Social media images should be visually appealing enough to stop social media users on their track rather than making then scroll past without sparing your post a second look. When you post a low quality or boring picture, users might not even notice your post, which means no brand awareness.

Luckily, there are lots of tools that help in creating beautiful social media images. The best part is using these tools requires little effort from you and yet gives the perfect image. They are also free or cheap to use.

Here are some great tools that help in creating social media graphics:

Canva

This tool is one of the most popular tools for social media graphics. You can use the tool even if you don’t have designing skills. You can edit your photos, build graphs, create infographics, etc. You can also use several fonts, colors, layouts it has to offer. You don’t need to edit after using this tool if you are going to post it on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest as it already comes with preset image sizes for these social media platforms. It is a basic free tool, but if you need more customized, you’ll need to pay.

Colorcinch

If you wish to convert your photos into cartoons, paintings and sketches -you can turn to Colorcinch. With hundreds of available AI-powered effects and filters, you can get stunning results with just a single click . You can adjust the clarity, exposure, and contrast of your photos and make their colors pop. It also comes with a text editor and freehand drawing tools. With its vast collection of stock images, graphics & icons, masks, and overlays, you can personalize your photos to suit  your social media needs.

Hootsuite composer

Use this tool to edit or customize your photos. All you need do is upload your photo and start editing. There is the option to resize, filter, turn, or even transform the photos. There is also a library of photos where you can choose the kind of photos you wish to edit. You don’t even need to worry about the size specification of Facebook or Instagram, as the app has various recommended images sizes you can pick.

Adobe stock

It’s not every business that has enough budget to capture their pictures or design them, which is why many make use of stock photos. One of the tools that offer stock images is Adobe stock. It has over 80 million photos, videos, illustrations, and templates you can use.

You don’t need to be a professional illustrator or videographer to use the Adobe stock since they’ve done all the work for you. All you need to do is select a license to download images related to your audience’s needs then share it to your accounts.

Stencil

Another image editor you can use for editing your image is Stencil. You can get lots of pictures, templates, quotes, backgrounds, and more using it. It has over 2 million photos and over 100,000 quotes. There is also a canvas where you can add various visual elements on it.

After getting the desired image, you can download it and share it on your platforms. It’s a free app, but if you want a more extraordinary picture, you might want to consider making payments, which start from $9 a month.

iStock

Another tool you can get stock photos from is the iStock tool, which has a collection of photos and illustrations that is royalty-free. The images from this tool do not look like regular stock photos.

You can easily find and save images to a board for future purposes or to ensure that all your images carry a consistent design, which is useful when planning a social media campaign.

Giphy

If you need animated gifs for your social media content, you can get it free from Giphy. Using animated gifs is one of the best ways to engage your audience. By giving them something different from the regular photos or videos, you spike up their interest and renew their passion for your brand.

Creative market

You can get lots of design tools such as website themes, mockups, graphics, fonts from the creative market. These tools have been assembled by different creators, which means you don’t need to do any extra designing before sharing to your social media. They offer both free and paid products. You can start with the free products which they offer every week then if you like the result, upgrade to the paid ones.

BeFunky

You can create collages and other graphics using this tool. Like the name, you can create funky images by adding special effects provided by the app. There are free digital effects as well as paid ones.

You can also assemble the images you have created to form a collage, depending on what you want your audience to see. There are also business templates, headers, and other layouts the app provides for digital marketers in need of them.

After editing your images with all the relevant effects, you can proceed to download them for use on your social media accounts.

Infogram

This tool helps those who are looking for ways to make their brand authority in certain areas. It helps in creating data reports using infographics, charts, maps, etc. It makes your contents look more credible, which will encourage your audience to share or repost. The app is free but also has three packages you can purchase when you get the hang of the tools.

Venngage

This tool is an all-round design tool that you can use for social media graphics, reports, and lots of other projects. There are ready-made templates you can use, a library of images, chart tools, design editor, and much more. There is also a chart tool that you can use for data visualization. You can access the tool for free, but you will need to pay for certain features.

Over

You can now comfortably add overlays and even different to your images with your phone through a mobile app called over, which works for both Androids and iPhones. In the app, you’ll find different photos, videos, colors, graphics, etc. which you can customize and share with your audience across various social media platforms.

Desygner

Another mobile application you can use to create excellent social media graphics is desygner. You can create images, flyers, or even presentations. Anyone can use this tool, including those without any experience in creating a professional design. And even though the editing goes on in your phone, it still produces high-quality graphics.

Wrapping things up

I use a combination of all these tools, but Canva is typically my favorite. As you can see, there are many of them, and I use almost all of them. Sometimes it depends on the job, and other times, it depends on my mood. I like having options.

Also, if you’re building a presence on a social media platform like Facebook or Instagram, you may have heard of “lifestyle photos,” and how important it is to include them in your content strategy. You can learn more about lifestyle photos here.

Still have trouble picking the right images? Take a look at this post on 19 Amazing Sites for Free Stock Photos (Updated for 2019)