Five Essential Apps for Social Media Marketing Success
As the saying goes “Time is Money” and nowadays it’s even more true, as the lines between work and home life blur. If you’re struggling to develop better time management you’re not alone. We’re living in a time of crisis, and for us here at Shored Up Digital, finding a way to take control of the time we have is key for our mental wellbeing and overall productivity.
While Marnely survives on writing everything down in her Emily Ley planner, Angela is the queen of Google Calendars, plus we both work “side by side” in Slack channels. Programs such as Google Calendar and Slack Productivity App are just two of the many applications we use in our day to day, and today we wanted to share our “Five Essential Apps for Social Media Success.”
Each of the applications listed below make our jobs more efficient, thus they save us time and money, plus they yield fantastic results. Like anything, it takes practice to get used to them but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be creating and sharing compelling social media content like the pros!
For Editing Photos on Your Phone: Snapseed
Many social media platforms reward one thing above all else: truly vibrant and gorgeous photography. People will always complement our photos, ask us what camera we use, etc. We always tell them the secret: it’s not the camera, it’s the editing process! Sure, you need to have a good understanding of natural light and composition when shooting a photo, but nothing makes your photography shine faster than a quick edit and Snapseed is the application we use to edit photos on our mobile devices. A quick combination of: brightness, saturation, white balance, tonal contrast, and sometimes HDR scape will have your photo go from blah to WOW in under two minutes. Snapseed is a complete and professional photo editor developed by Google, it includes 29 tools and filters, opens JPG and RAW photos, and so much more. Snapseed is a free app available for both Android and iOS mobile devices.
For Scheduling Social Media Posts: Buffer
Oh Buffer, what would we do without you?! This application is what we use to schedule loads of social media posts for our clients and we recommend it to anyone that wants to streamline their social media efforts. As much as we want to post “timely” posts, scheduling content is a great way to quickly, easily, and efficiently post a regular stream of content and while allowing you to be actively present online - even when you’re sleeping! It’s a platform that is best used on desktop, but also has a mobile application for staying updated on your accounts on the go. Buffer offers a 14-day free trial, but the monthly plan starts at just $15/month and that’s a steal if you ask us. You can use it to schedule posts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Not only that, they have a wide array of reporting and analytics to help you form better strategies and develop best practices on your accounts. One more thing - their customer service is AMAZING!
For Creating Visually Attractive Stories: Unfold
If you’ve watched Instagram stories for more than five minutes, you’ve probably realized that some of them look like short movies, and not just quick videos people upload and post! For years brands have been deepening their commitment to social, and that includes their use of Instagram stories, one of the best ways to engage with your audience. Unfold is a mobile application that allows you to create gorgeous templates for use as stories on Instagram and Facebook. It’s a toolkit for storytellers and it creates beautiful stories with templates–some are free, while others range from 99 cents to $5 per pack of templates.
For Quick and Easy Graphic Design: Canva
Freelance graphic designers are worth their weight in gold and the work they produce is stellar quality. But sometimes you need a quick design to share a special or weekly discount, and/or your budget doesn’t allow for design services. This is where Canva comes in. Create on-brand graphics in just a few minutes! With great customized templates for everything from logos to social media posts, and print ads, Canva takes the guesswork out of designing for any medium, so make sure to check it out. It’s free but there’s a pro version between $9-12 a month that offer even better options including stock photography.
For Video Editing and Stop Motion Videos: InShot
Video is the reigning king of content on social media and InShot is a video editing tool that makes it easy to trim video, cut/delete the middle part of a video, merge videos, adjust video speed, do voice overs, and so much more. It’s a great way to dabble in the video making world right from your phone! Price ranges from 99 cents to $2.99 depending on your needs.
Feel free to shoot us an email at hello@shoredupdigital.com if you have any questions about how to use any of these tools and please let us know if you have any others you’d like to share. As we always like to say “work smarter not harder.”