By
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May 5, 2020
The digital marketing landscape of content creation is taking cues from social media. Memes and GIFs, and even interactive images and graphics.
Creating engaging and unique content to stand out against the cookie-cutter stuff around you is the challenge of developing a content marketing strategy that works. So if you’re not sure where to start, don’t worry! You’re definitely not alone.
You don’t need to be a jack-of-all-trades multimedia content creator, and you don’t need to break your budget in order to create something original.
We’ve compiled alist of best practices and tools that can help anyone create multimedia content, regardless of their level of experience.
Images are often an overlooked aspect of creating a multimedia plan. Most people assume that having a picture and posting it across all your social media platforms is enough, but that’s only the beginning.
Did you know that different social media platforms have different display dimensions? So the picture you formatted and posted to both Twitter and Instagram might be perfect on one of those channels, but not the other. Here are the recommended dimensions for posting images on just some of the most popular social media platforms:
You should also focus on branding, and the message you can deliver with these images. If you don’t manage to catch their attention, people will scroll past the content on their newsfeeds. Most won’t even bother to read the caption.
That’s why it’s important to include branding design elements, like your logo on the image to grab people’s attention and increase awareness for your business with what you post. Touching up, formatting, and adding branding to your images is crucial, and you can do it using any of these programs:
Elements is a watered-down version ofAdobe’s traditional Photoshop program, but it should put everything you need at your disposal. Adobe is the industry standard when it comes to editing images, so you can rest assured the money you spend on a subscription is going towards something quality.
You can create multimedia dynamically here with posting templates. All you need to do is swap out the picture, make sure it looks the way you want it, then quickly export it without having to set all of the same presets for every new project.
Elements can be a little more on the advanced side of things with all of its (very useful)features. But don’t let that intimidate you! It has a user-friendly interface and lots of resources and video tutorials to teach you how to do everything you could ever want within the program.
Canva is more geared towards the less-involved editors. If you’re just trying to create a quick graphic for your audience to engage with, Canva will be the right choice for you. You can create easy collages, add filters and text to posts, and re-size things to be the proper dimensions.
There are a lot of free options within the program, but you could end up paying $1 for pictures edited. If you plan on doing a high volume of posts with images and don’t feel like paying $1 per download, there are other options that you can look into.
At the end of the day, you might want to invest in a software or service to save money and get the most return on your investment.
When it comes to trends, few things have taken social media by storm like GIFs. They not only serve as a great way to preserve a short moment or clip. A majority of people use them as reactions to posts and comments, or as memes in their own right. They’re funny, they’re relevant, and most of all, they’re sharable.
You can use them to further connect with your audience, create a clip of some other form of content you have already created, or as a way to create a new form of content that your followers can interact with. Below are two affordable options to create GIFs without the hassle.
One of the easiest ways to create high-quality GIFs from virtually any source of media isGIF Brewery. They have an upload process that allows you to take anything from a URL link to an MP4, and turn it into a GIF.
Depending on what you’re going to use it on, you might need to re-size your Gif in order to fit within the qualifications. This app makes it easy for you to do not only that, but also add things like a loop, varying levels of quality, and effects.
The service operates on Mac iOS and can be well worth the small one-time fee ($4.99) if you plan on making it a regular in your content lineup.
One of the more extensive GIF makers around, Make a GIF is free to use and allows you to create from a wide range of sources. This includes:
In addition to creating the Gifs, Make a GIF also is a free image hosting site. This means once your GIF has been made, you can link it directly from your own Make a GIF gallery. All accounts are free to use and if you ever want to delete something you uploaded, all you need to do is request for it to be deleted. Their team takes care of it, along with any other maintenance issues that might pop up.
When it comes to content, video still reigns supreme. People consume video content on pretty much any and all platforms, on both desktop and mobile. It may seem like you need to be an expert in creating your own video content from scratch, but that isn’t true.
There are several different services you can subscribe to that can help you in creating custom videos using pre-made tools, as well as online video editors you can use for free. You’ll be able to get your branded message to a target audience in a meaningful and engaging way!
Described as an animated video and presentations creator, PowToon is easily exported to YouTube and uses pre-made animated shorts in order to create your video. All you need to do is select from one of their five themes and piece together your own video with different characters, objects, layouts, and backgrounds.
You have everything you need in order to tell a story, and it can be yours with one of their subscription packages.
If you’re a beginner content creator looking for quality on a budget, VideoScribe can also be a great solution. Unlike PowToon, VideoScribe offers a free trial for you to test out. This service specializes in what it calls “whiteboard videos,” featuring simple but well-crafted animations.
Now that you know there are plenty of resources to help you create awesome content, you can probably breathe a little easier. Your business has a story to tell, so use these tools to tell it!
But if you still need direction on how to craft a killer content strategy for your business, our team here at Digital Resource can be your guide. We are specialized in creating engaging and persuasive web content, social media creation and management, and of course, full-service multimedia content.
Contact us today to request a free consultation for beefing up your content strategy and growing your business!
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