At this point, you’re probably aware of the importance of including images in your social media posts. You know that images in Tweets can boost engagement by up to 313%, and that it’s no different on Facebook either, where posts with images get 130% more engagement. But now the question probably becomes, “How can I create those images quickly AND affordably?” And that’s what this post is about: the best tools to create images for social media to improve your social media marketing without eating up all your time.

(Chart by Visualizer Lite.)

These tools can help you quickly create quote images, infographics, Pinterest covers, and anything else you need to be successful on social media. If that sounds like it might make your life a whole lot easier, keep reading for the full list of tools to create images for social media.

Best general tools to create images for social media

In this first list, I’ll highlight some of the best all-purpose social media image creators. With these tools, you can create pretty much any type of image. BUT, like most jacks of all trades, the process isn’t always as streamlined as it could be. That’s why in the next sections I’ll show you the best tools to use if you need to create specific images like infographics, quote images, and more.

1. Canva – Swiss army knife of social media image makers

Create Images for Social Media with Canva

Canva is number one on this list because it’s definitely the most versatile tool to create images for social media. Many of the other tools are specialized for one type of image, while Canva can cover pretty much anything.

But, because it’s not specialized, some times it can take longer than it needs to create some types of images vs the others.

Canva has preset image sizes for Twitter, Facebook, and even Pinterest, which is important because Pinterest has unique image dimensions.

Canva is a great first stop when you need to create a general image for social media, but if you want to create something like an infographic or a basic quote image, there are better tools that can do those tasks faster.

Price: Free plan will work for most users. Has paid business plans. | Go to Canva

2. Pixlr – General image editing, but not user-friendly

With Pixlr, think “Photoshop as a web app”. It’s not as user-friendly as the other tools on this list, but it does give you some powerful editing options.

Pixlr works with layers and effects, so if you need something to create images for social media that are especially complex, it’s the web app for you. Just don’t expect to crank out finished images in under a minute like some of the other tools.

Price: Free | Go to Pixlr

3. Stencil – Targeted towards marketers and bloggers

Stencil is a social media image creator targeted specifically towards marketers and bloggers. As such, their templates lean towards those uses. All you have to do is pick or upload a background and add your text/design elements onto it. Then you’re ready to share.

Price: Limited free version. Pro plans start at $9/month. | Go to Stencil

Best tools to create infographics and charts for social media

Infographics are shared on social media 2-3x more often than their more data-heavy text report and presentation counterparts. So if you want the quickest, most shareable way to showcase data on social media, you should share infographics and charts. Here are the best infographic makers:

4. Piktochart – Easy-to-use infographic creator

Infographic maker for social media

Piktochart is an infographic creator tool that makes it easy to create beautiful infographics and reports. Start with a template, plug in your data and images, then share the finished product on social media.

Price: Limited free plan. Paid plans start at $15/month | Go to Piktochart

5. Infogr.am – Best tool to create charts and graphs

Even if you don’t want to create a full infographic, you can still use charts and graphs to enhance your social media posts. Infogr.am is a helpful tool that lets you represent your data with over 35 different chart types, which can be a great way to create images for social media.

Price: $19/month | Go to Infogr.am

6. Easel.ly – Infographic and report maker

Easel.ly functions similarly to Piktochart but with a whole different set of infographic templates. So if you can’t find something you like on Piktochart, give easel.ly a try!

Price: Free | Go to easel.ly

7. Visme – Endless infographic template

If you want access to a huge number of high-quality infographic templates, look no further than Visme. Visme offers hundreds of templates for a variety of purposes, including specialized templates for how-tos, side-by-side comparisons, and sales.

Price: Free | Go to Visme

Best tools to create quote images for social media

As reported, tweets with quotes get 19% more retweets than other tweets. That makes quotes one of the easiest ways to boost your engagement. They’re quick to create and they engage your followers – that’s a win-win! Here are the best quote image creators:

8. QuotesCover Quote Maker – Full-color customization

QuotesCover Quote Maker

The QuotesCover Quote Maker is a tool that offers dozens of photos you can use as the background of your quote image and an automatic gradient tool that lets you change the colors of your background image. The tool also offers numerous design elements that can be added, many fonts that can be used, and color customization options for every aspect of your image.

Price: Free; no signup required | Go to QuotesCover Quote Maker

9. Pablo – Quote images with stock photo backgrounds

Pablo Quote Maker for Social Media

Pablo from Buffer is another quick option to create images for social media – quote images in particular. Pablo also offers access to over 600,000 stock photos, so you can find a suitable background for every quote without worrying about repeating images or running out of background ideas.

Price: Free | Go to Pablo

Best tools to create screenshots, memes, and other miscellanea

These tools may not fit in their own category, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a valuable addition to every social media marketer’s toolbox:

10. Jing – Share annotated screenshots on Windows

If you want to share annotated screenshots, Jing is a helpful tool for Windows users. It lets you use mouse clicks or hotkeys to create a custom screenshot. You can then annotate that screenshot with arrows, text, or boxes.

Price: Free | Go to Jing

11. Skitch – Share annotated screenshots on Mac OS

Skitch functions almost identically to Jing. But…it’s exclusive to Mac OS. Mac users can enjoy Skitch’s great design elements, but Windows users will need to stick to Jing.

Price: Free | Go to Skitch

12. Meme Generator – Create memes and image macros

meme

More and more brands are incorporating memes into their visual content marketing. If you want a quick way to create images for social media, consider memes. They definitely aren’t for every brand, but if you have a light and humorous brand position, you can use memes to generate engagement on social media.

One of the best meme generators is the aptly named Meme Generator. Just pick your meme, enter your upper and lower text, and share on social media.

Price: Free | Go to Meme Generator

13. Page2Images – Save full websites as screenshots

If you want to take a screenshot of a full website, say to share on Pinterest, you can use a tool called Page2Images to quickly convert the entire website to an image. This method is superior to using Jing or Skitch because it will capture below-the-fold content too.

Just enter any URL and Page2Images will spit it back as a downloadable image.

Price: Free plan should work for most users | Go to Page2Images

Tools to enhance finished social media images

These tools are all about taking finished images and making them better. Whether that’s putting them in a collage, cropping them to the perfect dimensions for each social network, or sticking them in a product showcase. They won’t help you create images for social media from scratch, but they will help you get even more value from your existing images:

14. Fotor Collage Maker – Make a collage from multiple images

If you already have some finished images, a nice way to display them together is to create a collage. Collages are especially popular on Instagram, but can work on any social network.

Fotor Collage Maker lets you quickly upload your images, choose from a variety of collage templates, and output finished collages.

15. PlaceIt – Add your website to a real product mockup

create website mockups

PlaceIt helps you quickly generate demos of your website or product being used in real life. For example, you could take a website screenshot with Page2Images, and then put that screenshot on someone’s Macbook screen with PlaceIt.

You’ll likely want to use these images mostly on Facebook or Twitter, though you can technically use them for any social network…I just doubt someone will want to pin the image!

Price: Free for low resolution mockups. Paid for higher resolutions. | Go to PlaceIt

16. Landscape from Sprout Social – Resize your image for every social network

Landscape is a handy web app for resizing your images to fit every single social network’s recommended dimensions. All you need to do is upload a photo, choose the social networks, and the app will help you resize and crop your images to be the perfect size for each specific social network.

Landscape is great for taking one finished image and using it for all your social media accounts. No need to recreate the same image over and over!

Price: Free | Go to Landscape

Wrapping things up

Personally, I use a combination of all these tools. Canva is typically my first stop, but if I need to create something specific, I’ll dip into one of the infographic or quote makers. And finally, no matter which tool you use to create images, the enhancement tools I listed at the end always come in handy.

What do you use to create images for social media? Feel free to share in the comments.


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