Top Five Tools for Social Media Content Creation

The world of social media is incredibly chaotic, with Australia due to introduce a law to prevent under-16s from accessing certain social media platforms, and Instagram posts becoming searchable web content on Google and Bing.  

Despite the chaos, social media remains a vital tool for businesses wanting to engage with potential clients, build their online identity, and drive traffic to their websites.  

So how do we navigate the chaotic whirlwind of social media content creation?  

I’m Serena, the Social Media Executive here at First Internet, and the latest addition to the FI team. 

As someone who has recently entered the world of professional content creation, I’ve learned that using the right tools can massively elevate the quality of content I create for clients, whatever the industry. 

So, if I was stranded on a desert island and needed to create content (assuming it also had Wi-Fi), here are the five social media tools I wouldn’t be able to live without. 

1. Notion 

Working in such a fast-paced, reactive industry, it’s super important to use clear and accessible organisational tools. That’s where Notion comes in. And yes, it is way more than just a note-taking app! 

At First Internet, we use Notion to plan detailed content calendars for our clients. Its user-friendly interface makes rescheduling content a truly effortless task. So, whenever clients come to us with a last-minute update on a project, images of yesterday’s team building exercise, or their own expert take on an emerging industry debate, we can react extremely quickly, shuffling planned content around to ensure their social media accounts stay fresh and up to date. 

Take our client SV Aesthetic Clinic, for example. Their social strategy relies on a mixture of always-relevant information posts and reactive trending content that simply cannot wait. Notion allows us to accommodate reactive posts, creating a perfect blend of engaging and educational content that resonates with their target audience. 

We use a shared Notion account across the social media and wider marketing team, so I always know which projects need completing at any given time. This is a lifesaver if a team member is off work. I can pick up exactly where they left off (cutting down on vital time spent pestering them on the group chat). 

The First Internet social team swear by it, and it has become our go-to app for storing key information like clients’ brand guidelines, all password-protected of course. Sometimes the simplest tools really are the ones you couldn’t do without. 

Key features:  Customisable and accessible interface, collaboration with team members, free and paid templates, easily embed media and files. 

2. Sprout Social 

We know all too well that the world of social media is 24/7, not 9-5. With engagement likely to spike during the early morning commute or evening unwind, a social media content scheduling tool like Sprout Social is an absolute lifesaver. Sprout calculates the best time to post on each social platform each day, down to the very minute! This way, our clients can rest assured that we’re doing everything to strategically maximise their engagement! 

Sprout is also ideal if a client has multiple accounts on different platforms. We can schedule unique content for each of their accounts at once, cutting down on valuable time spent creating content! 

At First Internet, data-driven social strategies are at the heart of what we do. We don’t just make things pretty for our clients. We need to be able to show them how our content strategies have produced actual results.  Sprout’s robust reporting features delve deep into performance metrics, offering cross-platform reports that track impressions, post link clicks, engagements and engagement rates, as well as analysing audience growth and conversion rates. Each client receives our analysis of this information, alongside a data-informed content strategy, in their personalised social media report each month – because transparency is key! 

Key features: Auto-schedule for optimal engagement times, Visual content calendar, advanced analytics, CRM integration. 

3. Canva 

Now, we know some designers might beg to differ, but we are Canva-obsessed here at First Internet. It’s clear and straightforward – just like us!  

In today’s attention economy, scroll-stopping, eye-catching visuals are a must-have on your business’s social page, whether you are B2B or B2C. They’re also a fantastic way for you to build their brand identity, communicate your messages, and grow a genuinely engaged audience. 

Canva’s intuitive interface and versatile range of tools makes it a super efficient way to produce unique designs for our clients in a fraction of the time it takes in Photoshop. We use it to bulk-create personalised templates for each of our clients, so we always have an arsenal of designs we can use to help us get timely content to their viewers at the drop of a hat. 

It also boasts a huge library of royalty-free photos, videos, and audio tracks. Although we jump at any opportunity to showcase authentic images of our clients’ projects and services, this is a great option for those times when sourcing original photos just isn’t possible. 

Plus, Canva Pro’s ‘brand kit’ feature enables us to access each client’s brand colours, fonts and logos with just one click – great for ensuring consistent branding across all socials! 

Key features: Accessible, intuitive, budget-friendly, access to a wide range of tools. 

4. Adobe Premiere Pro (or DaVinci Resolve) 

TikTok is estimated to have over 1.5 billion monthly active users across the world, according to recent research by Demand Sage, so high-quality short-form video content has never been more important for brands looking to grow on social media!  

We’re constantly seeing personalised, human-focused content being favoured by viewers on social media, especially on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. There’s often no better way to showcase your brand’s personality and team culture than through video content. That’s why short-form videos are fundamental for many of our clients, whether they be in the beauty industry, property sector, or even the fuel business. 

We’re always editing a wide variety of video content, from ‘how-to’ guides and product spotlights to staff interviews and trending lip-syncs. That being said, we need our editing software to be as versatile as our video ideas. 

My go-to is Premiere Pro, often seen as the industry standard when it comes to video editing. Its wide range of tools help me to consistently edit videos to a high-quality standard, mix different audios seamlessly, and – most importantly – add captions and transitions to make our client’s videos as accessible as possible. 

Key Features: Professional-grade video and audio editing, easily add captions, titles and other accessibility measures, seamless integration with other Adobe software. 

5. Photoshop 

Photoshop is another favourite of ours here at First Internet. It’s ideal for editing and enhancing images to a professional standard, especially when images have been taken by clients themselves. 

We know that hiring a professional photographer for every project or event is often simply not feasible, especially if your business operates across the UK or even internationally. Sometimes, our clients need to take matters into their own hands and take their own photos, but that doesn’t mean the standard of the content we upload should be any less.  

That’s where Photoshop comes in. Its sharpening tools are truly our best friends when it comes to enhancing the quality of our clients’ images. 

Key features: Professional-grade image editing, ability to combine multiple layers, adjust photo composition to a high standard, and craft original images from different photos, seamless integration with other Adobe software. 

Bonus tool: Social media platforms themselves! 

There is often no better place to get inspiration, research competitors, and understand what is currently popular than social media itself. I’ve noticed that swapping doomscrolling for critical analysis of my own feed (and my clients’ competitors) has given me so much inspiration that I can turn into relevant, engaging posts for our lovely clients at First Internet.  

Let’s get creating! 

We hope this blog has shown you that, when it comes to ensuring your business has a relevant, dynamic social media presence, the tools that your social media team uses are just as important as our creative ideas. 

Equipped with these tools, we’re more than ready to navigate the chaotic world of social media content creation and make sure your content stays fresh, whether that be from our office or from that desert island. 

Want to find out how we could help elevate your company’s social media presence?