Social Media Tools
Our Top Picks For Social Media Tools
Our Top Pick For Live Streaming Platform
Why we recommend Be.Live: I just use this for streaming to Facebook when I want to do a screenshare tutorial, show slides, or do audits. I like how people you interview look really good and you can add lower thirds for the person’s name or the topic statement. It looks very professional with the custom branding and this software keeps people paying attention since you can easily produce the live and change the view of the screen. It’s boring to just watch a talking head video especially for an in-depth topic that having illustrations would help teach your points better.
What they could do to improve: For some reason even if I’m using ethernet the video quality still looks grainy over on Facebook. We pay for the best internet in our area and have a giga blast. So upload speed should be over 100 and you really need upload to be 10 to have good quality so I’m not sure why this happens. But if you are primarily showing your screen it’s fine if my little photo in the bottom corner is pixelated or slow where my mouth doesn’t line up with my words.
Compared to the competition: I know people that use OBS and Skype or they use OBS and Zoom. When they tell me their setup and I’ve looked at the backend it just seems complicated.
Our Top Pick For Graphic Design Templates
Why we recommend Canva: This is another tool I have for social media or podcast interns. It is so easy to use. We use it for making Instagram stories, social media covers, quotes, 5-star reviews posts, and IG carousel posts. There are tons of stock images so we use those for blogs once in a while too. There are so many more options to be creative with graphic design. I like Canva because it’s easy to review their work and once their internship is over all their work is saved in Canva.
What they could do to improve: Add more free templates and icons. The first time I had an intern make a 10-carousel post graphics I ended up having to upgrade and pay $8 since she picked paid icons. From then on I made sure to tell interns to only look at the free icons. For a free offer I don’t mind paying but for a post that maybe would only reach 100 people yeah not worth the $8. LOL
Compared to the competition: I know interns like using Adobe or Sketch but for me to review their work they have to download the graphics and email them to me. Then I have to download the zip and then explain what to change. Verse if there are little tweaks I could have just made them myself in Canva.
Our Top Pick For Scheduling Social Media Posts
Why we recommend Planoly: We have two Instagram business accounts. I love that I can schedule my content out a week ahead of time, add a location, add a first comment with hashtags and it autoposts. Then all I have to do is log in when it posts and do my engagement strategy for 20 or 30 minutes. No more copy/pasting, writing posts from scratch from whatever I feel like posting. This is a tool I have social media interns use for uploading my Instagram stories and posts for both accounts.
What they could do to improve: They are constantly updating the backend and adding new services but then finding things on the app or website on your desktop can be tricky. I log in monthly or weekly to review interns work so each time it seems like there is something new or different.
Compared to the competition: I used to use Hootsuite but they just got to be so expensive. Planoly is affordable for when you have 1 or 2 business accounts.
Our Top Pick For Making Videos For Social Media
Why we recommend Wave: We make text videos with b-roll and our Local Marketing Minute videos with this tool. It’s easy for an intern to use that has no video editing experience. I love that you can save branding colors and fonts. This makes you use the templates but personalize for your business. I used to buy royalty-free music and b-roll now this software has pretty much all I need and if I can’t find what I’m looking for then I can buy a license.
What they could do to improve: They keep changing packages. When they do you login then your package doesn’t work so you have to email them to update your account. If you get it now it seems like that are coasting with the current packages and services. This may just be a problem for us that have used them since the beginning.
Compared to the competition: Animoto I started using them the first month they came out back in the day. Now it seems like they are more focused on video ads. I stopped using them since just like Wave they kept making so many changes as they grew their company so it was just frustrating. They’ve been around for forever and friends that use them love it.
IMPORTANT: This page contains affiliate links to Be.Live, Canva, Planoly, and Wave. We earn commissions for referring traffic to these sites. While we are careful to only recommend products we actually use and like, you should know of our relationship with those companies.