and the Meme Generator. Canva is available from desktops and laptops but also has an iPad and iPhone app that allows you to design your social visuals on the go. Perfect for that busy (but savvy) small business owner.
Befunky
If you’re a fan of knowledge visualization, you will love Befunky’s infographic building tool. It offers a great variety of templates to work with and plenty of customization options, including stock images that you can use for free. With so much freedom and an easy-to-use editor, you can create professional infographics that are useful, persuasive, and sharp.
Conclusion
Social media is a great way of connecting and engaging with customers. As more and more people turn to social media to interact with brands, the need for quality content increases. Social media has become a platform for brands to showcase their products, services, and offers.