Whether you’re a full-time influencer or looking for a cool side-hustle that leverages your social media channels, growing your influencer status starts with having the right tools.  If you’ve already got an authentic presence that engages your followers, then you’re already familiar with the reasons why influencer marketing works so well:

• Influencers appear more honest, funny, and open
• Influencers add value by promoting things they care about

• Interaction through messages and replies drives engagement
• Frequent updates build followers’ trust

Brands are investing in digital marketing via influencers and with good reason. On average, an influencer marketing campaign generates around $6.85 in earned media value per dollar spent on paid media, and more brands are now ready to invest in influencer marketing and micro influencers.

These tools have the ability to make some of your social media efforts a little bit easier and much more polished, but remember, building a community isn’t based on aesthetics alone. Authenticity wins over polish. If you’re looking to build on your already established audience, these tools can help boost social media engagement.

We know the lists online are endless, and after reading them you’re probably left scratching your head, unsure of what you should purchase or invest in. So we’ve kept this one short. You’ll find a variety of tools you can use here, aimed at making your influencer journey easier in a number of ways.

1. Pixlee TurnTo for Creators

Looking to join a network of discoverable influencers? Pixlee TurnTo for Creators might be your favorite free tool. This part of the Pixlee TurnTo platform enables brands to discover and communicate with their influencers and advocates. Brands already using Pixlee for influencer management can use Pixlee TurnTo for Creators for direct messaging through the Pixlee platform. This platform makes it easy for brands to seamlessly recruit influencers (like you!) to join a campaign and connect your Instagram to your brand in one single action. Sign up as an influencer or content creator and start getting discovered.

Pixlee TurnTo is ideal for influencers whose primary platforms are TikTok and Instagram, but it also supports influencer campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more — almost any type of content is supported. While it is necessary to connect at least one social media account, connecting an Instagram business account tends to get creators the most campaign invitations. Pixlee TurnTo is a quick way to get discovered easily by brands of all sizes in a variety of niches.

What makes Pixlee TurnTo specifically useful for creators and brands alike is that it allows the brands they work with to derive significantly greater ROI from the platform. Gathering useful  content becomes as simple as searching for a #hashtag, @mention or creator. Brands can then curate, handle permissions, manage how influencers get paid, publish, and measure the success of a campaign by monitoring and tracking metrics right from the platform itself. This makes Pixlee TurnTo one of the best tools for influencers looking to work with brands because it creates a win-win situation for everyone involved.

2. Instasize

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Instasize is a handy photo and video editing tool that simplifies the process of creating the right kind of visuals for your IG feed. If you want to optimize your images for any visual campaigns, Instasize is the intuitive and creative tool you need.

Some of the features we love about this app are:

• Neat visual layout with dark and light modes
• Curated filters to match any image
• Visually-appealing of text, borders, and collage styles to choose from
• Special iOS features: intuitive tools that recommend the best filter to use for your image, access to free images, beauty tools, and video editing

What makes Instasize stand out are the advanced editing tools that influencers often find useful during campaigns that rely heavily on visual content. Whether you need to retouch lighting or just bring attention to certain areas of the photo in more detail, Instasize makes this easy to do. It also allows you to remove the background of your pictures, something every influencer will find handy.

The only drawback is that Instasize may not offer the same features on iOS as it does on Android. So influencers should double check before they download and pay for an Instasize subscription. That being said, Instasize is always adding new features and updating their Android app.

Instasize can be downloaded for free on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. For $4.99/month, you can gain access to the app’s premium features which include a constantly-updated arsenal of filters, borders, and text styles.

3. Canva

(Source: Canva)

Canva is a powerful design tool that can help anyone translate their ideas into well-designed images. Even if you don’t have a background in design, you can streamline the process of creating professional images with the platform’s vast library of templates. Canva also has a free logo maker that applies the same intuitive editing controls to a wide library of logo and text templates. The app is available for free on both the App Store and the Google Play Store. In-app purchases apply.

Influencers that have teams to help them out should definitely consider Canva for Teams. This subscription allows teams of all sizes across departments, companies and even countries to collaborate on content together, in real time. The built in comments feature allows your team to keep content moving and resolve issues quickly in-app so you don’t even need to invest in a voice over internet phone service. You can even plan, schedule and publish posts directly from the app so there’s no shuffling between apps to worry about.

This means you’ve got everything your team needs in a single app to handle your content so investing in additional content marketing tools is optional. For all practical purposes, you’ve got it all under one roof - Canva.

4. Made

(Source: Made)

Made is an Instagram Story editor designed to elevate your IG Story game. If you thought you were doing enough for your IG Stories, think again. IG Stories as a whole have at least 500 million active viewers daily, and users enjoy interacting with them over other platform’s stories because they are able to send these stories to others, tag users, and reply to stories. This kind of user activity can translate to massive engagement potential, and you can also use various Instagram tools for best results on social media.

Revamp your Insta Stories by applying dozens of templates, backgrounds, filters, and premium fonts. Whether you are into minimalist, DIY, artistic, or trendy themes, Made has a collection of templates that will make your content look more polished.

Keep in mind that if you’re posting stories of yourself, as most influencers often do, Made also has another closely related app called SelfieMade. This is more suited to beauty and lifestyle influencers with features like beauty, smooth skin, brighten eyes, whiten smile and face contours. Whereas Made is better for adding text to stories, creating story templates and viewing how they appear on other social media platforms, photo editing and sharing single or multiple story pages.

You can download Made for free in the iOS and Android stores. A $4.99 monthly subscription unlocks all of the features to give you unlimited editing opportunities.

5. Buffer

(Source: Buffer)

Now that you have access to some of the best editing tools, it’s time to work on a strategy for your social media posting schedule. One of the secrets to a thriving online following is an organized content calendar. Know not just what to post but also when to post. Buffer is a powerful tool that can simplify your posting across different social media platforms. Pre-schedule posts, preview how images look on your feed before posting and edit captions and hashtags with ease.Get Buffer on the iOS or the Google Play Store.

Buffer recommends four simple steps which the app is designed to facilitate. So if you want to analyze how your performance has been, collaborate and plan out your campaign by scheduling posts or just engage with the right audience by skipping to important or relevant comments then it’s definitely a tool you should invest in.

While most people's perceptions of influencers tend to be the fashion and lifestyle kind on Instagram, there are so many more niches where influencers matter and several of them on various platforms besides Instagram. Buffer also has several channels you can use so influencers on all platforms can make the most of it. Be it Facebook, Google Business Profile, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok or Twitter you can use Buffer to free up time, plan, schedule and most importantly avoid having a busy day unnecessarily.

6. Pixlee TurnTo's Social Feed

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If you have a personal website or blog, use Pixlee’s free social feed feature to showcase your social networks on your website if you have one.

Pixlee will pull new posts from your social feed and spotlight them aesthetically in a display or carousel on your website. Not only will this tool allow you to redirect your website’s audience to your Instagram, for example, but you only need to set it up once, and Pixlee will automatically select and display your posts on your site in real-time as you post them. Keep your posts relevant with trending hashtags, that will also be displayed when someone clicks on an image from your site’s gallery.

You can leverage this feature to showcase Instagram posts on product pages and increase sales significantly. Since you’re already investing in high quality content for your Instagram as an influencer, there’s no reason the benefits of your content shouldn't extend to your website.

7. The Latest iPhone Camera

Previously, to capture high-quality images, you had to use a DSLR or an equivalently sophisticated (and expensive) camera. Now, with iPhones and other cutting-edge smartphone cameras, you don't necessarily need to buy a separate camera. If you're not going the professional camera route, you're going to want to at least explore the best in smartphone technology.

And for good reason – images that are relatable and less-produced often appeal to consumers and connect with your community better. Balancing polish with authenticity, smartphone cameras can create interesting images that are social by nature.

Currently, the latest iPhone camera is the 48MP iPhone 14 pro. It’s got an advanced quad - pixel sensor and can provide up to four times the resolution. But the specifications are less important than the fact that it means your smartphone will be able to give you incredible pictures that you can use for your social media. No bulky DSLR to carry around, just whip out your iPhone and snap a shot.

Alternatively you can always invest in a good travel smartphone that can weather your busy schedule and frequent trips while still delivering solid picture quality. Travel influencers might opt for a different camera than lifestyle or fashion influencers do so it’s worth taking a minute to consider your needs as an influencer and what your audience expects in terms of quality before you invest in anything.

Keep these 7 tools in your social media arsenal and you’ll have everything you need to make a powerful influencer presence. With a little practice, you’ll boost yourself to influencer status in no time.