Tag: Adobe Photoshop

5 Tools to Create Images for Social Media People Love

Would you like to create better images for social media?

Studies have shown that we favor visual learning.

Even Facebook posts with a photo accounted for 87% of total interactions.

But what do you do if you’re not a graphic designer and you want to create visually stunning images for your social media posts?

This article is going to teach you about tools you can use to create images for social media.

Not only will they be high quality and look professional, you can do them yourself!

Why is it so difficult to create images?

In order to create great visuals to go along with your content, you used to have a background in graphic design.

This meant knowing how to use a complex program such as Adobe Photoshop or another graphics program.

Today, modern marketing has evolved.

You no longer need to rely on a designer.

But you’re now expected to be able to create these visuals yourself.

In most cases, most most social media managers are given dimensions to use on social media or a Facebook image size cheat sheet to work with.

But how do you create images that look great without a background in graphic design?    

Fortunately, there are a lot of great tools available to help you create images for social media.

In no particular order, here are five of my favorite tools for creating graphics.

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10+ Canva keyboard shortcuts to help you create images faster!

Would you like a low-cost and quick tool to create graphics for your social media channels or website?

Did you know Canva offers free templates and images for just $1.

Are you aware that there are Canva keyboard shortcuts?

With the shift towards visual marketing for businesses, you can now create graphics for your social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest using Canva and save a lot of time (and money).

In this article you’ll find 10+ Canva keyboard shortcuts to help you create graphics faster.

Canva vs. Adobe Photoshop

Do you remember when you needed Adobe Photoshop if you wanted to create graphics for your business? Not only was it expensive, but it had a very steep learning curve. With new tools like Canva, you can create graphics for:

  • Social networks
  • Facebook news feed images
  • Facebook Ads
  • Twitter Ads
  • Blog
  • Custom dimensions
  • And more

The difference is that with Canva, it doesn’t take much time or cost very much – most images are free.

Canva also doesn’t have a steep learning curve and has become a tool I use regularly for projects.

They also include a lot of pre-built templates you can work from or create your own in just a few minutes.

Besides making it easy to create graphics, Canva also includes a number of hidden keyboard shortcuts.

These shortcuts combined with a drag-and-drop interface make Canva a tool you want in your toolbox.

Learn how to work faster in @Canva with these 10+ Canva keyboard shortcuts!

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Canva keyboard shortcuts

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10 Animated GIF tools to help excite your audience

How many of you have seen animated GIFs on Google+ and Tumblr?

While animated GIFs aren’t new, (they’ve been around since the 90s), many social networks are starting to allow them to be shared.

Recently, Twitter added support for animated GIFS like Google+ and Tumblr.

Here’s an example:

Note: According to TechCrunch, Twitter is converting animated GIFs.

This is great news if you are a Twitter user.

Now you can now include others types of media in your tweets besides just text.

Here are some examples:

By incorporating animated GIFs into your messages, you can make them more engaging for your audience and help get across a point better.

For example, instead of including a written tutorial, you can simply link off to an animated GIF!

So how do you create your own animated GIFs?

To help you learn how to create your own animated GIFs, I put together my favorite animated GIF tools.

10 Animated GIF tools

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YouTube Channel Art Template [free download]

YouTube channel art template

YouTube recently updated the design and layout of your YouTube channel. One of the new features that was added is called YouTube channel art. As you can see from the above image, YouTube channel art is a way for you to customize your YouTube channel and make it more inviting to subscribers.  If you’re a business, YouTube channel art is a great way to market and promote your business.  If you’re not a business, you can use YouTube channel art to create a custom look for your YouTube channel and to showcase what your YouTube channel offers.  To help you out, I’ve created a downloadable YouTube channel art template (PSD) for you to use.

Download Free YouTube channel art template:

Continue reading YouTube Channel Art Template [free download]

[Download] FREE YouTube Thumbnail Template

 Custom YouTube thumbnail template

One of my favorite features for customizing your YouTube channel is with a YouTube thumbnail image.  Not only are YouTube custom thumbnails a great way to make your videos look more eye-catching to viewers, but they’re also great at generating leads from viewers from other videos which can help you not only gain more views and subscribers for your own channel, but most importantly, fill your funnel with potential customers and new leads. To help you customize your YouTube videos, I’ve created a YouTube thumbnail template for you to use.

What can I do with this YouTube thumbnail template?

This YouTube thumbnail template isn’t just for creating images for current videos. If you have older videos that you’ve uploaded to your YouTube channel, make sure you go back and create a YouTube thumbnail image for them as well.

Most likely, they are ranking very well and you can continue to capitalize off of this by adding a more visual image to make your videos stand-out to others.

How to use the YouTube thumbnail template:

Continue reading [Download] FREE YouTube Thumbnail Template

How to create a custom YouTube thumbnail image

For about the past two years, I have been steadily leveraging my YouTube channel to engage more with viewers and to broaden the reach of my videos. During this time, I’ve been keeping an eye on a number of changes that YouTube has been making – some of those incude the ability to create a custom YouTube background and the ability to monetize your YouTube videos.

While these are great features that can help you better personalize your YouTube channel and bring in a little money for your hard work, one of my favorite features that they added is the ability to set a custom YouTube thumbnail image.

Upload a custom YouTube thumbnail image for your video

Selecting a specific YouTube thumbnail image

Previously, if you wanted to choose a specific shot from your video to be used as a thumbnail, it could be done if you were a skilled video editor and followed these complicated instructions. For most YouTube users though, this was just too difficult to do and frankly, not worth your time. Enter custom YouTube thumbnail images!

Continue reading How to create a custom YouTube thumbnail image

[Download] FREE YouTube Background Image Template

Download Free YouTube background template
One of my favorite ways to engage with fans via social media is through my YouTube channel. Not only is YouTube the #2 search engine, but it’s also a great tool to promote and grow your online presence.  For example, if you’re someone who creates a lot of videos about your products, YouTube is a great place to upload and store your content because not only are your videos available for people searching YouTube or Google, but they can also be embedded on websites or shared via your favorite social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

While uploading your video content to YouTube is a must for anyone who wants to use video to engage better with their audience, one area that often gets overlooked when growing your online presence through YouTube is your YouTube background image.

Although your YouTube background image is a static image that subscribers cannot click, it gives you the opportunity to get creative. For example, you can brand your YouTube channel – simply by changing the colors. This space can also be used to let YouTube subscribers know that you’re also on other social networks or that you have a website.

Customize your YouTube background image

Creating a YouTube background image:

Continue reading [Download] FREE YouTube Background Image Template

[Download] FREE Twitter Header Image Template

 

Twitter header image

Today, Twitter announced a new feature – Twitter header images. What this means is that you can now make your Twitter profile more interactive.

To help you out, I’ve created a downloadable Twitter header image template (PSD).

Instructions:

Continue reading [Download] FREE Twitter Header Image Template

[Download] 2012 Facebook Page Photoshop Templates

For those of you who are looking to customize your new 2012 Facebook Page, I’ve put together a handful of Adobe Photoshop PSD files to help you customize your Facebook Page layout – and make the transition as smooth as possible.

If you don’t have Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Elements, here are a 11 free Adobe Photoshop alternatives that you can use instead to get the job done. Also, feel free to work in stages, such as updating your Timeline cover photo and profile photo first (since these are the most viewed items on your Facebook Page).

Facebook Page Photoshop Templates

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