When it comes to social media, I simply cannot live without these tools:

1) Texture or background graphics

Pick something that represents your brand or series theme. Odds are, you can find a large collection of graphics for <$15 total that will totally level up your design game.

Here are a couple to get your gears turning: Tree rings, folded paper, stone, mountains/landscapes, vintage paper; or use your own search terms here.

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2) A clip-on bluetooth microphone

Use this tool whenever you record video offsite to filter out background noise.

You can get everyone's opinion on the very best option on YouTube. Most options are under $100.

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3) Canva Pro (or invest time into securing your free account as a nonprofit)

Canva is where all of my social media creation happens. Having unlimited access to all of their pro features makes life so much easier.

As a nonprofit, you can secure a free Pro account with just a bit of paperwork and red tape. It's worth it, I promise!

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4) A stock library that doesn't look like a stock library

My favorite stock library is Death to Stock (psst: sign up for their 14-day free trial, then pretend to cancel and they'll offer you two months for free 🤫). Photos on this site are taken by photographers that don't typically shoot for commercial purposes—in other words—the photos look more natural.

Another note: The Noun Project is a great place to find icons.

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5) A handwritten font

Pick out one handwritten-looking font to be your signature accent font. Something scribble-y like this adds a lot of personality and friendliness to your posts and won't put you out more than ~$35. Here's an example:

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+ A free tool I use for social media all the time: Download the Flora app

Perhaps you start designing your social media posts and spend far too much time tweaking the tiniest little things. Suddenly, your afternoon is gone.

Perhaps you find yourself procrastinating the social media posts you've committed to posting. Nothing has been posted in a couple months.

Though it's a generic productivity app, Flora has helped me jumpstart my social media batching sessions numerous times. Give it a go!

Is there something on this list that stood out to you? Try it and let me know how you like it!

Until next week,