11 Graphic Design Tools to Create Stunning Visuals

These days, it seems that people want it all when it comes to their social media marketing. That means that you can be a brilliant strategist and a great writer, but if you don’t have the ability to make good graphics, you can’t deliver on the type of content people want to see. In the past, this meant hiring a graphic designer, thus cutting into your budget and potentially slowing up the process. Today, there are plenty graphic design tools that will help you make graphics that will wow your social media audience.

In compiling this list, we factored out online tools and websites that were niche-specific in terms of output – meaning we did not include font tools, screenshot tools, color tools or any other services that only deliver one aspect of a design. With any of the graphic design tools listed below, you can make an image to share on social media, add to a blog post, and more.

Canva

Canva may be the most popular of the free graphic design tools out there. They have a database of over a million images. Some are free, others cost $1. Many Canva users stick with the free options and are plenty successful. And, at $1 per image, you would pay way less than you would if you worked with a stock photography website like Shutterstock or Dreamstime. Canva provides templates for many different types of social posts. From email headers to Facebook covers, infographics to Pinterest images, Canva has you covered so you don’t have to resize images on your own.

The drag-and-drop functionality that Canva offers makes it easy for even the most unartistic marketer to create graphics online. You can insert text, change fonts, add logos, tweak the color palate – anything a graphic designer would do – all in an easy-to-navigate UI. You can download your image to share on social networks, or you can share to Facebook, Twitter, or email right from the tool. You can also email the image as an editable design, if you’re working in collaboration with other people.

Brand Studio

Brand Studio by Crowdspring is designed for small businesses and entrepreneurs. It’s a completely free tool to create marketing assets like business cards, brochures, signs, invoices, and more all in your brand style within seconds. 

It’s really simple. Just upload your logo or provide your website and Brand Studio builds all the marketing assets in your brand colors, fonts, and creative style.

This product is positioned between Canva and crowdspring’s custom design services. It works like Canva, but instead of forcing businesses to create their own designs, it automatically creates the most needed designs using their branding. 

• Over a dozen custom templates for your marketing designed in your brand style. 
• Edit and save designs
• Education on building a strong brand identity. 
• Free. No credit card is required.

illustrio

illustrio is a tool that brands itself as a “customizable image library for non-designers.” It isn’t free, but the pricing is very reasonable with the following plans:

• 5 downloads for $5
• 20 downloads for $10
• 100 downloads for $25
• 5000 downloads for $500

You can see a free preview of your graphic before you download it. illustrio offers graphics that were created by designers from all around the world, and they are customizable in terms of color scheme, text and more. Choose your color scheme and then choose a graphic to customize.

PicMonkey

With PicMonkey, you can design your own graphics, or choose from a an image that already exists in their library. The free version offers many backgrounds, images and options, and the Royale upgrade costs between $3.33 and $4.99 per month, starting with a 7-day free trial. When it comes to using your own photos, you can edit them to fix flaws like red eye or overexposure, and you can even remove wrinkles, whiten teeth and airbrush photos for a great finish. You can add a filter, similar to Instagram. Or, you can put several photos together in an eye-catching collage. PicMonkey is one of the more popular graphic design tools because it is user-friendly and many people really like the ability to touch up photos of people.

PromoRepublic

PromoRepublic is an online graphic design tool that provides next-level functionality and integration. Meaning, you can create images with PromoRepulbic, but you can also post them to a number of social media channels right in the same tool. Our team offers a packed editorial calendar with holiday, trend and event-themed posts preloaded and created by professional graphic designers. You can modify their template to add your logo, your own text, or your own images, or you can start from scratch.

Because of the auto-post and auto-scheduler options available with PromoRepublic, many users are creating all their social content with the tool. The intuitive UI makes it easy to load up your social calendars, eliminating the need to use multiple tools – one to create graphics online, and another to post. With PromoRepublic, it’s all there. In terms of Context Marketing, this is the graphic design tool of choice for many social media marketing professionals.

GIMP

GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program, was one of the first Photoshop imitators, designed to be the graphic design tool for people who didn’t want to pay for the Adobe suite. It is free software that you download onto your computer. It’s easier to use if you have some Photoshop experience, but the website provides lots of tutorials for newbies. While GIMP allows you all the photo manipulation, original art creation and graphics elements that Photoshop does, it is highly technical and doesn’t have the drag-and-drop features of other tools on this list.

Pixlr

People who have had a hard time using GIMP found Pixlr easier to use, though it is also a Photoshop-like graphic design tool. You can download the app to desktop or mobile, and you can choose from Pixlr Editor or Pixlr Express. The editor allows you to work in a Photoshop-like environment where you work with layers. The Express option allows a quicker photo personalization option where you can add filters, borders and other creative effects. Again, you don’t have the drag-and-drop functionality of other tools, but it is a bit easier to use than Photoshop or GIMP.

LiveLuvCreate

This free option for graphics design tools allows you to share or recreate images made by other users. Or, you can create an image yourself, add some text, and then choose from LiveLuvCreate’s selection of filters, effects and borders. Use a free image from the tool, or upload your own from either your Facebook photos or your computer. And, for super fans, the interface offers a selection of FanFiction for you to read, or you can create your own. This might not be the right tool for everyone, but it is definitely fun to go in and see what other users have created.

PicCollage
This is a downloadable app (available on Android and Apple platforms), that lets you create graphics online right from your cell phone. They have an ever-growing library of templates, over 80 backgrounds you can use and over 1500 stickers you can add to your photos for personalization. You can choose images from an album on Facebook to create a collage, edit them as you wish, and then share them out on Facebook, all from the PicCollage app. This is a great quick, easy tool to make beautiful images, but for branded, call-to-action type materials, you might want to go with a more robust tool.

Over

Over is a mobile app – available for Android and Apple products, that costs anywhere between $1.99 and $4.99, depending on how many features you want to use. The app is useful, but somewhat limited in that you don’t have a library of photos to choose from. You can take a new photo or use a photo from one of the albums on your mobile device. It’s pretty easy to add text to your image, and the art overlays create truly stunning images.

BeFunky

BeFunky allows you to add textures, frames and filters to your images with the Photo Editor, group your photos together with the Collage Maker, or create custom images with the Designer. The graphic design tool has a wonderfully simple UI, and BeFunky supplies you with templates that you can drag-and-drop elements into. It is one of the easiest to use graphic design tools that can make you look like a design professional. Once you learn a little more, you can create projects from scratch in an interface that’s super intuitive and pleasant to use.

As you can see, there are lots of tools out there that allow you to design graphics online. Depending on the ease of use and functionality of one or more of the tools we’ve outlined above, you could choose one, two or more to build up your design arsenal and create stunning visuals. The only thing that can limit you is your own imagination, so start digging around to find the right program. In today’s fast-paced marketing world, you have to offer a little bit of everything. We just try to make it easier for you.

5 Best Social Media Campaigns

We all strive, as content marketers, to be purveyors of the best ideas. Full of social media campaign ideas, we want our campaigns to go viral, to break the Internet, to be the best ever.

So, to be the best, we have to look at the best. Here are some creative social media campaigns to take notice of – whether you’re building a campaign for a big brand or you’re trying to bring a local business into the bigger league.

Without ado, these are the social media campaign examples that we want to be good enough to beat.

Old Spice – “Smell Like a Man, Man” Interactive Response Campaign

In 2010, during the Super Bowl, the world was introduced to “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” on YouTube, and then on TV shortly after. It was an Old Spice ad, and it captured a lot of attention. But that was February. By July, the Old Spice Guy was a well-known and well-loved media icon, but the company wanted to do more with him.

https://youtu.be/83tZxik8Lk8

So, they took their strategy to the people and created one of the best social media campaigns of all time.

Old Spice’s ad agency, Wieden+Kennedy Portland, scripted 186 personal video messages in response to questions and comments they pulled from Old Spice’s social accounts on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. They also looked to Reddit and Digg for more material. Production of the videos took just over 2 days, and the results were phenomenal.

What Makes This Social Media Marketing Campaign So Great?

W+K took questions from a variety of social platforms and scripted the videos in direct response to them, with the Old Spice Guy actually saying the person’s name. This is personal, intimate, contextual marketing at its absolute finest, making this campaign way ahead of its time.

The Results

• 1st day launch on YouTube – 5.9 million views
• 3rd day on YouTube – 20 million views
• Twitter following increase – 2700%
• Facebook fan interaction increase – 800%
• Web traffic increase – 300%
• Sales increase – doubled, making Old Spice the number one seller of men’s body wash

It’s hard to find better social media campaign examples than this, but we’ll try.

Starbucks #RedCups Holiday Campaigns

Everyone loves a Pumpkin Spice Latte, but few are disappointed when Starbucks cups turn red and it’s time for Peppermint Mocha instead. Starbucks is known for their top social media campaigns, as well as their tremendous following city-to-city, but #RedCups is something even bigger.

Now, granted, the red cup phenomenon started as somewhat of a controversy. They used to put Christmas iconography on their cups – like reindeer, ornaments, and whatnot. In October 2015, Starbucks opted for a solid red cup, rather than a holiday-themed cup. While accused of being haters, Starbucks defended their position by saying that they wanted to have a simple design that embraced everyone’s story.

Why This Is a Cool Social Media Holiday Campaign

• Starbucks was respectful and tolerant of the criticism surrounding their decision for plain red cups, saying that they try “to create a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity.” Stay classy, Starbucks.
• Whether the feedback was good or negative (and you know they say there really is no bad publicity), their red cups got a crazy amount of social shares.
• They’re continuing the campaign this year, and rewarding customers who upload it and tag it #redcupcontest, thus rewarding social media users and standing by their #RedCups.

The Results

• Within 48 hours: An Instagram share every 14 seconds
• Plenty of potential for this year, when people can win a Starbucks gift card for tagging a photo with #redcupcontest.
• Goodwill with all people by being respectful of all cultures and backgrounds.

By refusing to participate in a social media war when they were accused of being anti-Christian, Starbucks stood by their simple holiday cheer by saying that they love all people, and want to serve them good coffee. And, by continuing their plain #redcup tradition, they are enforcing their corporate values and establishing goodwill. By giving free coffee.

That’s our list of cool social media campaigns. We love campaigns that are contextual – that know when, where and how to communicate with whom. We love campaigns that are visually stunning, like Ikea’s and the WWF’s. We love companies that stand up for their corporate values and communicate them freely and clearly. And, we love marketers who can figure out new and different ways to reach customers via social media. That’s why we picked these 5 awesome campaigns. Can you think of one that beats our list? Please submit it in the comments below, visit us on Facebook, or email us at alla@wanted-dev.xyz.

World Wildlife Fund – #LASTSELFIE Snapchat Campaign

How about a campaign that used Vine, a platform that professionals said could never be used for marketing? The World Wildlife Fund, or WWF, used Snapchat to create the #LastSelfie campaign, where they showed pictures of endangered animals with the message that this could be the animal’s “last selfie.”

What Makes This Campaign So Great?

This is great, because it was among the first viral social media campaigns on Snapchat. Snapchat is a social media platform where the images or videos disappear after a matter of seconds. WWF used this feature to its advantage, with messaging like “In 6 seconds I’ll be gone forever. But, you can still save my kind. #LastSelfie.” The challenge presented to users was to take a screenshot of the image before it vanished. Then they would share it on their other social networks, like Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat.

The Results

• After one week – 40,000 Tweets
• In that same week – seen by 120 million (half) of all Twitter users
• In three days – WWF reached its donation goal
• Immediately – was shared globally, with headlines in over 6 languages

Though it’s a shame that we still have endangered animals that we can help, WWF used Snapchat’s disappearing content feature for good, in a very clever (not to mention viral), way.

Ikea: “Facebook Showroom”

This is an oldie but a goodie. In fall of 2009, a new Ikea store was opening in Malmo, Sweden. Ikea wanted to advertise the fact that they were opening a new branch, but didn’t want to spend a lot of money. The engaged Forsman & Bodenfors, an ad agency founded in Sweden in 1986, to come up with a cost-effective campaign for them.

And they created one of the most effective social media campaigns on a budget.

Over the course of two weeks, pictures of showrooms were uploaded to an “Ikea Gordon” Facebook page – one created specifically for this campaign. They urged users to tag the picture – the first person to tag a product in the picture would win it. At the time, there was a 30 tag limit per picture rule enforced with Facebook. These images reached that limit within minutes.

What Makes This Campaign So Great?

• It costs very little to upload a picture of a showroom, but the tagging activity resulted in thousands of people being reached through the Facebook campaign.
• It encouraged people to interact with the Facebook page.
• It rewarded people for interacting quickly.

The Results

• The campaign was a Cannes Gold Cyber Lyon in 2010
• The branch manager, Gordon, who owned the Facebook page is now friends with thousands of people across the globe
• The campaign put Ikea on the map in the social space

The smart use of the Facebook tagging feature, added to a reward-based campaign where the first to tag an item won it, expresses one of the simplest tenets of advertising. Give them something free and they will love you forever.

KLM – #HappyToHelp

Netherlands airline KLM did a one-week social media campaign where they monitored tweets from not only their own customers, but the customers of other airlines. Then, they set out to make them happier.

First, they researched Twitter for 6 months to compile hundreds of keywords to look for. Then, they set up a room in the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to display what they were doing – showing an interactive screen that showed everything going on in the world. They were keenly aware of passengers experiencing trouble with different airlines. They helped people get visas, delivered a bed for a tired traveler, and even sang a song for someone with insomnia.

What Makes This One of The More Successful Social Media Campaigns?

By responding real-time to people’s needs, KLM:

• Provided real help to travelers in need. What better PR for a brand can there be?
• Reached those customers at the exact time they needed help.
• Displayed their activity for other people to see, thus building brand awareness.

The Results

• 7 million views
• 36 million impressions
• Crazy good brand awareness

KLM not only executed one of the great social media campaigns, they really focused on their target audience’s pain points and went out of their way to make potential customers happy. This went a long way to secure the airline’s position, and they probably managed to steal quite a few customers from other airlines.