Beyond Canva — 5 tools to simplify social content

If you create social content on a regular basis Canva has probably become your go-to tool. It’s quick, easy and best of all free. But as is the case with most freemium platforms, you get what you pay for. Sometimes you need something with a few more options and a little more depth. So with that in mind — here are a few tools to consider when you sit down to generate content.

Stencil

Until recently Stencil was known as “Share as an Image” and much like Canva allowed you to create quick shareable visuals to share on your own channels. It has a big library of images, stencils, templates and fonts but also has a great Chrome extension that allows you to right click on any image, add text and then share it to your channels.

Buffer/Pablo

There’s a good chance Buffer is on your radar but you might not be aware of how diverse it is. Beyond being able to schedule your posts and surface content to match your brand, there’s also Pablo for creating gorgeous imagery for you social channels. The tool features templates, a databank of images and automatic posting to your connected social properties.

SproutSocial

Less about creating striking visuals and more about managing everything else on your social marketing list. From posting, to in depth analytics, to content calendars and scheduling SproutSocial has just about everything. The tool also has a handy Chrome extension for quickly sharing content from other websites.

Feedly

Original content is great, but you need to keep the funnel filled and that means sharing other people’s stuff. Feedly is a great RSS tool for compiling links and content that will learn and then suggest other websites for your list. It also connects with your social channels to allow for instant sharing (along with a host of other add ons).

PicMonkey

If you’re looking for something that falls somewhere between Canva and Photoshop this is your tool. PicMonkey allows for layers and uploads of original imagery, but also has a ton of stencils, templates and other great tools to play with. This is one you could easily spend a day playing around with.

These are some of our favourite tools aimed at speeding up the amount of time you spend creating content. Be sure tell us about yours.