The number of brands struggling to overcome declining Facebook views is skyrocketing. Community managers are frustrated with the platform for changing their algorithm and searching for a solution. In the midst of the chaos, shareable graphic content (or SGC as we like to call it) has emerged as a way to increase organic engagement, therefore increasing page reach. If you needed more evidence that creating and sharing original SGC is a strategy worth embracing, Twitter recently unveiled a more image-driven layout, and visual-based platforms Instagram and Pinterest’s popularity continue to surge.

To become a master in producing quality SGC, keep these seven characteristics in mind:

1. Visually compelling
2. Informative
3. Brief
4. Easily understood and remembered
5. Motivational
6. Inspirational
7. Subtly branded

Approximately 250 million photos are uploaded daily to Facebook and 40 million to Instagram. To compete, brands must be prepared to create SGC at a moment’s notice, capitalizing on unique moments that turn into viral, social goldmines.

We don’t always have time to take a perfectly staged photo, download it to our computers, and have a graphics professional tweak and polish it into something publishable. That isn’t the way our instantaneous world works now, but with camera phones featuring more megapixels than most upscale cameras did five years ago, we have the tools we need in our pockets!

There are more than 240 apps in the “popular photography and video” category of the App Store, each with their own unique attributes. Where do you begin? To narrow it down, we took an informal survey at the Caliber Group to determine which photography apps are being used most often by our team. It turns out we’re all getting great results from a host of different apps.

After evaluation, here are our recommendations for the beginner photographer/non-graphic designer who is tasked with community management, event photography, and PR support.

Name: Afterlight
Price: $.99

• Offers more than many other apps for basic photo editing including:
  Clarity, Brightness. Contrast, Saturation, Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Fade, Highlight Tone, Mid Tone, Shadow Tone, Temperature, Vignette, and Grain.
• Features numerous filters, some of which are designed to enhance photos slightly while others are more stylized like those seen on Instagram. There is also a section devoted to filters that reflect the seasons.
• In addition to filters you can add stylized light streaks, glare, distortion that mimics old film cameras, and textures.
• Users are able to finish the photo by cropping or adding on of their many customizable frames.
• Images can be saved at three different resolutions and imported to the phone’s camera roll, Instagram, Flickr, Facebook, twitter, or email.

Example of photos processed through Afterlight:

Before 

                                                                                                 

After

Name: Pic Stitch
Price: Free

• Lots of layout options for creating sharable photo collages
• Great for showing photos on FB or Instagram of processes, events over a day, etc.
• NOTE: Very few tools for photo editing in this app. We recommend editing photos in another program first.

Name: Phoster
Price: $1.99

• Clean, balanced layouts for quick creation of graphics on the go.
• Layouts come in vertical, horizontal, and square layouts to fit different social media platforms.
• Lots of ways to customize text and backgrounds.
• NOTE: Very few tools for photo editing in this app. We recommend editing photos in another program first.
• You can also add filters and textures to the finished poster

Perhaps one of the most important elements of creating quick visual content for social media is to begin with a quality image.

o   Make sure to have the best light source behind you and not behind the subject of your photograph.

o   Digital zoom should be used as a last resort if you cannot physically get closer to your subject.

o   Clean your lens!

Other apps used by our team to create SGC, but not selected for in-depth review for this post, include:

• Rhonna Designs
• Lumie
• Snapseed
• CameraBag

For more photography tips, read our previous post on enhancing your SmartPhone Photography.

NOTE: Our featured image was taken with an iPhone 5.

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