5 Apps To Make Your Social Media Pop

To be a successful salon owner today, you must know how to grab the attention of your customers. Creating a cohesive and engaging digital brand identity isn’t as easy as some may think. So in case you aren’t a social media savant, it helps to have accessible resources to give your social media posts an edge.

Here are 5 user-friendly apps and websites you can explore to take your social media channels to the next level.

Canva

Graphic-design tool for non-designers and professionals

“It’s amazing to create things on the fly and the pre-designed templates help me make things I could never come up with on my own. And every single time I impress myself with what I create!”  - App store reviewer

Desktop or mobile: Both

Compatible with: iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android (mobile and tablet)

Price: Free with option to upgrade to Canva For Work ($12.95 per month)

Canva is a mobile app and desktop website that allows anyone, from amateurs to graphic design professionals, to create beautiful graphics. Easily create hundreds of designs with the user-friendly drag and drop interface, then export your art directly to your desired social media platform, email, text message, or camera roll.

Edit your own photos or use Canva’s premade layouts and templates to create picture collages, logos, posters, Instagram images, Facebook cover photos, Twitter headers, Snapchat geofilters, themed blog and website posts, cards and invitations, business cards, and more.

Features include:

• Adding text on photos with over 100 font choices
• Library of more than one million premium images
• Photo editing tools using preset filters or advanced customized editing adjustments (brightness, contrast, saturation, tint, blur, x-process and vignette)

For a small monthly fee, Canva For Work Resources allows colleagues to collaborate on team projects, upload custom fonts, and maintain consistent branding using Canva’s branding kit. Canva offers a 30-day free trial, and then $12.95 per month per team member (or $9.95 if billed yearly).

Important To Note:

Graphics created using Canva should be used for digital images, not print. Images don’t export in high enough resolution for print, therefore Canva is not a replacement for Photoshop, InDesign or Illustrator when print graphics are required.

Glitché

Create cutting-edge photo and video artistry

“This app allows you to turn any image or video into a glitch-filled wonderland.”  - App store reviewer

Desktop or mobile: Mobile App

Compatible with: iOS (iPhone and iPad)

Price: Free with option to pay for additional features

Take your images and videos to another dimension with Glitché. This mobile app has over 50 unique filters for photos and videos and a GIF creator to make custom GIFs from your own images.

Glitché has been used by many celebrities, including Kim Kardashian, Iggy Azalea and Travis Scott, for their social channels, and also in big-name projects including Radiohead’s “OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017” promo video, Gorillaz’s official “Humanz” artbook, apparel, and stage design videos, Marilyn Manson’s official “Tattooed In Reverse” music video, and Louis Vuitton’s Men’s Summer 2018 Collection promo videos.

Important To Note:

Edited photos or videos often export in a low resolution, however the app offers a $2.99 upgrade to access the HD export feature for hi-res exporting.

UNUM

Visual planner for Instagram feeds

“With its thoughtfully-designed, user-intuitive interface, UNUM gives you complete control over how you tell your story.” - UNUM

Desktop or mobile: Mobile App

Compatible with: iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android

Price: Free

Ever wish you could have a beautiful, cohesive Instagram that tells a visually appealing story at first glance?

UNUM is a visual planning app that will organize your content and let you preview what your posts will look like in your feed before posting. Using the app’s helpful reminders tool, you can plan and schedule your posts in advance so you never forget to post.

UNUM allows users to upload images, draft posts, see optimal posting times, edit with free photo filters, and move around or archive old posts. The app also has a “recent hashtags” feature so you can just click recently used hashtags and save time retyping every time you post.   

Important To Note:

The reminder notification has been reported to sometimes glitch, so it might be beneficial to have a backup reminder or pre-schedule posts directly on platforms when possible.

Later

#1 Marketing Platform For Instagram

“Later helps streamline your social media strategy so you can set yourself up for more sales and success. Our features focus on visual scheduling, media management, marketing and analytics.” - Later

Desktop or mobile: Both

Compatible with: iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android

Price: Free with option to upgrade for additional features ($9-$49/month)

Later is the #1 visual marketing platform that allows you to plan and schedule posts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. The latest version of the app has recently been updated to allow users to Auto Publish single and carousel posts directly to Instagram.

The app is free but has the option to subscribe to an upgraded account for more advanced features. Upgraded accounts are available for individuals and businesses. Business accounts range from $19 per month to $49 per month and allow subscribers to work collaboratively on teams, as well as manage multiple accounts per social platform.  Individual accounts (free or $9 per month) only allow for one social profile per platform.

Important To Note:

The app is still in its earlier stages of development and has been reported to experience technical bugs, including closing out in the middle of drafting posts and losing unsaved data. However, the app’s developers are constantly releasing new updates to fix these glitches. To avoid losing any work, try drafting your post copy outside of the app and pasting it in.

QuotesCover

Design beautiful quote images in minutes

“Creating quotes picture is so simple using our application. “ - QuotesCover

Desktop or mobile: Desktop

Price: Free

QuotesCover allows users to create inspirational quotes for social media in a few simple clicks.  The website has prewritten quotes to choose from or gives the option to type in your own wording. The sophisticated online quote maker application creates professional, eye-catching typographic images in minutes.

Once your quote is made, export your art in a variety of sizes predesigned for various social media platforms. Templates include options for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, profile pictures, and even hi-res images for prints, posters, and greeting cards. The website also has helpful tutorials to walk you through some frequently asked design questions.

Created using QuotesCover