Info for Authors – Social Media Guide – Tool Recommendations
Social Media Tool Recommendations for Authors
| Tool Name | Expertise Level | Asset Type |
| Canva | Beginner | Photos/Graphics |
| Pixlr | Beginner | Photo Editing |
| Veed | Beginner | Video Editing |
| Adobe Photoshop Express | Intermediate | Photos/Graphics |
| Lightroom | Intermediate | Photo Editing |
| CapCut | Intermediate | Video Editing |
| Adobe Photoshop | Pro | Photos/Graphics |
| Photopea | Pro | Photo Editing |
| iMovie | Pro | Video Editing |
| Adobe Premiere Pro | Pro | Video Editing |
Beginner Level Tools
Canva
Overview: Canva is an online design platform that makes creating visual assets and editing videos easy with little to no design experience. Custom templates allow users to replicate content quickly, and the Canva for Teams feature facilitates collaboration and organization for multiple users.
Price: A free version of Canva provides limited access to tools, templates, and graphics. The Pro version ($12.99/month) provides users unlimited access to Canva features.
Pixlr
Overview: Pixlr is an online image editing suite that’s easy to use with a range of simple to advanced photo editing capabilities. You can use the online browser version or download the desktop app. It’s great for those who are intimidated by or don’t know how to use Photoshop but want to apply some of the key editing tools for photos.
Price: The Free version has limited access to tools and has ads. The Plus version is ad-free, with unlimited saves at $1.99/month. Premium gives full access to Pixlr apps and assets, ad-free at $7.99/month.
Veed
Overview: VEED is an online video editing platform. It includes standard video editing tools and tools for uploading or autogenerating subtitles for video. The tools are user-friendly and accessible to people without video editing experience.
Price: Free version has limited access to tools, supports videos up to 10 minutes in length, and includes a watermark. The Pro version offers more access to individuals for $30/month.
Intermediate Level Tools
Adobe Photoshop Express
Overview: Adobe Photoshop Express is ideal for quickly editing images and posting them to social media. It includes a range of templates to make edits, overlay text on photos, and add special effects. It has tools to change image positions, aspect ratio, and background color.
Price: Free version includes all of the core features. Adobe Photoshop Express Premium costs $9.99/month and includes additional templates, stock photos, fonts, and additional storage.
Lightroom
Overview: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a professional image editing program that runs on any device. It offers easy-to-use editing and retouching tools and presets. Lightroom also includes an image management system that lets you tag images with keywords to catalog and organize them quickly.
Price: Lightroom has a free version and a subscription for $9.99/month, providing access to the full suite of features.
CapCut
Overview: Capcut is a video editing app for mobile and MAC. It is popular for use with TikTok, as they allow videos made via the app to be shared directly to TikTok without a watermark. Many popular trending templates on TikTok allow you to easily click through to the CapCut app to apply your content to the template. Additionally, the app can be used for editing with other platforms and aids in video captioning, background removal, resizing, and more.
Price: Free version has limited access but is widely used for TikTok editing and use for Templates. A Pro version is available for $7.99/month for additional features.
Advanced Level Tools
Adobe Photoshop
Overview: Photoshop is a photo editing and graphic design software that allows users to create, edit and manipulate graphics and digital art. It allows users to create and edit images with multiple layers on Windows and MacOS. Photoshop can edit photos, graphics, text, videos, and 3D models.
Price: Photoshop includes an Adobe Express Premium plan and costs $20.99/month for an annual subscription or $31.49/month on a month-to-month basis.
Photopea
Overview: Photopea is an advanced web-based image editor with a similar interface to Photoshop that can edit PSD and other Acrobat files and various image types. It is also available via the Chrome app.
Price: Free version provides most features and 0.5 GB of storage on the PeaDrive. The paid version has no ads, faster email support responses, and 5GB storage. The paid version costs $10/month, $15 for 90 days, or $50 for a year.
iMovie
Overview: iMovie is a free video editing app for Macs. It cannot be used on Windows devices. It includes various video editing tools, including color correction, video templates, and sound editing, and is designed to be accessible to users without video editing experience.
Price: iMovie is free on all Apple devices.
Adobe Premiere Pro
Overview: Adobe Premiere Pro is a professional video editing software allowing users to edit visually stunning videos and create professional content for social media or TV productions. It includes templates, transitions, and effects. It also offers text-based editing through transcripts.
Price: Adobe Premiere Pro costs $20.99/month for an annual subscription or $31.49/month on a month-to-month basis.