What is it that makes these images stand out?
With the majority of images being boring, unappealing or low-quality, those that aren’t have more of an impact.
If you are using social media as a marketing tool for your business or brand, the last thing you want is people thinking your imagery is unprofessional.
Today we are going to look at some awesome free tools you can use to create stunning social media images… for free.
So if you’re ready to begin, let’s get on with it.
Canva
Canva is perfect for both beginners and experienced designers. This online tool makes creating stunning social media images as easy as 1 2 3!
One of the best things is that everything is done from within your browser. No need to download any software at all.
While Canva does have a premium account, the free account is just as good!
The only difference between the two is that with the free account you have to resize your images manually for use on different platforms.
Canva literally has thousands of ready-made templates for you to use.
These templates can be customized with your business or brand colours and logo.
Upload your photos and to drag-and-drop for automatic placement and resizing to fit the template.
From social media images to infographics, everything you need to create professional-looking content can be found here.
Top Tip: the majority of elements and photos provided by Canva are premium. Meaning you have to pay for them, even when you have a pro account.
Simply head over to Pixabay to find and download the vector graphics, photos and PNG’s that you need. Then upload them on Canva! Free means free.
Creative Market
Creative Market is pretty much the same as Canva. This site has a huge collection of ready-to-use templates created by thousands of different creators.
Everything from mock-ups, photos, website themes, fonts and graphics can be found here.
Need a new theme for WordPress? Find it here! Looking for a professional social photo template? You got it!
The great thing about Creative Market is that all of the elements are created by design professionals.
Think of it as a giant online portfolio showcasing the amazing work created by industry experts… free for you to use.
Every week, you can download up to 6 free templates or packs. These packs can help you create fantastic photos for social media.
Find your perfect font template, grab an awesome frame template, download Patterns, graphics, and clipart and start building your own collection.
BeFunky
Another Canva-esque type of online social media image editing tool, BeFunky is a noobies dream!
You don’t need to know how Photoshop works. And if you haven’t got an eye for placement, not a problem… Be Funky has it for you.
Pretty much everything is automated, and the style can be switched up at the click of a button.
Looking to make the colours pop? Easy as pie! Want to create a collage but don’t know how to arrange it? Everything is pretty much automated.
And just like Canva, Be Funky is an online image editing tool that doesn’t need to be downloaded to your computer.
On the free plan, you have access to 125 free digital effects… more than enough to get started with.
The entire creative process is done in your browser, meaning the only thing you need to download is the finished image you created.
Finding Free Stock Images to Use
If you don’t already have your own HD images to use when creating social media images for your business or brand, you can use stock photos.
While many stock photo websites don’t let you download images for free without a watermark oh, there are a couple to use that are amazing!
But we have got you covered as always!
Here are a few 100% free stock photo websites you can download images from to use online.
Pixabay
Pixabay is the go to stock image website for designers around the world.
Everything from high resolution photos to video and vector graphics can be found here.
The site comes fully loaded with just about everything you could need for building social media marketing photos.
The best part is that every photo on Pixabay is 100% free.
Once you have found what you are looking for, simply download it to a folder on your computer.
It can then be uploaded and edited on one of the above photo editing tools to create awesome social media images.
Unsplash
When it comes to free stock photo websites, Unsplash is the undisputed king of them all!
Millions of professional, high-quality images can be found here. Everything is user-submitted and free to use without attribution.
You are free to download, modify, edit and use any way that you want to!
The thing that makes Unsplash truly shine is the quality of the images available to download.
These are not only comparable to paid stock photos. For the most part, they are superior!
If you need HD stock photos for free that scream professionalism… this should be your first port of call.
Free Photoshop Alternative
If you prefer to manually create your social media marketing images but don’t have or can’t afford Photoshop, Pixlr is worth a visit.
This browser-based image editing software comes with all of the features of Photoshop without the price tag.
There is no need to register. No software to download and install on your computer. And no plugins to import.
It is a fantastic free Photoshop alternative that lets you create and design online.
You can also create images using one of the many built-in templates, speeding up the entire process.
Once you have finished and are happy with the end result, you can download your file as transparent PNG, JPEG, PDF and more.
The only thing you will ever need to download with Pixlr is your finished photo!
Super fast online image editing that is not laggy or full of annoying ads. Perfect!
Final Thoughts
See. You really don’t need to pay to create professional social media images and infographics.
In the past, you needed a degree in design to be able to use the software that was available. Today you don’t really need any knowledge at all!
When it comes to downloading and using free stock photos, choose your images wisely.
Remember, a million others will be using the same photos so try to make them stand out in a unique and fresh way.
Don’t be afraid to edit them to switch up the colours, blur backgrounds, and add elements into them.
Being creative is fun, so enjoy the process!
If you want to know when the best time to post on social media for maximum impact is, check out our recent blog.
