36 Visual Content Creation Tools the Pros Can't Live Without

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/

Published in: Presentations & Public Speaking, Design, Marketing

36 Visual Content Creation Tools the Pros Can't Live Without from Donna Moritz

Transcript

• 1. 36 Visual Content  Creation Tools  Can't Live WithoutProsthe
• 2. In the past 2 years alone, the choice of tools, apps & programs...
• 3. for creating visual content has increased dramatically.
• 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)
• 29. Production Team DESIGN BY Donna Moritz IMAGES BY www.sociallysorted.com.au