Social Media Tools

Hello everyone!

Today I want to share some of the apps and tools I use to design, edit, and schedule my social media posts.

I post daily on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, I use the same post for the three platforms. I also publish daily at least one Story on Instagram and Facebook, and at least two blog posts each month.

But this is not an easy task; it is like having another job on top of my translation work! This is why I use some apps and tools that help me make it a lot easier to deal with, and I hope it helps you the same way in case you are not using them or other similar ones already.

So, let’s get started!

First, I want to talk about design/edit apps:

Canva

This is, by far, my favorite designing/editing app. I only started using it when I opened my IG business account, and it is the best thing I ever discovered!

I have a free account, not a premium one, but still, Canva offers tons of great designs and elements that you can use to make them your own.

It is definitely user friendly, and you can start designing right away. I highly recommend it.

Adobe Spark

This is another great app for designing posts. It doesn’t offer as many options as Canva with a free account, but you can make the most of it.

It is straightforward to use, and one thing that Adobe Spark offers for free that Canva doesn’t is that you can resize the design you chose! This is a big deal because you might find a design that you love, but it’s not originally in the size you wanted. When that happens, you just go to the “resize” option and pick from the menu the size you want, and voilà! It is ready!

Over

I haven’t used Over that much, but even as a free user, you can find a high number of fantastic designs both for regular posts and Stories. I might start using it more, so keep an eye on my Stories for some changes.

InShot

I use InShot mainly for creating videos out of images. This is the one I use to create my top nine posts videos every month! It is effortless to use, and you can add different effects, stickers, and music.

Lumen5

This is the one I use for making my IGTV videos based on my blog posts! Lumen5 uses AI to create videos from a link to your blog post or a script. The result is excellent but you still can edit it after the AI finishes creating it. You can change the media, the captions, music, and pretty much every element until you are satisfied with your video, and it’s for free! There’s a premium account, but I haven’t needed to use it.

Mojo

This one is mainly for IG Stories. It adds movement and music to your stories. The free version offers many templates that you can work with to add a little extra something to your Stories.

Impresso

This one, I also use it mainly for IG Stories, but you can use it for other posts since it offers different sizes for their templates. Their designs are immaculate and easy to edit and adapt to your needs.

Now, let’s talk about scheduling apps!

Hootsuite

This one by far is my favorite scheduling app! The free version lets you post to three different social media accounts, and you get 30 free posts per month! It has a very user-friendly interface, and what I like the most is that you can schedule the post for the three different accounts at the same time! You don’t need to schedule the content for each social media account separately unless you are using different materials.

Later

Later is the first one I tried. It is nice, but the free version doesn’t offer as much as Hootsuite does. The main issue for me is that you can’t schedule the same post on the three accounts at the same time! You have to schedule them one by one, which takes more time.

Planoly

This one is only for IG, and I’ve used it for scheduling big square posts because it lets you see the post beforehand and check if the order of the images is correct. You can use it to schedule Stories posts, but only if you join the premium plan.

Creator Studio (from Facebook)

This one is only for IG and FB, and it is free. The only issue I’ve encountered with it is that sometimes it doesn’t publish your scheduled posts either on IG or FB, so you need to go into the account and post it manually, which is what you were looking to avoid in the first place. It is suitable for being free, but if you decide to use it, beware that it might not work correctly sometimes, so be prepared for it.

Finally, let’s talk about Project Management tools (yes, Project Management for social media!).

Asana

Asana is a fantastic Project Management tool. I was introduced to Asana through #FluentU since this is the PM tool they use for work, and it never occurred to me that I could use it for managing my social media posts until Elise Darma made a video about it! Then it hit me…this is a great idea!

You can create projects and tasks within those projects and give them different layouts. For my “Social Media Posts Project,” I use the “board” layout because it allows you to see all of your posts in one place! This is helpful for when you are planning your content, and you can go back and check if you already used a particular image, quote, or post. For each post, I create a task, and there I include the image or video to be used, as well as the caption and hashtags. Then when I schedule my posts on Hootsuite, I only have to copy/paste the caption and look for the image in my PC, and it’s ready to go!

You can also create templates. I have one for my blog posts, in which I have included all the steps necessary to publish my new blog, so when I am working on a new blog, I only duplicate the template into my “Blog Posts Project,” change the title and add due dates for each step or subtask. Asana sends you reminders for the tasks you have to accomplish each day until you finish the primary task (in this case, the new blog post), and then you mark the task as complete, and that’s it!

Do you use any of these apps and tools, and what has been your experience with them? Do you use other apps and tools not mentioned here? Let me know in the comments; I’d love to hear about your experiences and maybe about new apps and tools that I haven’t tried yet! Also, don’t hesitate to contact me through the contact form below, in case you want to know more about these apps and tools and how to use them.

And if you want more tips about Social Media, check out my blog post: Social Media for Translators

Until the next time, take care and stay safe!

XX