Are you wanting to create more visual content but don’t know where to start?I asked 19 visual social media experts about their favourite, go-to, can’t-live-without visual content tools. What follows is their best of the best picks - all 36, and quotes about their favourites.
Want more detail? Click on the tools to get the links and the complete article, as well as the chance to grab a handy Cheat Sheet with the Top 5 Tools summarized for you to get started.
Our 19 experts don’t just “talk” about visual content online. They create visual content on a daily basis.
They are in the trenches creating everything from images to infographics for their businesses, websites, blogs and social media channels.
They know what works and what doesn’t when it comes to visual content creation tools.
They know which “go-to” tools they use daily.
They know which tools they simply can’t live without. And they have shared them in this post!
When asking the Pros to contribute to this awesome list, I made it very clear that they should:
1 Pick the visual content tools they use daily (or most regularly) and not just the ones they think others won’t mention (ie repeats are ok in this post)
2 Not worry about listing a tool that may be already listed – because they think the tool is not easy to use, or not mainstream enough, or is already a crowd favourite.
3 Give a reason for choosing each tool – why they love it and use it regularly.
These are the top 3 responses from each expert, along with their reasons for choosing each tool. There are 36 different tools in total, not counting the popular duplicates! And remember you can click on the links to access the full article and grab the Cheat Sheet with their Top 5 Most Popular Tools!
These guys may be Pros but they have one thing in common – they all want to create visual content quickly and easily. Many of these Pros are not designers, but they know how to use tools effectively.
Our contributing experts are: Syed Balkhi, Jann Herman, Zach Kitschke, Cynthia Sanzhez, Ian Cleary, Rebekah Radice, Nik Parks, Aaron Lee, Azure Collier, Apu Gupta, Ben Wong, Dustin Stout, Peg Fitzpatrick, Rich Brooks, Sue B Zimmerman, Angelo Dodaro, Amy Porterfield, Kim Garst and Pauline Cabrera .
These guys know their stuff, so take advantage of their knowledge and check out their favourite tools. Be sure to leave a comment to let me know which ones you love and which ones you have now discovered.
And if you want more information on any of the tools (including links) or to download the Handy Top 5 Tools Cheat Sheet, then follow this link to the full article on my website: http://sociallysorted.com.au/36-visual-content-creation-tools/
4. So how do you know
which tools are the
best to use?
5. You ask the Pros! We asked
19 Visual Social Media
Experts which tools
they use.
6. These are the 36 tools the Pros love
and can't live without ...
7. Click for MORE info on the tools to
get links & find out why they love them!
InstaQuote - Photoshop - UnSplash
8. "When I'm on the go or specially
at conferences, I use
InstaQuote to easily create
quotes to share to my
Instagram and Twitter
followers"
Syed Balkhi
Founder WP Beginner
& Optin Monster
InstaQuote - Photoshop - UnSplash
9. Instagram - PhotoGrid - Powerpoint
"I love the Instagram app for its ability to turn an
average photo into something beautiful"
Jenn Herman
Jenn's Trends
10. "Eye Dropper is a fantastic free plug-in for Google
Chrome that allows you to get the HEX color code
for any color from a webpage. Very handy when
you see a color you like and want to use it in your
designs."
Canva - Chrome Eye Dropper - Designspiration
Zach Kitschke, Canva
11. WordSwag
Pixlr
"We use Canva for our main images in our blog and
also for sharing content on social media channels.
Simple to use and we
use it every day."
Ian Cleary,
Razor Social
Canva
12. "I use Pinterest to
monitor trends and
for inspiration for
layout and design
ideas."
Pinterest
Canva
Picmonkey
Cynthia Sanchez,
Oh So Pinteresting
13. "QuotesCover is a busy marketers
dream! This online tool takes the
ease of Canva and marries it
with the built-in templates
& fonts of Over & Wordswag.
There are no design skills
needed with QuotesCover.
Simply add your text,
choose your background
and font and voila, you’re done!"
Rebekah Radice, Digital Strategist
Canva - Over - QuotesCover
14. "I use the Palettab Chrome Extension for
inspiration. Every time you open a new tab,
you’re provided with a new color palette and
a new set of font combinations—it’s brilliant."
Nik Parks, Launching Creative
Palettab
A Beautiful Mess
Afterlight
15. W
ant M
ore?
CLICK HERE to grab the complete list of tools
and reviews by the Pros (+ a handy cheat
sheet of the Top 5 Most Popular Tools)
KEEP viewing slides
16. "This is my go-to app for my phone, I love the
typography selections in Over. I use this to add
oomph to my photos taken from my phone."Over
Canva
Over
Photoshop
Aaron Lee, Post Planner
17. "I love PicMonkey because it takes its tools from the best
parts of a graphic designer’s and photographer’s brains.
You have all the basics you need, but also a lot of instant,
extra options like collages, overlays, fonts, and themes to
bring ideas and creativity to your images."
Azure Collier,
Constant Contact
Picmonkey
Canva
Photoshop
18. Ollo Clip
Apu Gupta, Curalate
Selfie Stick
"VSCO and other image
editing tools allow us to
take on new and
transformative roles –
as artists, as journalists,
as explorers. It’s
amazing how
something that’s free
and so easily obtainable
can have that effect on
so many people."
VSCO Cam
19. "When I have the time,
I love using Lightroom to
add another dimension to my
Photography. It's like
Photoshop but in a
much more
streamlined
package."
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Lightroom
Ben WongWordSwag
W
ordS
wag
20. "When I want to add text to an
image (on mobile) the fastest and
easiest way to do that for me is
Quick. It’s from the same people
who created Over (formerly
Overgram) and for iOS users
integrates into the native editing
function so you can access it right
from the edit screen in your
photos app."
Dustin Stout, Dustn.tv
VSCOCam
Quick Photoshop CC
21. "I still like to plan some ofmy content 100% old-
school and like to keep
writing materials handy so I
can catch my ideas. I have a
lot of great ideas during
conversations so I like toscribble them down".
Peg FitzpatrickAuthor,
The Art of
Social
Media
Canva
Sharpie &Journal
Evernote
22. "Snapseed - for when
Instagram just isn’t enough to
brighten a poorly lit shot, or I
feel that a more nuanced
approach to filters is needed,
Snapseed is a perfect fit."
Rich Brooks
Flyte New Media
Snapseed
Instagram
Photoshop
23. Instasize for Android and
iphone offers something very
simple but critical to better
posts on Instagram. Use it to
post entire images. Meaning,
you do not need to cut off
pieces of your image anymore
to crop the photo to the right
size for a platform. Post full
size images, simply amazing."
Camera Plus WordSwag Instasize
Sue B Zimmerman
The Instagram Expert
24. "I'm not always interested in
firing up Photoshop if I need to do
something simple like remove a
background from an image. For
these tasks, I use Acorn for OSX
because it’s quick, easy and gets
the job done.".
Adobe Creative Cloud
Angelo
Dodaro
Top Dog
Social Media
Canva Acorn
25. "Viral content, anyone? An
infographic done well can go viral
very quickly. Piktochart
is a go-to app
when wanting to
create infographics
to tell a story or share
information. They have
an easy editor
that makes it a
breeze to use."
WordSwag
Amy Porterfield
Facebook Marketing
Strategist
Piktochart
Canva
26. "Pictaculous is a color
palette generator and
allows you to upload
any image and get a
matching color palette
within seconds. If you
have ever wondered
what colors to use
with a specific image,
this will solve that
problem!"
WordSwag
Kim Garst,
Boom Social
Canva Pictaculous
27. Moldiv is my favorite iphone
photo collage editor app!
You can adjust the frame, the
background, add text and
inject some cute stamps
on your photo.!
Moldiv
Pauline Carbrera
Digital Strategist
WordSwag
Skitch
28. Thank you
CLICK HERE to grab the complete list of tools
and reviews by the Pros (+ a handy cheat
sheet of the Top 5 Most Popular Tools)