Every content marketer needs awesome visual content. Great visual storytelling is proven to increase engagement, whether on social media or increasing page conversions. It’s essential if you’re working in the Pinterest or Instagram channels.
Ideally, you’d have access to a crack art director or designer who can create inspired images for all your blog posts, but sometimes that’s not possible. What’s a content marketing team to do?
Enter the internet! In our current app-tastic web landscape, there are an incredible number of tools that can help you create visuals for your channels without expensive software. In no way do they replace the wisdom and skill of a professional designer – but they do make visual content more accessible. Here are some of our must-haves.
WordSwag
WordSwag is an iPhone app that allows you to take that awesome snap from your phone and superimpose text on top. Grab an awesome photo, layer on an inspiring quote and upload your way to Pinterest heaven. It’s just that easy. WordSwag has a ton of fonts to make sure you’re never at a loss for words.
VSCO Cam
Once described to me as “Instagram on steroids”, VSCO Cam is an app on your phone that aspires to help you take high-quality photos that you can edit, filter and crop with your smartphone. If you have a brand that aspires to a luxury or even contemporary aesthetic, having gorgeous photos are essential for all your channels.
Unsplash / Gratisography
Sometimes you just need a free stock photo, but not all stock photography is created equal. Visual content is a great way to inspire an emotional connection with your brand. A too-corporate photo can seem weirdly off-brand or simply suck all the life out of your content. Both sites are great sources for free, quirky stock photos that defy the stock photo stereotype.
Type Genius
To be honest, mixing fonts is often a job best left for the professionals. To avoid the dreaded font clash, Type Genius plays matchmaker, suggesting a few fonts that will play nicely together. It even provides a mock-up to further feed your inspiration.
Canva
You knew this was going to be on here.
Canva is really out in front in making graphic design accessible to the masses. Canva for Work, the newest offering, allows your designers to upload your brand materials into the Canva workspace, making tightly branded visual content within the reach of every intern. The basic model is free, but investing some money can pay useful dividends for your branding and content marketing. It is the workhorse of visual content right now.
Infogr.am
Social media loves an infographic. To generate your own share-worthy infographics can seem daunting – you need rock-solid data, engaging writing and eye-catching visuals. Infogr.am helps you with some of the legwork, making visual content a much less challenging proposition.
Designers are an invaluable part of your content marketing team. When you’re plotting your content strategy, you’ve got to come up with a plan for visual content. There are tools out there that will empower your whole team to move ahead with confidence, knowing that their work is absolutely eye-catching.
