Tech Tools to Produce Engaging Social Media Content on a Budget

How do you create a variety of content to share on your social media channels when you’re on a budget? By investing in a few tech tools and taking time to learn how to use them, you can create thumb-stopping content for your social media sites using eye-catching images and videos.

Whether starting from scratch or using content already created, you can use the following tools to help you get more views and engagement from your posts. The following tools help me to create content on a budget.

There are three content blocks I divide most of my social media posts into:

I am taking a blog post I have written and re-purposing the blog content by creating images, images with text, and short videos.
I am repurposing my podcast with short audio snippets.
I am creating short video tutorials, images for review quotes, infographics, and doing “live” videos.

Design

Canva - free and paid plans

Canva has already made a name for itself as the “go-to” tool for images and short video clips. The free version will cover a majority of your content creation. I use the free version and if I will need more image choices that are not in the free version, I can purchase premium images and vectors for $1.00 apiece.

Snagit - one-time payment $49.99

SnagIt does screen capture and video recording and so much more when it comes to creating graphics. It’s great for capturing a process or how-to guide. Snagit also lets you mark up your screenshots with arrows, callouts, and numbers, and combine them all into one, organized piece of content. It is not a video editor but can trim videos.

Recorded Video

Lumen5 - free and paid plans

Hands down Lumen5 is my favorite tool for creating videos from my blog content. The video library is extensive and, while there is a bit of a learning curve, the final product looks very professional. It has a smart tool that you can put your blog URL in and it will pull in the content, or you can manually add it yourself. That alone is a great timesaver. The free plan allows for 3 videos per month and has the Lumen5 branding at the end. Here’s a Lumen5 video from one of my blogs.

Loom - free and paid plans

Loom is multifaceted in that it both records videos and makes them easily shareable. It has quickly exploded as a user-friendly tool where you can capture your webcam, screen, or both. The basic free version allows up to 25 videos per month. I use Loom to record my short tutorial videos as well as to share video screen shares with clients and team members. Loom is not a video editor but does allow for trimming the video. Here are some of my Loom videos on YouTube.

Live Video

Live video on social media platforms can be shared on the respective platform of the live and then downloaded after the live video to be shared on other platforms.

StreamYard - free and paid plans

The free version allows up to 20 hours of live streaming a month, up to 6 participants, and works with Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Periscope, and Twitch but only one platform at a time. StreamYard branding is on the video.

Be.Live - free and paid plans

The free version allows 3 shows per month and up to 2 people on screen and works with Facebook and YouTube but only one platform at a time. Be.Live branding is on the video.

Podcasts

Anchor – free

Anchor is a totally free platform that allows you to record and edit audio or upload audio/video and also create podcast episodes, distribute to other platforms, and monetize content with advertising. If you are using podcasts as a part of your content mix and want to allow for audio-only versions of video interviews, Anchor makes it easy to expand your content reach. You can see how I use it with my podcast Business Dig.

Headliner App – free and paid plans

If you’re looking to grab people’s attention for your podcast or audio interview with a waveform video, the free version of Headliner makes it easy. The free version allows unlimited videos, but anything over 5 videos per month will have the Headliner branding on it. Education and 501(c)(3) organizations will get Headliner Pro for free by completing a form on the pricing page. I use this to create snippets of my podcast and then add a link to the full version on my blog. Here’s an example of a Headliner waveform video.

Transcriptions/Captions

Creating transcriptions of podcasts and interviews are another way to add content by expanding a blog or to create a long post on Facebook or an article on LinkedIn. Adding captions to videos allows for viewers to watch without sound and research has shown will increase watch time and engagement.

While there are no free services available, YouTube will create captions of videos and Facebook will automatically create captions for uploaded, native videos up to 5 minutes, and now has started doing captions automatically for live videos.

The following three services are the cheapest I’ve found available at this time in 2020. All use artificial intelligence to transcribe which can impact accuracy and how much editing you may need to do.

Happy Scribe - pay as you go @ $12 per hour

Temi – pay as you go @.25/min

Otter - free 600 min/month and limited features and paid plans

Let me know if you found these tech tools helpful or if you have others to share. You can also follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.