Increase your social presence with these top tools for any social media content creator. Including graphic design, copywriting, and content management tips.
Social media has become a constant in our lives in a sea of change.
No doubt amplified by the pandemic and its fallout, billions of individuals have increasingly utilized social media for entertainment, connection, and commerce. Both brands and everyday people can capitalize on this digital influx by capturing engagement to drive influence. At the heart of that engagement lies the strategic social media content creator.
Granted, the newness of that job title can pose a lot of confusion about which best practices can get you where you need to go—or what it even means to be a content creator altogether.
Here are the tools you need to stay ahead as a social media content creator in 2023 and beyond.
What is a Social Media Content Creator?
The term content creator paints with a broad stroke. As such, it can apply to many different paths, including social media marketers, managers, influencers, and even hobbyists.
Essentially, a social media content creator is anyone who consistently makes and shares things on social media with a specific goal in mind. The goal may be to entertain, inform, advertise, spread awareness, or a combination of these.
The power and depth of the internet are limitless. The mediums for digital content creation are just as vast.
Social Media Content Examples
- Photography and photo editing. Both professional (studio) and casual photography have the potential to perform well depending on context and vision. Photo editing opens up new possibilities for expression within the genre and can be necessary to polish up work for publication.
- Writing. Brands rely on an array of written pieces to maximize their online outreach. From long form to short quips, technical to artistic, there are ample kinds of content written—and as many content writers to write them. These creatives pen blogs, consumer-facing web copy, social captions, ad scripts, and so much more.
- Videography and video editing. Due to its wider accessibility and higher engagement rates, video-based content is quickly becoming a favorite among fans, creators, and marketers alike. Video content creators can assume the role of the cameraperson, director, editor, the face in front of the camera, or all of them. That’s precisely why videography is for everyone, and as such, everybody stands to gain from it—in whichever capacity best serves them.
- Graphic design and digital art. Regardless of the platform or tool used, these individuals create art, typography, logos, animations, and infographics, to name a few. Simply put, they bring web content to life with the aid of the visual appeal. The more cohesive they can make the user experience, or the better they can make a webpage pop, the more engaged the viewer will be. Quality engagement is the foundation of solidifying brand identity and forging lasting consumer relationships.
Regardless of scope or title, the main objective for these content creators is to understand their niche well enough to then build and cater to an audience. That being said, social media trends are fickle. They change like the wind. That’s why all of these creators must be adaptable and willing to explore new tools to achieve their objectives.
Social Media Managers
The same goes for social media managers. Though the two hold similar-sounding titles, they do have some key differences. While social media managers may be responsible for content creation themselves, they more often delegate those tasks to properly oversee projects. Their aim, however, is the same: to elevate a brand’s social media presence.
As such, social media managers focus more on maintaining overall brand persona and reputation, strategically planning and scheduling content publication, monitoring metrics, and overseeing and delegating responsibility across socials.
Assessing Metrics to Create Effective Content
As with anything in life, becoming the master begins with mastering the basics. When it comes to the game of up-leveling your social presence, that means collecting metrics data and then leveraging it to create consistent, intentional content.
When it comes to up-leveling your social presence, start with the basics. Collect and analyze data metrics to create content moving forward. There are billions of eyes focused on social media and endless marketing opportunities.
As far as numbers go, let’s start broad and simple. About 72% of all Americans use some kind of social media. This means that the majority of us are utilizing at least one form of social media on a regular basis.
Currently, the world's most popular social media sites are Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. Each platform has a different audience and requires a different content strategy.
Differences in Social Platforms
Furthermore, it’s important to note that different populations frequent different social platforms. Understanding your target demographic is crucial for deciding which platforms you’ll use, what kind of content you’ll create, and which tools you’ll rely on to bring it all to life.
While adults of all ages report regularly using Facebook and Youtube, platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat cater to younger audiences. Those under 30 years old, coined ‘digital natives’ as a result of growing up alongside technology, prefer these platforms and have integrated them into their daily lives.
That being said, different platforms have different avenues for monitoring metrics. The most basic of these are follower count, likes, shares, and views. On certain platforms—such as Instagram and Tiktok—you may also need to focus on hashtag performance and how often you appear on “explore” or “for you” pages.
It’s necessary to keep track of both specific and general metrics as well as the rate of change. For your specific organization, focus intently on the KPIs you have set to improve reach (views and average viewing time), engagement (shares, comments, clicks), and consumer impression or feedback.
What Tools Does a Social Media Content Creator Use?
Content creation tools run the gamut for social platforms, from creative to technical and everything in between. The tools you’ll need depend on the social platform you use, your goals, and your specific role in content creation.
Increasing engagement is key across platforms—but how you go about doing this and the medium you use can vary a lot.
For instance, you don’t need us to tell you that graphic design, animation, video editing, and other visual content tools reign supreme as far as video and picture-based platforms go.
However, web content demands a touch of graphic design, too. No one’s going to stick around to read a 10-minute article without picture breaks or some sort of visual appeal, after all. You need to make your messaging pop with professional yet eye-catching flair.
Conversely, video platforms don’t necessarily need the context of the written word. Again, different platforms warrant different tactics.
As far as written content goes, writing and copy-editing tools are a godsend across platforms. They provide clarity of purpose within your social posts and help maintain customer relationships.
Writing tools can make it easier to ensure on-brand, professional writing, and they can even offer new avenues for engaging and opening a dialogue with customers. For example, surveys, quizzes, and other calls to action can all be created or improved with the right tools.
As a whole, social media management tools work overtime to optimize your social media strategy so you don’t have to. For starters, they keep track of messages to make customer correspondence easier and schedule posts to hit your audience at the most opportune times.
The tools below are some of the top content creation tools that brands and individuals have been using to optimize their content in an increasingly cutthroat attention economy.
Top Social Media Content Creator Tools
Graphic Design and Visual Tools
1. Canva
Canva is one of the most popular and frequently used graphic tools on the market, and for good reason. It’s easy to learn, incredibly user-friendly, accessible, and best of all, free (with options for paid subscriptions). With tons of pre-made, heavily customizable templates and layouts, Canva makes it easy to create beautiful graphics, logos, and so much more.
2. VistaCreate (Crello)
VistaCreate, formerly known as Crello, is a graphic design tool similar to Canva. The key difference lies in it being specifically catered toward the needs of marketing professionals, bloggers, small business owners, and well, anyone looking for cost-effective ways to streamline content creation. VistaCreate is free to use and offers the same customizable branding tools as Canva.
3. Powtoon
As discussed, video is fast becoming one of the most important assets to boost engagement and relatability. Video content is one of the easiest ways to ensure your message will stick with consumers.
Powtoon knows this well, and as such can be one of your greatest assets in your social strategy. It offers easy ways to create compelling animations for videos, presentations, and more. The user-friendliness of the site matched by a wide selection of customizable templates promotes unique, efficient content production. Not to mention, it’s free (with options for paid subscriptions)!
Writing Tools
4. Grammarly
Loved by writers of all kinds, Grammarly is a tool that uses AI to improve grammar, use of writing conventions, and overall clarity within the writing. It can be downloaded as a widget onto your browser to make suggestions in real-time.
Grammarly is an all-around great basic editing tool, whether you are creating long-form content or social media captions. A free option is available for basic writing suggestions, but they also have a subscription service available to receive more in-depth critiques on tone and style.
5. Typeform
Typeform allows you to create a variety of fun, engaging vehicles for your written content. Focused on helping you gather consumer feedback, Typeform is an accessible tool for creating quizzes, short-form questionnaires, surveys, and more. You can engage audiences in several formats, such as image-based, short answer, multiple choice, ‘yes’ or ‘no’, and other appealing media for human-centered research.
6. Dafont
At the intersection of writing and graphic design lies Dafont, the quickest and easiest way to improve your writing’s appeal. Dafont offers tons of fonts that are free to download and use, giving you ample options to communicate your written messaging.
Social Media Management Tools
7. EmbedFeed
EmbedFeed effortlessly integrates your organization’s personal site and various social media feeds. Basically, this social media aggregator uses an innovative system to empower organizations to repurpose user-generated content.
It also allows users to display this aggregated content on their website with a variety of widget options. They offer free-to-use as well as paid subscription options.
8. Buffer
Buffer is one of the most popular social media management tools that allow you to plan and monitor social content. You can strategically schedule posts, monitor hashtags, and respond to comments across all social platforms from an integrated dashboard.
Importantly, they also keep track of analytics to help you make decisions on when and where to post content. Their basic plan is free and can cover up to three social channels, with options for paid subscriptions.
9. Later
For advanced social media management, try Later. Later is a tool equipped with an array of management capabilities—specifically for content planning, discovery, analytics tracking, and publishing. The visual nature of Later enables you to plan out content more strategically before publishing across platforms with ease.
The Future of Social Media Content Creation
Social media is an ever-growing presence in all of our lives, as well as the newest frontier in attracting consumers, developing brand identity, and creating strategic communications.
All brands will need to seriously consider how to best utilize social media and content creation tools going into 2023. To do so, you must consider your audience, your goals, and your KPIs to determine how you can best leverage your social strategy.
As social media users only continue to grow, so do the reasons why you need to have a competitive social presence. The easy, affordable tools offered here are great starting points for enhancing your presence on social media. But to compete in the increasingly competitive environment of social media content creation, we suggest nailing your niche right off the bat.
Partner with WriteForMe
As the experts when it comes to content marketing, WriteForMe is here to be your partner in content creation. Our team will help you craft your perfect message—say what you want to say, to the people who need to hear it.
Are you ready to boost your brand and elevate your media production to its fullest potential? Reach out to us today for your free content marketing playbook and let’s get started!
Share your business story today!
Check out the WriteForMe podcast and Youtube channel to learn about exciting business stories from business owners around the globe slaying it every day!
Reach out to us for a guest spot opportunity to share your business story too.
Be our guest on the Business Ninjas podcast!