16 Tools and Resources for Creating Social Media Images

Do you focus more on text than images on social media? However, there are countless undeniable advantages to using images in social media marketing. To make it easier for you, we've rounded up 16 tools and resources to easily create images for social media…

A picture is worth 1,000 words, especially on social media!

We can't repeat it enough: "a picture is worth 1,000 words"... provided you have the right pictures! Today, people have an attention span of 8 seconds, which is less than a goldfish. As a result, images are more important than ever, especially on social media.

Social media is a cluttered space, and using images is a great way to grab attention. A social media post accompanied by a photo is ten times more likely to get engagement. A study carried out by Adobe also showed that Facebook posts with visuals obtained an engagement of +650% compared to text-only posts (source: Archimag).

Why? Much of the brain is focused on visual processing, allowing humans to process images at incredible speed. The human brain can recognize a familiar object in just 100 milliseconds, making images the perfect way to communicate in today's attention-short world.

Why is the image essential on social networks?

Because our brain reacts so quickly to images and colors compared to other types of information, the image is essential on social networks.

Readability

One of the main reasons is readability. There is nothing worse than landing on a page and there are only pages and pages of text, it puts people off because it is too overwhelming to watch. Adding visuals to these types of pages helps break them up into sections, making it easier for the reader to digest the information.

Authenticity

On social networks, it is important to be original and to stand out from others. On social networks, you see things without even looking for them. When you come across a topic that interests you, or just a funny image, you are likely to click on it, so depending on your topic, it can help you get more views on your article content.

Also, using a mix of images and graphics is a good option, because if you don't have access to original photos like many people don't, you can bring out your identity and originality in charts and infographics.

Sharing

If images stand out to the reader, they are more likely to be shared. Your content will therefore be broadcast to be seen by a wider audience.

16 tools to create images for social networks

1. Blurgrounds

Blurgrounds is a collection of 200 blurry backgrounds that you can use in your apps, web design projects, and print. All of these softly blurred backgrounds are high resolution (2900 x 2000 pixels) and with a pixel density of 320/inch. The backgrounds are available in many vibrant color combinations that you can choose from according to your needs.

2. Canva

Canva makes creating images super easy (especially for non-designers) with their pre-made templates, custom image sizes for each social media channel, drag-and-drop interface, cool fonts, and Moreover.

3. Colourlovers

COLOURlovers, a color-focused design inspiration and information site. It is the perfect resource that monitors color trends. It allows you to compare color palettes, submit new colors, and read color-related articles and interviews.

4. CloudApp

CloudApp is an instant video and image sharing platform for professionals. It's the fastest way to capture and embed videos, GIFs, screenshots, and images. CloudApp has many features that make it easier to communicate visually. Using a live screen recorder, screenshot editor, or a simple snipping tool app, anyone can get their message across more effectively.

5. Easel.ly

Easel.ly lives up to its name as it is a tool for creating neat infographics simply by modifying existing templates. The trick is to make sure that the templates available match the information you want to convey. An infographic can add visual interest and emphasize content through maps, charts, tables, diagrams, flowcharts, and timelines. It can also replace traditional text by grouping discrete pieces of information and showing the relationships between them.

6. Iconfinder

Iconfinder provides high-quality icons to millions of content creation professionals. This icon search engine helps find a huge range of content for apps, websites, presentations, and other visual designs. Iconfinder provides high quality icons with over 340,000 stock icons for web designers and developers in an easy and efficient way.

7. Infogr.am

Infogr.am is a free web service for creating simple online infographics and charts for websites, blogs or to share via social media. It is very simple and intuitive, which makes it a good choice for beginners. Infogr.am has become a leader in the field of data visualization. It is particularly suited to web content and specializes in interactive charts, graphs and maps.

8. Noun Project

Noun Project is a website that creates a global visual language of symbols and icons. Its library contains an incredible number of visual images that represent tons of words in English. Since most are available for free download, the Noun Project makes attribution very clear and easy.

9. Page2Images

Page2Image is a platform that easily generates screenshots of websites and APIs for its users. This mobile-optimized website thumbnail creator takes the current navigation page for take a photo of it and download it as a file when clicked to provide users with the best and real emulator. Users can convert the HTML to a screenshot or full size image through the software. The software delivers real results from mobile-friendly websites that support Flash, JavaScript, and redirects. It makes it easy to upload or add images for Pinterest.

10. Photovisi

Photovisi is an online collage maker that offers dozens of great designs and templates. No download is required. Just go to the site, select a template or collage you want to make, add images and play with other effects before downloading. It's also quick and simple. Photos can come from your computer, their database (if you're logged in), or from the web. You can also import images from Facebook or Instagram. Log in to your social media account to instantly add photos.

11. Pictaculous

Pictaculous takes an image of your choice and generates a selection of color palettes from it. With a simple download, you can turn an inspirational image into a functional design palette. Pictaculous creates a primary palette composed of colors directly extracted from the image.

In concrete terms, let's say you know the image you want to include in your chart, and you'd also like advice on what colors to use for frames, backgrounds, text, and icons. Upload the image to Pictaculous and you will get your answer. The tool studies your image and returns suggested palettes for you to choose from.

Also read: Google Photos adds new video editing features

12. Placeit

Placeit offers thousands of “Product Mockups” which are basically pre-made image templates to place your own image into the image provided by the site. It offers to create mockups for thousands of devices and locations such as packaging, clothing, and printing materials. One of the big advantages is that when you upload an image, it is already placed in all kinds of mockups in the preview. This saves time because you don't have to upload it in every mockup.

13. PowerPoint

Presentation software might not be the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to creating images, but there are plenty of hobbyist designers out there who benefit greatly from the creation of images via templates and tools integrated directly into PowerPoint.

Think of slides as pictures, and consider how easy it is to edit slides in PowerPoint. You can set photos as slide backgrounds, add text and colors, and place icons and graphics. When you save the slide in PowerPoint, choose to save as picture.

14. Skitch

Skitch is a screen capture and image sharing application available on Mac for computers, iPads, iPod touch and now iPhone. It lets you take snapshots of your screen, photos, documents, and more. Then the editing tools can be used to apply text, lines, shapes, and arrows to your screenshot.

15. Smush.it

Smush.it is an online service from Yahoo that helps you compress your image without degrading its size. There is also a WordPress plugin called Smush.it that does the same thing. Once you install and activate this plugin, every time you upload an image, it will be compressed automatically. It will not affect your image quality and most importantly, you should not miss any image because of its loading time.

WP Smush is one of the easiest plugins to perform image compression for WordPress. It can help you effortlessly optimize your images to avoid frustrating your visitors with slow loading content.

16. Subtle Patterns

This website offers a huge library of minimal vector textures. Downloading all their textures is completely free. These patterned backgrounds are for websites, but it's totally possible to use them for quick and easy social media image backgrounds. All you need to do is find your texture, capture the preview of the site's tiled background, upload it, and add it to your image editor.

Source: Buffer