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A PROGRAM OF THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION
 

IOM Blog

August 18, 2014

Two Free Social Media Tools You Should Not Live Without

Social media experts recommend organizations create social media posts which are visual. Even if you’re not a social media expert, it’s easy to see why this is recommended. For instance, when you log onto Facebook, what posts are you most drawn to? For the vast majority of users, the answer is images.

Organizations need to capitalize upon the popularity of images. Often I hear organizations say they can’t afford to purchase image creation products or hire someone to create visually appealing images. I can understand this, but there’s a solution to these problems for even the smallest of organizations.

Here are two free tools I utilize. The first is an online image creator called Canva. The second is Piktochart, an online infographic creator.

Canva

I use Canva to create image quotes for Institute’s #TipTuesday. This use only scratches the surface of all Canva can do. I would advise you to take a momentary pause and visit Canva’s website. Rather than describe all of Canva’s features here on this blog, I think it’s best if you experience them for yourself.

Tip Tuesday 6-17-2014
An example of a recent #TipTuesday image created through Canva.

 

Canva is hands down the most user-friendly online image creator I’ve come across. There are a few features you can pay for, but in all my time using Canva, I’ve never felt the need to utilize those feautres.

Piktochart

Infographics are a great way to display statistics. I use infographics in my social media report given out at our Board Meetings. Piktochart is a free, online tool to create infographics. And again, instead of listing here all the features of Piktochart, I recommend you take five minutes to play around with it and brainstorm how your organization can utilize infographics. Remember any statistic can be turned into an infographic. You can see a sample infographic here I created for another blog.

Is there another free, online tool you’ve found helpful? Feel free to let us know by leaving a comment below.

 

Avatar photo
Meghan M. Longenecker, IOM
Professional Development Manager
American Academy of Audiology

Meghan Longenecker, IOM is the professional development manager at the American Academy of Audiology, the world's largest professional organization of, by, and for audiologists. Prior to joining the Academy, Meghan worked at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation on the Institute for Organization Management program. Under Meghan's leadership, Institute won “Gold” in the Association TRENDS All-Media competition in the category of social media in 2014 and “Silver” in 2015. Meghan served as an Institute faculty member teaching classes on social media and communications.

Comments

  1. Nicole M Smith says

    August 29, 2014 at 5:20 pm

    This is a great article! I am always excited to learn of additional resources. Another one you might want to check out is http://www.picmonkey.com. This site allows you to edit images, or create your own, even .png files with a transparent background (perfect when overlapping another project or PowerPoint). Most of its features are also free, and some require a minimal annual charge for the upgraded accont.

    Reply
  2. Avatar photommorgan says

    August 29, 2014 at 5:28 pm

    Hi Nicole: Thanks so much for your comment! I will definitely check out PicMonkey. – Meghan

    Reply

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