Social Media Toolkit for Creating Engaging Social Media Posts

Ripl—an app for iPhone and Android that Buffer—an app for your phone and a website (for will produce an animated post for , your desktop) that will help you release social media , or other social media platforms. You posts to multiple platforms all in one place. To begin, can upload pictures into predesigned formats get the app or go to www.buffer.com and sign up and add your own text. When posted, it looks like for an account. Next, add your Facebook, , a video with a play button and will really add a Instagram, and/or other social media account professional look to your social media. information to Buffer.

The free version does mean you have limited As you are creating content for posts, or if you find an design options. Get it in itunes (for iPhone) or the article that you want to share with your followers, etc., Google Play Store (for Android). There is not a you can just log in to Buffer to schedule it across all of desktop version so you do have to use it on your your social media. You can even and define the time phone. that you want to release the post. Examples If you are someone that likes to set aside time to create multiple posts at one time, but don’t want to post them all at once, use Buffer to set up a que of posts and schedule them as far out as you want. Buffer is a huge timesaver if you have been manually posting to various social media platforms regularly.

Screenshots of how I have utilized Ripl with my social media clients. They were animated so screen- shots don’t do it justice. Check it out for yourself and see what you can create.

Screenshot Ripl’s interface

Do you prefer to have an expert handle your social media?

This is a screenshot of my Buffer account. I have my own business and some clients’ business- es on Buffer. (Mine is the professional and not the free version since I require access to so Reach out to me at [email protected] or many social media accounts. call 816-875-6416 to inquire about my services.

Here is one of my posts from Buffer as it shows up in Facebook. You can see there is no obvious difference in the way it looks I specialize in compared to once created within Facebook. Therefore, the person seeing it in their feed helping small wouldn’t be able to tell that you used Buffer at all. The only exception to that is if you businesses and include a URL in your post. If you do that, it will often change the URL to be a shortened would love to work one through Buffer. with you.

Erin Albright, Owner and Creative Director at Albright Creative, LLC Canva.com—Canva should be at the top of the short list of social media tools that are used by small businesses. If you don’t have a professional designer on staff or on retainer to help you with last minute graphics that are properly sized for various social media platforms, then Canva is a must have! The website offers designs for both print and digital projects. They offer high-end stylized graphics and casual, fun options as well.

In this example, I needed to make a Facebook post. On my dashboard, I clicked the plus sign in the top right of the screen to reveal all of the design options. I selected “Facebook Post.”

This is a screenshot of my Canva dashboard. You can see one of the designs that I recently made for a client’s Christmas email. You can also see various options at the top of my dash- board for new projects. You can see listings for “card, facebook app, invitation, flyer,” etc.Click on the plus sign to reveal more listings.

Next, I viewed the Facebook Post designs that appear along the left side of the screen and I selected one that fits my needs. I modified the text and then selected “Download” to download the image in the proper size needed to display in the most optimal way on Facebook. My example does not require me to upload a photo into Canva, but in many cases you will want to do that. It is easy to do! In fact, Canva can do a lot more than I can show you here. For a great tutorial video, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL-WbHwsbs8. It is an overview of all the things that Canva offers.

My Finished Canva Design

I selected my design from the options at the left and then modified the text to fit my needs. Once done, I selected “Download” to download the image so that it can be uploaded to Facebook. Please note that the tools that you will need to add new text or change things in the design are on the far left side (circled in dark pink in this screenshot).

Create professionally designed marketing materials and social media posts using Canva.

Need additional help or support for your company? Visit albrightcreative.us or call (816) 875-6416.