Unlike traditional word processing tools, the right content creation tools don’t just help you write; they provide the hardware, software, and Web resources necessary to take your written words and turn them into information your target audience wants to read. We now live in a world of visual consumption. Consequently, marketers need to understand how visual content creation tools work—and how they can best use them to format websites, promotional material, and other marketing collateral.
These tools help you create everything from simple blog posts to high-converting sales copywriters and ads that win. Visual content creation tools are a must at every stage of your content strategy and marketing.
In today’s fast-paced digital world, visual content creation tools are a must for marketers who want to stand out on social media. They allow marketers to make catchy and stand-out visuals, without having to spend hours creating them. But there are tons of tools available – which ones should marketers choose? Read More: Best Content Creation Tools – Use the Right Tool for the Job
Do you want to master visual content creation tools? Many companies and bloggers make use of visual content, like images and videos, as a very efficient way to get their message across. Creating these types of content takes time and practice. In this article, we’ve put together a list of free tools used by master visual content creators.
Why Marketers Need Social Media Content Tools
Using social media content tools, marketers can create thumb-stopping content, appeal to their followers’ emotions, and make people feel connected to their brand or small business.
Here are a few stats and facts that will convince you to invest just a little bit of your time and money in creating different types of visual content:
- Visuals increase desire to read content by 80%.
- Posts with images produce 180% more engagement.
- 91% of people prefer visual content over written content.
Canva
Canva is amazing. This free to use online graphic design platform is one of the most intuitive, easy to use, and approachable tools I’ve ever encountered. You just create an account, pick from dozens of already formatted templates for everything from eBooks to twitter banners, and start designing. It’s honestly bonkers.
Canva comes preloaded with thousands of searchable images (that’s a big deal), fonts, templates, backgrounds, and all the tools you need to make each design your own. It’s fully customizable—change the opacity, size, shape and look of any element in these designs while also adding and building out your own campaigns for seamless (and consistent) branding across campaigns. And you don’t have to be a designer to use Canva.
You can use the free graphics and templates to make professional looking visual content assets in minutes without downloading a single .png file. However, if you are a designer (or like to mess with settings), there are plenty of buttons and features to satisfy you. And you can upload your own photos, logos, images, and graphics to add to existing designs or start from scratch. Canva also offers an optional suite of $1 add ons in practically every graphics category. If you can’t find the perfect image in their free options, it’s only a few bucks to get the look you want.
Canva is easily one of the best visual content creation tools online today. If you’re not using it, you should be.
Piktochart
Piktochart (pic-to-chart, get it?)has the same clean look and easy to use feel as Canva with a tight focus on infographics. I’ll admit that while Canva has infographic templates available to use, they can be tedious to use when you want to include a significant amount of data. Piktochart is the solution to creating information rich infographics that people will actually want to look at in minutes.
Simply choose from hundreds of templates, adjust the font, color, layout, and design, then add your content. Input your data and numbers and watch as Piktochart turns that excel spreadsheet nonsense into graphs, charts, and pies so delicious people will want to eat em. Nom nom nom.
Chrome EyeDropper Plugin
If you never went to graphic design school HEX color codes won’t make any sense. When I first started working with visual content creation tools for my early blogging jobs I spent way too much time trying to match branded colors. Then I found the Eye Dropper plugin for Chrome. Now when I see something like “#e95a34” I know that it actually looks more like this:
With Eye Dropper, you can easily grab and duplicate any color from any webpage online in seconds. It’s incredibly useful for keeping your branding consistent and borrowing color palettes from sites you like. I routinely snag color from all over the web and honestly wouldn’t know what to do without this genius, simple little tool. What’s even cooler, is that it suggests complimentary colors so you can design with a little more grace.
Wordswag
If you’re a social media marketer (or just want to be Instafamous), Wordswag is the best way to make your branded photos stand out online. This easy to use platform has been touted by some of the biggest names in the visual content marketing space.
Biteable
Create fun, animated videos using Biteable’s colorful templates and huge library of Shutterstock images and stock video footage. You can also mix in your own photos or videos to create one-of-a-kind videos. https://biteable.com/
Lumen5
The unique feature of Lumen5 is its ability to repurpose blog articles, or any text content, into videos. Using AI, it will add images and video to the frames based on the text. Or create videos from scratch. The drag and drop video builder allows you to highlight text and drag it into video frames, then add images and video from their extensive library. https://lumen5.com/
Magisto
With Magisto, take ordinary videos and make them extraordinary with captivating text elements and animated effects. Videos become stories with this easy-to-use app or online video editor. https://www.magisto.com/video-maker
Doodly
Doodly is a software program that creates professional doodle, whiteboard, and chalkboard animation videos. There is a bit of a learning curve in creating doodle videos, but they are fun to watch and captivate an audience. https://www.doodly.com/
Powtoon
Animated videos are a great way to explain technical concepts in an engaging and understandable way to audiences of all knowledge levels. Powtoon’s drag and drop functionality and use of templates and predesigned characters and props make it easy to create fun videos that are highly engaging. https://www.powtoon.com/
Google Trends
Google Trends helps to keep you in the loop. Google Trends reveals insight into today’s relevant content. Not yesterday’s. Google Trends is ideal for those who frequently create content. This includes those who blog, have a heavy social presence, develop content for specific groups of people, or work in marketing.
The Content Marketing Institute recommends using Google Trends to research keywords, discover content ideas, and monitor your brand.
Simply enter in a topic or explore trending stories and featured insights. Google Trends displays the frequency of search terms in consideration of its total volume across geographic regions. Additionally, Google Trends shows search interest over time. Depending on the flux of query volumes, you may choose one topic over another to discuss in whatever content you create.
Moz Keyword Explorer
You wouldn’t want to create awesome content and not get noticed. Easily check what keyword to use for blog posts and site pages with Moz’s Keyword Explorer. You can enter terms or phrases into Moz Keyword Explorer. Moz will provide you with keyword suggestions and a SERP analysis reflective of the keyword’s search volume, difficulty, opportunity, and potential.
Once you start exploring, you can export CSV files and save them for later. This includes the top ranking sites containing your keyword or phrase. Moz Keyword Explorer allows for two free searches a day. If you require more searching, you can upgrade to a paid subscription starting at $50 a month.
Creately
Google Review Count: 259
Create flowcharts and diagrams with a large library of templates and examples; also includes team collaboration capabilities.
Sample review: “This tool specializes in allowing real-time collaboration on diagrams and other visuals. Diagrams can be interactive and can include shapes, text, and connectors. Creately offers desktop and online versions ” — Small Business Trends
Pricing: free to $75 per month
Showcase reviews: Snall Business Trends
Google Charts
Google Review Count: 249
A free gallery of customizable interactive charts and data tools. Charts can be connected into interactive dashboards and incorporate static or dynamic data sets.
Sample review: “Google Charts offers a gallery of ready-to-use chart types, from simple line graphs to geographical maps and timelines. You can also generate pointers, QR codes, and other visual tools to customize images and upload them directly to your site.” — Small Business Trends
Pricing: free
Showcase reviews: Jeff Bullas, Small Business Trends
ThingLink
Google Review Count: 236
One of the coolest tools out there—turn any static web image (JPG, PNG, etc.) into an interactive online graphic with annotated “hot spots” that can pop up web links, videos, a text box, other images, maps, and more. Here’s one simple yet noteworthy example.
Sample review: “Thinglink is a nifty little tool that allows you to add an extra dimension to imagery and video by making it interactive – no coding knowledge needed. It’s quick and easy to use making it a great time and money-saver.” — Marketing Insider Group (Content)
Pricing: free, $20 per month, $125/month, and enterprise pricing by quote
Showcase reviews: HubSpot (Video), Marketing Insider Group (Content), Perception System, Quick Sprout, SteamFeed
iCharts
Google Review Count: 235
A cloud-based Visual Analytics Platform to create rapid visualization of business information and dynamic data sets. It’s a visual reporting application for creating internal or external charts across marketing, finance, sales, or other functions.
Sample review: “Use Excel spreadsheets or Google Drive documents to automatically create a variety of chart types, including interactive ones. iChart also includes sharing and distribution features to help you reach a larger audience.” — Small Business Trends
Pricing: $460 to $2,100 per month
Showcase reviews: Snall Business Trends
Which Types of Visual Content Drive the Most Engagement?
Not every type of visual content has a huge potential to engage your potential clients in direct brand-related actions. Generally, original graphics are regarded as the most engaging, while gifs and memes were reported to bring only 5% of engagement compared to other types. The following infographic from Social Media Today reveals all the facts you need to know in terms of how different types of visual content correlate.
Conclusion
Content creation tools allow anyone with a computer and some creativity to become an editor or an online producer without leaving their homes or spending a lot of money. You can create visually appealing pieces using these tools and have it posted immediately on a blog or a website.
Creative imagery is the most sophisticated form of content marketing. If you can describe what you do in a single image and pin it to the top of your blog, people will immediately know what niche you’re in. Just like being able to tell a compelling story after listening to only 3 minutes of an audio clip, strong visual content communicates much more information than text, for much less effort on the onlooker’s part.