The most engaging social media is all about imagery. No matter the social media platform, images are what grab the attention of your audience. And you don’t have to be a graphic design expert to create engaging images. All you need are the right tools and you will be on your way to quickly creating images that tell the story of your child care business. Here is a roundup of the top 6 tools to help you create awesome graphics for social media.
1. Canva
This is one of my go-to tools for creating beautiful graphics for social media. The website is very intuitive and you can use one of the thousands of templates they already have or build your own. This is a wonderful tool to build images that let your child care brand shine! While some of the templates are not free, there are quite a bit that are free to use.
From the menu, you can select a layout, search for images, purchase stock photos, add effects to your image, and customize the graphic to match your brand color palette and fonts. Play with it, get creative, and see how your audience responds! My clients have told me they’ve gone on to use this tool to create other stellar marketing materials for their child care.
2. Over
Over is a mobile app that allows you to easily create graphics on-the-go to upload to social media right from your phone. Snap photos around your child care, layer on some text, add effects, and there is your post for the day. Easy as that!
3. PicMonkey
PicMonkey is another go-to tool that I use for creating graphics for child care centers. It is similar to Canva in that it is easy to use and offers an array of templates and project types to get your started. A bonus feature of PicMonkey is that you can create some amazing collages, which you can use in any marketing promotions or on the Pinterest boards for your child care center.
4. Pixabay
I always get asked by child care center owners and directors where they can get stock photos. While I highly encourage you to use photos from around your child care center as much as possible, sometimes you need specific pictures to express an idea, holiday, etc. Pixabay is a GREAT resource for FREE stock photos.
5. Social Image Resizer Tool
I am so excited to have just discovered this tool. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent inefficiently resizing images for different social media uses. No more! Check out this website to help you resize your images!
6. Facebook Grid Tool
Ok so originally this article was going to be 5 tools but I couldn’t leave this one out. As most of you know, but maybe some of you don’t, paid ads on Facebook can not contain more than 20% of text. I use this Facebook Grid Tool almost every day to make sure I am under their 20% rule. You REALLY don’t want to upload images with more than 20% and get your ad disapproved. While it might be an inconvenience to you to re-upload a different graphic, it also counts “against” your Facebook account and could lead to it getting shut down someday. I wouldn’t want that to happen to you!
Hope this helps! Have fun creating some graphics for your child care business.
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