In today’s digital world, visual content dominates — so learn to seize the opportunity!
In digital hangouts such as social networks, websites and blogs, visual content commands the most attention. For this reason, visual content is valuable if you’re looking to attract potential clients, grow your network, stand out from the crowd and step ahead of the competition!
So how can you create great visual content without hiring a graphic designer?
Lucky for those of us without unlimited funds to hire a personal graphics guru, there are plenty of great resources that can help anyone create impressive visual content.
Here are some of my favorite free visualization tools to help you start easily creating visual content:
1. Create stunning graphics with Canva.
Quickly turn your idea into a professional-grade design with Canva. It’s easy and fun to use. First, choose your canvas size. Canva has tons of options depending on your needs, from Facebook and Twitter posts to blog graphics and real estate fliers, all presized to display perfectly.
Next, choose from a number of layouts and add text, graphics or your own photos.
When you’re done, you can download your masterpiece as an image or high-quality PDF, or share straight to social media. All of this can be done for free, but be careful … certain layouts and graphics will have a tiny dollar sign symbol. That symbol means you must pay to use them, and you won’t be able to publish your finished product for free.
Tip: Create a template so you can use your favorite designs again in the future!
2. Make works of art with PicMonkey.
PicMonkey is a visualization tool that allows you to edit images, add text, use filters or even design a custom visual from scratch. There are tons of seasonal, holiday and other fun templates you can use for free. Some features are for paid users only, but don’t let this deter you from trying PicMonkey — there are more than enough free features available to make great visuals.
Tip: PicMonkey’s blog has tons of great tutorials, plus content visualization and marketing ideas.
3. Share some inspiration with QuotesCover.
There’s a reason people often share quotes on social media … because others can relate! We all need a little inspiration now and again, and that’s why quotes are another popular type of visual content on social media.
QuotesCover lets you easily visualize an existing quote or a quote of your own.
Tip: Can’t remember the exact wording of a quote? No problem. Search by keyword, topic or author.
It may take a while to get used to these tools, but once you get the hang of it you’ll be breaking out visual content in no time. There are also plenty of other tools out there, so if you haven’t found your favorite yet, keep searching until you find one you are comfortable using.
Just remember, no visualization will overcome a weak content strategy, so make sure you brainstorm some great ideas for the content you want to visualize first. Then head over to these tools to make that content shine. Happy visualizing!
Nikki Ilchert is an award-winning digital marketer and branding expert. She loves helping Realtors, entrepreneurs and small businesses.
