Free Social Media Tools That Will Change Your Life

"Work smarter, not harder." We've all heard it before. As entrepreneurs we know that all too well. In the spirit of working smarter, I've got some fantastic, FREE tools that will totally transform your social media game! They will help you if you are running your business full time, chasing your dreams with a side hustle, or anything in between - so let's get started!

Images
Finding free, quality images has never been easier. My go-to site for royalty free images is Pexels.com. Once on the site you can search for images just like you would in Google. Download or save the high quality images directly to your computer without having to worry about copy rights or anything like that! This site can do what it does because photographers submit their images in hopes for exposure (or out of the kindness of their heart.) It is in best-taste to give the photographer credit though and definitely do not claim the images as your own.

Photo Editing
Adobe Lightroom can be downloaded for free on your mobile phone. This photo editing application will allow you to adjust brightness, tone, sharpness, and much more for your photos. Ever wonder how photographers get those perfect, bright white images? Well, along with their fancy cameras, this is their secret and it's seriously a game changer!

If you want to get serious, there is a paid version you can purchase for use on your computer that will allow you to do even more.

Making Graphics
Canva is perfect for creating the correct size images for Facebook, Instagram, stories, etc. This drag-and-drop editor allows you to lay text over your images, make simple photo collages, and create custom graphics for a perfectly put-together look!

Shortening Links
Bitly.com is great for when you want to shorten a website URL. For example, say you are a realtor and would like to post an image of a new home listing that you created on Canva, but you also want to provide a link to your website so potential buyers can look at the listing for more details. This would be the perfect time to shorten your website link so you can put it directly in your post without taking up two or three lines of text. 

If you create a login, you can also customize the last half of your link and can even track link clicks. If you want to get really fancy, you can choose to pay for the version that allows you to customize your entire link so it doesn't say bit.ly at the beginning of it.

Tell Me More
Now tell me if I missed any of your favorites in the comments below! What are some free tools you use to up your social media game? I'd truly love to know!