NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher has gone viral over her old tweets, which show her support for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, after she attempted to address a senior NPR editor’s concerns about the outlet’s left-leaning bias. Maher, who took over as NPR’s CEO and president last month, wrote a … Continue reading New NPR CEO's social media posts show progressive views, support for Clinton, Biden
Tag: Media
Hamlin feuds with track owner on social media
One of NASCAR’s top track owners and top driver Denny Hamlin got into an online altercation over paving at Sonoma.
The post Hamlin feuds with track owner on social media appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.
FBI interrogates Americans over social media posts 'every day, all day long,' agent says
FBI agents told an Oklahoma woman that the agency spends “every day, all day long” questioning people about their social media posts when they arrived at her house to ask about posts she made online.
Rolla Abdeljawad, of Stillwater, was told by FBI agents who showed up at her home on Wednesday that Facebook had handed over screenshots of her posts.
Abdeljawad told the agents she did not want to talk and asked them to show their badges on camera, but the agents refused, video posted to the social media platform X by her lawyer, Hassan Shibly, shows. The woman wrote on Facebook that she later confirmed with local police that the people who showed up at her home were actually FBI agents.
“Facebook gave us a couple of screenshots of your account,” one agent wearing a gray shirt was heard saying in the video.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS SLAM $200 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR NEW FBI HQ
Abdeljawad replied, “So we no longer live in a free country, and we can’t say what we want?”
“No, we totally do,” another agent wearing a red shirt said. “That’s why we’re not here to arrest you or anything. We do this every day, all day long. It’s just an effort to keep everybody safe and make sure nobody has any ill will.”
The woman then said, “All I’ve done is exercise my right as an American citizen on a public social media platform with my personal opinions.”
It is unclear which posts caught the attention of the FBI, but Abdeljawad has made a series of posts in the past week expressing frustration about the ongoing war in Gaza between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists, including referring to Israel as “Israhell.”
“Israhelli terrorist filth,” she said in one post. “They think Ramadan is a weakness for Muslims not, realizing Ramadan is the strength. #FreePalestine May Allah destroy every single despicable zionist, their supporters and backers. Ameen.”
Abdeljawad’s Facebook timeline is also public, meaning the FBI agents could have accessed her posts themselves without requesting screenshots from Facebook.
One of her posts even warned the Muslim community and people who are pro-Palestinian to be wary of the U.S. government monitoring their activity.
“Don’t fall for their games. Our community is being watched & they are just waiting for any reason to round us up,” Abdeljawad wrote on March 24. “If you’re Muslim and/or pro-pal consider all your media accounts, Google searches, mail, messenger, local mosques & political events monitored. #NYC #usa #PoliceState #FreePalestine”
The official policy of Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is to give law enforcement Facebook data following a court order, subpoena, search warrant or emergency situation involving “imminent harm to a child or risk of death or serious physical injury to any person.”
In the first half of 2023, the social media giant received nearly 74,000 requests from law enforcement and handed over data 88% of the time, according to Meta’s website.
Abdeljawad said in a post on Thursday that her lawyer does not believe Facebook sent the FBI the screenshots of her posts.
“Rather, it seems like a fishing expedition,” she wrote. “I do not fear them. My only concern as, I told the cop is that, someone in my state will do something or that they would and then use my posts in a malicious attempt to ‘smear’ me. Just *remember, I am a Muslim, an obligated protector of creation. I enjoin what is good and forbid what is wrong.”
Shibly said in the caption on the social media video that Abdeljawad made the correct decision to refuse to speak without a lawyer, to not allow them in her house and to record the interaction. But, he says, she should not have gone outside her house to talk to the agents.
“You have the right never to speak to the FBI without a lawyer,” he said.
Media 'waking up' to border deluge and pressing White House because they can't avoid it now: Jim Jordan
The mainstream media appears to be waking up to the effects of President Biden’s border policies as reporters not often heard challenging the White House are suddenly interested in the topic, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Thursday. Jordan told FOX news the turning point might have been New York City Mayor Eric Adams warning that … Continue reading Media 'waking up' to border deluge and pressing White House because they can't avoid it now: Jim Jordan
JESSE WATTERS: The media are creating the most ridiculous excuses for Biden's scandals
Fox News host Jesse Watters lambasted media on “Jesse Watters Primetime” Friday for appearing to provide cover for President Biden in the Hunter Biden investigation and various over controversies he and the White House are facing.
JESSE WATTERS:: If you want something swept under the rug, all you have to do is call it a “Biden.” Whether it’s the laptop or the classified docs in Chinatown, Democrats can never seem to verify anything. And now that the smoking gun FBI documents out alleging the Bidens forced $10 million in bribes out of the Ukrainians, Democrats can’t ignore it anymore. So they’ve come up with some of the most ridiculous and hilarious excuses we’ve ever seen. MSNBC saying the FBI informant is just hard of hearing.
IRS WHISTLEBLOWER: ‘INDEPENDENT ATTORNEY’ NEEDED TO FULLY EXECUTE HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATION
….
The highly credible, multilingual, extremely trustworthy, longtime confidential FBI informant, probably hard of hearing. He probably misheard the Ukrainians, saying they bribed the Bidens, he misheard them every single meeting and every single conversation for three years. I get it. The media is having a hard time wrapping their heads around the Biden bribery bombshells. They couldn’t believe the Ukrainians would hire Hunter Biden to protect them through dad. Hunter’s a lawyer. He went to Yale. There’s no way Ukrainians would call him stupid, even if he’s losing his crack pipes, laptops and guns everywhere. He’s not stupid. He’s just disorganized.
This is now the 10th person connecting the Bidens to bribery. Can the media connect the dots yet?
How to Keep Your Professional and Personal Social Media Lives Separate
When I first launched my business in 2007, I was adamant about keeping a wall up between my professional and personal social media lives. My black-and-white stance has softened quite a bit to shades of …
The post How to Keep Your Professional and Personal Social Media Lives Separate appeared first on Paper.li blog.
'The View' gabbers agree Latinos 'fall for' Republican 'fear tactics,' tricks: 'Not as media savvy'
“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin and actor John Leguizamo suggested Wednesday that some Latino voters were tricked by GOP fear tactics in the midterm elections.
The panel discussed the impact of the Latino vote, particularly following last week’s election. Although they noted that Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto won re-election in Nevada, the group was concerned over shifts of the Hispanic vote towards the GOP, especially in Florida.
Hostin claimed that these gains were the result of Latino voters falling for the “fear tactics” from Republicans rather than based on any political issues.
“I think, what they do is that they use fear tactics towards Central Americans, South Americans, Cubans,” Hostin said. “They start with the communism; they start with the socialism. But they’re not really addressing the issues that Latinos face. And I’m surprised that we fall for it.”
‘THE VIEW,’ GEN Z DEMOCRATIC REP-ELECT GIVE AUTOPSY ON FLORIDA DEMOCRATS: CRIST WAS A ‘DEBACLE’
Leguizamo agreed, “Yeah, because we’re not – we’re not as media savvy maybe as we should be. You know what I mean? As a group. So, trigger words get us. But they get White people, too. Trigger words get White people, too.”
“They do. They do. ‘Make America great AGAIN,’” Hostin replied.
“Yeah. Yeah. We know what that means: make America White again. I mean, we know it,” he joked.
Elsewhere, Leguizamo admitted that Republicans were better at reaching out to Latino voters in contrast with the Democratic Party.
“Well, you know, we’re the largest – one of the largest voting blocks. We’re also the largest minority in the United States. We’re the oldest ethnic group in America. And we vote. But you have to come us. You have to talk about our issues. You have to knock on our doors. You can’t take us for granted and expect us to be there for you. The Republicans understand better and they’re coming for us. They’re putting in our Spanish radio station, on WhatsApp. They come for us and that’s why Latinos are shifting toward them. But just come for us, Democrats,” Leguizamo said.
ANA NAVARRO TAKES TIME TO ‘DANCE ON KARI LAKE’S GRAVE’ AFTER ARIZONA RACE CALLED FOR OPPONENT
Co-host Ana Navarro repeatedly denied claims that Republicans are making gains with Hispanics insisting, “They didn’t shift in Arizona!” and “They didn’t shift in Nevada!”
Various other media pundits including former White House press secretary Jen Psaki have also argued that Spanish language “disinformation” was responsible for Republican gains in Florida. It was later reported that Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., won 55% of the Puerto Rican vote along with 50% of all Latino voters in the state.
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Hostin also came under fire in May for claiming that she didn’t “understand” Latino and Black Republicans and they were an “oxymoron.” Her comments at the time received heavy backlash from minority conservatives.
Best Image Editing Tools to Create Killer Rich Media
I’m just going to say it: Visual marketing is the wave of the future.
There’s no denying the power images have on gaining traffic, shares, and rankings.
In fact, if you have at least one image on your blog post, you are much more likely to rank on the top page of Google.
Images should be the lifeblood of your content marketing strategy.
Great content without any images likely won’t get many shares, much buzz, or any viral promotion.
But that’s easier said than done, right?
Making images that are visually pleasing can be time-consuming.
We don’t all have the creativity or design skills to do it, either.
Heck, I surely don’t have the creativity to produce diverse designs from scratch.
But I know I need the visuals if I want my content to be viewed and shared.
Without visuals, I’d probably drive 50% less traffic.
So I make it a priority.
In every blog post I write, I try to include a visual with every 100 words.
That number can be tough to hit when I can’t think of creative designs, but thankfully, there are a ton of free (or crazy cheap) image editing tools that make you look like a professional.
And that means you can shave time off your day with just a few minutes of image editing.
Thankfully, almost all of them are easy to use even if you have little-to-no experience with graphic design.
Here are six image editing tools that make you look like a pro and will drive your social shares through the roof.
1. VistaCreate
VistaCreate is an all-in-one online platform for designing literally anything a marketer or small business owner may need — no design skills necessary.
You can use it to create posts and stories for socials, make email designs, ads, presentations, and even print materials.
The editor offers thousands of premade templates that already look great, so you can just quickly customize a design and use it right away.
And unlike other graphic design platforms, ALL their templates are free.
In addition to templates, you access a huge library of royalty-free stock photos, videos, vectors, objects, animations, fonts, and music tracks.
With all these tools, you can make videos and animated visuals in addition to static designs.
If you want to publish your design right away, you can post it directly from VistaCreate to your Facebook and Instagram business accounts, and Pinterest. Handy, right?
I like that most of their tools are free, so that you can create a cool design on a budget.
To start creating, log in or sign up to VistaCreate.
So I’ve talked a bit about what VistaCreate can do for you, but let’s show it in action. Here’s a real-life look at me putting this great tool to use.
To begin, I decided to create an Instagram video story for an event I’ll be speaking at.
So, I chose a template first.
I changed the colors, added objects and my photo, and used the Background Remover to erase the background in one click.
Next, I applied a black-and-white filter to make my photo match the style of the conference.
It’s pretty cool!
Next, I animated my photo and objects.
I added all the information about the event and tried different styles to see which color scheme worked best.
After that, I’m ready to post!
VistaCreate also has a resize feature that allows you to make one design and resize it for different platforms in just a few clicks:
Speaking of branded designs, you can build a brand kit in VistaCreate and use it to create a cohesive look for your branding.
Add your business’s colors, fonts, and a logo to your brand kit — and apply it to a template to create your on-brand design.
Having a brand kit is very convenient, especially if you work with many different companies and want to simplify your workflow.
If you work for a new company that doesn’t have a logo, you can create one right from the Brand Kit page using the Logomaker tool.
Click on “Create a logo from scratch”, select an industry, type in your company name — and the Logomaker will offer tons of logo designs.
On top of that, I like that VistaCreate works for both digital and print, so that you can make business cards, flyers, posters, postcards, and other printables in one place.
If you live in the US, you can even use VistaPrint (both companies are part of the Vista family) to have your designs printed and delivered to your door.
For now, you can use them to print posters, flyers, and business cards, with more formats coming soon.
In short, VistaCreate covers all the needs marketers might have — creating branded content for social media and ads, making a brand kit with a logo, and designing print collateral.
You can access it on both desktop and mobile, with the app available for Android and iOS.
2. PicMonkey
PicMonkey is another helpful tool to use for image editing.
If you aren’t a graphic designer but want crystal clear images with high production value, PicMonkey is one of your best bets.
PicMonkey has a slew of diverse features.
For example, you can edit existing images that you have on Facebook, your computer, or anywhere else:
You can also touch up specific photos with new effects.
Also, you can easily start a new design from scratch or with a preset template.
To get started, click “Start a free trial” and create your free account:
You can set up your new account with an email or by signing up directly with Facebook:
Once you’ve created a free trial account, you should be directed back to the dashboard to edit content:
One of the best benefits of PicMonkey is the actual photo editing ability.
For example, other platforms focus more on social media and content marketing images.
But PicMonkey allows you to use diverse filters that you’d find in an expensive application like Photoshop.
For example, you can edit things like filters, sharpening, and blurring:
You can even tap into more advanced photo editing tools like curves and levels:
On top of that, you can touch up real-life photos of yourself or your company—if stock photos are not ideal—using awesome image editing tools:
Want to add a spray tan? Who doesn’t?
The portrait photo editing tools are great and allow you to perfect any headshot for your social media or team photo for your website.
On top of that, you can add tons of cool overlays to your content.
For example, if you wanted to add emojis in your picture, simply click the “PicMoji” option and click any emoji to instantly add it:
You can also pick from a bunch of different existing themes and templates if you are lacking inspiration or creativity:
PicMonkey is similar to other tools but lacks the diverse template and preset options some offer.
What it lacks in templates, though, it makes up for in diverse image editing capabilities.
The ability to edit things like curves and levels or touch up portrait-style photos really stands out.
PicMonkey is a great tool for the everyday person who needs detailed image editing but doesn’t want to get bogged down by advanced, technical programs.
If you want to create a beautiful photo in just a few minutes that is less focused on text and templates, this is your go-to tool.
3. Snappa
I’m also a big fan of Snappa for image editing.
Snappa is similar to other tools in that it has countless high-quality templates to start from.
But my favorite features are the countless free stock photos and high-quality icons:
They are some of the best free icons I have ever seen.
One of the best features Snappa has to offer is the social media scheduling tool:
You can share your graphics directly from Snappa in seconds, saving you the time it takes to download and schedule on a different tool.
You can even use the tool to resize existing images, which is a lifesaver when it comes to repurposing content for different platforms:
To start creating your graphics in just a few minutes, click “Create My Graphic Now” on the homepage:
Sign up for a free account and head to your dashboard to get started.
Here, you can start to create an image based on custom dimensions:
Or simply choose from common template sizes meant for various platforms:
One of my favorite uses for Snappa is the diverse selection they have for social media and PPC ads:
It’s probably the one of the best image editing tools with the most options when it comes to creating high-quality ads in just minutes.
You don’t need to pay a designer outrageous prices for a few banner ads anymore.
Snappa allows you to do it in minutes.
Got a new idea for an ad on Facebook? Don’t wait 48 hours for your designer to make it.
Once you’ve picked out your desired template size, you can choose from a bunch of free options:
These templates are awesome and easy to work with.
After selecting your template, you can customize just about everything on it.
You can add high-quality background images or icons for free:
But the best part about Snappa’s editing tool is the free, high-quality icons.
These icons are what you’d expect from a professional graphic designer and they are all available for your use:
They have just about anything you can think of, from social media to emoji-style icons.
If you have a particular icon graphic in mind, you can simply search in the bar above to narrow down your results:
And the free, professional-quality stock photos are endless:
Snappa is an awesome tool if you love to use icons or stock photos in your work.
If you like instant social scheduling, Snappa has that, too.
Simply hit “Share” in the top-right corner and you can connect social media accounts and even send content to Buffer for scheduling:
Take advantage of the diverse, free offerings from Snappa if you want images that make you look like a professional designer.
4. Piktochart
Beyond just basic image editing tools for social media, Google Ads, or Facebook Ads, Piktochart is centered around infographics.
Piktochart is one of my favorite free tools for making infographics.
Usually, infographics take quite a bit of time to create.
They are a laborious process that can require professional designers and lots of money.
But you don’t need any of that.
Piktochart is extremely simple and easy to use, and I’ve used it countless times to make infographics on QuickSprout.
To get started, click the “Start For Free” button on the homepage:
Once you’ve created an account, it should instantly direct you to the dashboard.
From here, you can choose between three types of graphics:
You can create printable graphics, presentations, and infographics.
My personal favorite use of Piktochart is for the infographic templates.
There are tons of totally free templates to take advantage of:
If you want to inspect one and get a preview, simply click on the template to get a sneak peek:
If you like the design, click “Use Template” at the top:
From here, you can select between multiple color schemes to fit your company branding:
On top of that, Piktochart offers really high-quality graphics just like Snappa:
You can pick from thousands of icons related to almost anything you can think of.
They also have a diverse stock photo library:
Piktochart is one of my favorite infographic tools because they have some of the best free options on the market.
And they don’t try to trick you into buying anything.
What you see is what you get.
If you want a high-quality infographic editing tool, this is your best bet.
5. Pixlr
Now that we’ve covered some of the best image editing tools on the market, it’s time for one of my all-time favorites.
This tool isn’t for the faint of heart, though.
It’s meant for more experienced users who want deep customization options and who have a basic background in graphic design.
If you don’t have experience developing graphics out of a blank canvas, you might find this tool a bit frustrating.
Pixlr’s photo editor resembles Photoshop almost exactly. It has just about every editing feature you’d find in a paid tool.
It’s a completely free tool with incredible customization options you’d expect in a high-quality, expensive application.
To get started, head to Pixlr and create a new image from scratch or open an existing one from a URL or your computer.
If you aren’t comfortable with creating designs from scratch, then Pixlr probably won’t be your go-to tool.
It requires some design elements and skills that are above the level of Snappa.
If you create a new image, you can select the dimensions to your liking:
From here, you start to edit a blank canvas just like you would in Adobe’s Photoshop:
The greatest strengths of this tool come in the form of detailed filters, layers, and adjustments.
For example, you can use it to edit an awesome image or create a new blog graphic with various options:
It’s definitely not the easiest tool on the market to use, but if you are looking for a completely free tool with more customization options, Pixlr is a great one.
You can build graphics from the ground up or simply stitch them together like you would in Photoshop.
Go ahead and give it a try today!
6. Luminar AI
From Skylum, we have the first photo editor powered solely by artificial intelligence: Luminar AI.
Its goal is to take some of the stress out of photo editing by automating the process.
Bridging the gap between basic image editing tools and pro software like Photoshop, this software offers the right in-between gear. Best of all, you need no experience to use it.
Once you choose an image to work on, you can start making additions and enhancements.
Navigate through the templates and editing features. The specialty features of Luminar are Face AI, Landscape, and Portrait Bokeh. The software will even walk you through the process with editing suggestions it curates.
The AI portrait, or Face AI, is meant to make enhancements from shine removal to face slimming to color correcting. Highlight your muse’s smile and give them flawless skin for that “wow” level Luminar helps you strive towards.
This is the creative influence that makes Luminar stand out from other AI editing software.
In the section that has more advanced tools, you will see options that help you replace a background or get the perfect bokeh effect. The cool thing is: This can all be done on the same photo.
With Landscape EnhanceAI, a custom brightness map is used to intelligently balance both light and color across the entire image to make it shine.
Lighting is everything with photo editing. The Bokeh Effect is tough to master, getting the proper balance of light just right. Luminar AI puts you in control and makes suggestions for proper focus and blur for an aesthetically pleasing edit.
When you first start using the software, it can be a bit of a chore to learn. After some time, though, you’ll remember which features are your favorite.
No matter your experience with editing, Luminar allows you to make quick edits at the push of a button. This is especially great for those of you who don’t like sitting in front of your computer too long.
One other thing about this software I like besides its ease of use: While it may be a Photoshop competitor, Luminar can be used as a Photoshop plugin.
That’s right. You can have the best of both worlds with all the aspects of each tool.
So, all around, I say it’s a tool most of you will be a fan of.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is image editing?
Image editing is the process of enhancing digital or analog photographs using various methods, devices, or programs. Photo and image editing might be different when creating graphics versus editing a picture. Scanners, digital cameras, and other image-capturing tools may produce good yet imperfect images that need further editing attention.
What are image editing tools?
An image editing tool is software that enables the editing and conversion of images to varying graphic formats. Everyone knows Photoshop as one of the most popular image editing tools, but there are many others with similar capabilities. Some specialize in removing backgrounds or are a beginner-friendly version of capabilities found within Photoshop. If you want to make an infographic, try Piktochart. Maybe you want some AI guidance when editing, try Luminar AI instead. Think of your needs or what you want to learn and let that drive your starting point for your editing journey.
How should I choose an image editing tool?
Think about the functionality you need to perform the task at hand. Maybe you need to crop, rotate, or straighten an image. Perhaps you need to correct a smile or the shading of colors of an image. You might need to create an infographic. Read up on the handy tools I mentioned in this post and choose the one that’s best to get your job done.
What are some features I need to have when editing images?
Some standard features of a basic image editor include:
- Crop and rotation
- Lighting adjustment (exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.)
- Focus and sharpness correction
- Blemish corrections
- Red-eye adjustment
Along with some of these basic features, items you want to have especially for editing images include adding layers to create different amounts of transparency and adding elements like blur or vignette to create specific appearances.
What is photo editing?
This post-production technique of digital photography involves using photo editing tools to alter images to your desired outcome. It is the digital photography equivalent of a darkroom, where photographs are edited after they’re taken.
How to learn photo editing?
Start with photo editing tutorials to learn your style. YouTube is always a great place to start, but the software you use likely offers a tour of its features – use them to your advantage. You can avoid the need for a lot of editing by adjusting your camera’s settings as well. A higher-quality camera helps, too. With many of the tools like I’ve mentioned, the software provides step-by-step instructions telling you how to use the product in real time of your editing process. If you’re still unsure how to get started, read our complete guide on designing stunning visuals as a beginner.
How to calibrate monitor for photo editing?
This will depend on whether you have a Mac or PC
For PC: Go to Start > Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Display > Calibrate Display Color. Then open the software that will walk you through and give you a general screen calibration. You can also find it by searching for “Calibrate Display Color” in your Windows search box.
For Mac: With the glossy glass, it’s a bit more difficult, but setting your white point to 5500 will give your screen a warm and fairly accurate display.
What’s the difference between a photo editing tool and image editing tool?
Photo editing tools are exclusively used for manipulating images captured with a camera. Image editing tools can do this as well, but also have the capacity to work on static graphics, or potentially combine the two.
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- Lighting adjustment (exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.)
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- Blemish corrections
- Red-eye adjustment
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For Mac: With the glossy glass, it’s a bit more difficult, but setting your white point to 5500 will give your screen a warm and fairly accurate display.
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Conclusion
Content marketing should always include visuals.
You can’t just stick a bunch of text up on a page and expect your audience to read and digest every word.
It’s just not going to happen.
Videos and images are a great way to grab their attention and get your message across.
And, like I said, Google likes them, too. A recent study on Google rankings found that images can even help you rank better.
Images should always be a focus in your content marketing and social media strategies.
They are great for driving shares and clicks that plain text just can’t make happen.
But how do you create images when you have no graphic design experience?
Thankfully for us, there are tons of free tools online that have templates and drag-and-drop style design.
These tools are amazing for creating designs in a fraction of the time without the need to learn graphic design skills.
Most of these tools have thousands of free themes, icons, and tools for you to use!
Start by using VistaCreate.
It’s one of the most popular image editing tools on the market. It’s great for fast, easy designs for almost anything you can think of.
Try PicMonkey for diverse portrait editing and more advanced tools with an easy interface.
Snappa is excellent if you want high-quality icons and integrated social publishing.
Pixlr is the most advanced of the tools, but offers incredible Photoshop-quality features for free.
Luminar brings a new concept to photo editing tools with AI capabilities.
Even a beginning designer will look like a pro with these tools.
What are your favorite image editing tools to use for content marketing and social media?
Dave Rubin: MSNBC, CNN, rest of liberal media 'desperately need' Trump to run in 2024
Conservative political commentator and talk show host Dave Rubin said the mainstream media “desperately need” former President Donald Trump to run again in 2024 because it can resuscitate their ratings, while simultaneously causing disarray among the Republican Party.
Speaking with Fox News Digital at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida, Rubin characterized outlets like MSNBC and CNN as a “televised mentalist institution” that is filled with “activists” and “propagandists.” He also accused them of burying and making up stories in coordination with Big Tech. But Rubin said these outlets, despite their loathing of the former president, really want him to come back into the spotlight.
“Even the CNN propagandists, even Don Lemon and Jake Tapper and [Brian] Stelter and [Jim] Acosta who pretend to hate Trump, pretend he was Hitler, treated him completely unfairly, hide stories that go against Biden—they want him to run because he brings them ratings,” Rubin said.
He added there is a “very twisted and perverse incentive structure” that ties the media and Trump together.
ABC’S ‘THE VIEW’ ADDRESSES CEASE AND DESIST LETTER FROM TURNING POINT USA: ‘WE APOLOGIZE’
“They wanted to destroy him because it kept their ratings up, and they wanted to look like the good guys and the defenders of freedom,” Rubin told Fox News Digital. “And on the other hand they need him now. They desperately need him.
The “Rubin Report” host characterized Trump as a “shock to the system” for a media on life support, and predicted that they would “go all in on the craziness” because it gets them viewers. He also noted that another reason the media wants Trump to run is because it could “drive a wedge” between the former President and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, R.
“Whether DeSantis runs or not, they want Trump to be this sort of destructive force throughout the Republican Party because they love two things: they love ratings and the destruction of the Republicans,” he said.
TRUMP AGAIN DOMINATING THE NEWS, BIDEN’S BLISTERING SPEECH A SIDEBAR
Rubin said he is “hopeful” Trump and DeSantis can work something out ahead of the election and said it seemed Trump would run for president again, based off the energy and what the former president has hinted at.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital on Sunday that the media would “lose their minds” and said he anticipates wall-to-wall coverage of everything Trump has done wrong, without acknowledging what he has done right. Nevertheless, Donalds didn’t think it would make an impact on many people who have already made up their minds on him.
“If you haven’t made up your mind about him, you probably haven’t made up your mind about Coke or Pepsi either,” he said.
TRUMP PREDICTS VOTERS WILL ‘RESCUE AMERICA’S FUTURE’ IN MIDTERMS, HINTS AT 2024 PRESIDENTIAL RUN
A number of attendees at TPUSA this past weekend agreed that a Trump 2024 run would trigger a media “meltdown.”
“I hope the media explodes,” said one attendee.
Recent polling from the Tampa event shows many grassroots conservatives are still backing Trump.
TPUSA polled conference attendees on who they would vote for in 2024 if Trump decided to launch another White House run. The straw poll was sponsored by Turning Point Action, the affiliated 501(c)(4) of TPUSA.
A whopping 78.7% attendees said they would vote for Trump.
How to Create an Effective Social Media Content Calendar
Are you striving for consistency with your social media marketing? A good social media content calendar could be the missing ingredient.
Creating a social media calendar is a simple process, but it can have some impressive results.
Here’s how to quickly set up your social media content calendar and start leveling up your performance.
What Is a Social Media Content Calendar?
A social media calendar gives you a detailed overview of your upcoming social media posts.
This helps you to be more strategic with your content, maintain consistency, and delight your target audience on a regular basis.
Your social media calendar can be as simple as setting out what dates you’re going to post on, or it can be much more detailed.
Many successful social media content calendars will include high-level information to help you get more from each post:
- Platform: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn.
- Content-Type: Behind-the-scenes video, testimonial, product, etc.
- Date: Proposed schedule date.
- Time: Proposed schedule time.
- Title: The title of the post.
- Topic: What the post is about.
- URL: The URL of any links you will use.
- Visuals: A description of any visuals you want to use.
This information gives you an initial framework you can use to build out each post.
Be careful when you are planning, though.
There’s a clear distinction between a content calendar and a content plan. Generally, a content calendar will set out the dates and times for your posts, whereas a content plan will detail the strategies and topics you want to use for your social media marketing.
Since these ideas are closely related, they’re often referred to interchangeably—and can be incorporated into one document.
To give you a better idea of what to include, and where, take a look at this example of a content calendar:
By taking a strategic approach with your planning, you may find a social media content calendar helps you save time and be more effective with your social media marketing.
Why You Need a Social Media Calendar
Over 72 percent of the U.S. population use at least one social media platform, so your social media marketing is clearly important.
The question is, how does a social media calendar fit in?
Let’s take a look at two of the most important aspects of social media marketing: understanding your target audience and being consistent.
If you don’t understand where your target audience hangs out, what content they want to see, and how they consume information, then how do you expect to reach them? It’s difficult to connect with your audience when you’re making social media posts on the fly, which is why a social media content calendar can be so valuable.
The other thing that takes you a long way in social media marketing is consistency. It might not seem like it, but this one is actually very difficult to pull off. It’s not easy to keep coming back each day (or however often you post) with top-quality content.
It’s simply impossible unless you’re planning ahead.
Whatever niche you’re in, there’s tons of competition out there, so you need time to bring your ideas to life and make sure they’re perfectly targeted to your audience.
Those aren’t the only reasons to start using a social media content planner though. They can also help you:
- save time
- schedule posts
- reduce errors
- create more cohesive campaigns
- create a stronger brand identity
- run timely campaigns that fit with holidays and sales promotions
- track performance more accurately
The great thing is that anyone can start using a social media content calendar right now and use these benefits to improve their social media performance.
6 Steps to Create a Customized Social Media Content Calendar
You don’t need any fancy software to create an effective social media content plan. All you need to do is open a spreadsheet and follow these 6 steps.
Step 1: Review Your Social Media Goals
Before you create any plan, you need a clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve.
We all have some kind of goal for our social media posts, but it pays to narrow in on this and make them much more implicit. When you know exactly what you’re working towards, then it’s going to be much easier to come up with the content that’s going to help you achieve it.
Before you create your social media content calendar, make sure you sit down with your team and set yourself SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound).
It’s also important to understand what KPIs you will use to measure your performance against these goals. For instance, are you most concerned with followers, impressions, clicks to your site, or something else?
Once you’ve got clearly defined goals, and a process for measuring your performance, then you’re ready to proceed.
Step 2: Audit Your Current Accounts
Now that you’ve got a clear picture of what success looks like, it’s time to find out how you’re currently performing.
This information is important because it’s going to serve as your baseline. Once you have this data, it’s much easier to test the changes you’re making and adjust your strategies accordingly.
You can add a sheet for all your KPIs to your social media content calendar to keep an eye on this and help make sure you’re constantly working to improve your processes.
Gather all relevant information and make sure it’s easily accessible:
- account details and passwords
- specific goals for each platform
- audience demographics
- responsibilities of each team member
- information on your most successful posts and campaigns
- areas for improvement, gaps in your content, poor results
- platform-specific KPIs to measure future success
This will require a little bit of hard work, but it’s well worth it!
One of the main reasons you’re creating a social media content calendar is to make sure you’re giving your audience the content they’re looking for, and you’ve got to understand your past performance to do this.
Step 3: Choose What Social Platforms You’ll Use
If we went back a decade or so, this step would have been pretty simple. There were a handful of social platforms dominating the scene, which made this question easy to answer.
Today though, there are lots of thriving social media platforms, each with its own demographics. For instance, if you’re advertising to people aged 18-25, you’re probably going to have to use different platforms than if you’re trying to reach the over 55s age group.
Don’t get me wrong though, they’re all on social media!
58.4 percent of the global population is on social media, but how can you best reach your specific target audience?
You don’t have unlimited resources, so that might mean focusing your efforts on a handful of platforms. Bear in mind, that those platforms won’t necessarily be the biggest ones, they just have to be the ones where your target audience hangs out.
Check out the in-depth demographics in the image below and think about which platform might be the best fit for your target audience.
As you can see, these figures vary greatly, so it’s important to decide where you want to be and when.
Step 4: Outline How Often You’ll Post
One of the greatest benefits of a social media content planner is that it helps you to be more consistent, but the question still remains, how often should you post?
The answer will vary for each business.
If you’ve got a huge marketing team working on different elements like images, video, copy, personal interactions with followers, and everything else, then there’s no reason why you can’t post multiple times a day.
However, if you’re a one-man team working on every part of your business, then this probably isn’t realistic.
Ultimately, it’s about utilizing your resources to achieve a good balance between quality and quantity. If you’re putting out poor content that nobody interacts with though, it’s no use to anybody.
There’s no hard and fast answer to this question, but the key is maintaining a schedule where you can be consistent. Most algorithms (whether that’s Google, Facebook, or YouTube) value consistency.
This is something you can be in complete control of, especially with a good social media content calendar.
Step 5: Decide What Type of Content to Post
It can be helpful to break your posts down into categories to give your audience a mix of different content types.
There are two rules that are popular for this and they can help ensure you’re offering variety as well as making life a little bit easier for yourself.
The 80/20 Rule
This rule helps you strike a balance between engaging your audience and trying to sell your products.
It states that 80 percent of your posts should be designed to engage, inform, and educate, and the other 20 percent should be used to directly promote your business.
People don’t go on social media to be bombarded with promotions, so this formula helps you hit the right balance of growing sales while maintaining a positive brand image.
- 47.6 percent of people use social media to stay in touch with friends
- 36.3 percent of people use social media to fill their spare time
- 35.1 percent of people use social media to read news stories
- 31.6 percent of people use social media to discover content
You’ve got to figure out how your content can fit with these goals.
The Social Media Rule of Thirds
If you’re always posting the same type of content then it can quickly get boring. This is why many brands use the Social Media Rule of Thirds throughout their content calendars.
In the social media rule of thirds, one-third of your posts promote your own content, one-third share curated content, and one-third share personal interactions with your followers.
Step 6: Audit Your Resources
The last thing you need to do before setting up your social media content calendar is audit your resources. How big is your team, and what skills do you have available to you?
If you have a team full of social media specialists, videographers, and content creators, then your plans are going to be a lot more ambitious. However, you’ve also got to put systems in place to bring these people together.
This is where your social media content calendar becomes even more important.
When you’ve clearly set out your schedule for the next month, or even quarter, then everybody can see what they need to work on.
Your writer can work on the copy, and your videographer and graphic designer can work on the visuals, bringing everything together on time.
Social Media Content Calendar Template
The easiest way to create a social media content calendar template is using a Google sheet.
Open up a new sheet, and split your calendar into weeks.
Use the columns at the top to set out your dates, and in the rows, enter the following for each platform you intend to post on:
- type of content
- title
- topic
- links
- visuals
This should allow you to create a basic template in just a few minutes. It should look something like this example of a social media content calendar:
From here, you can build your social media content calendar out as much as you like, however, this should give you an excellent starting point.
If you have a budget, you could look at different project management systems like Trello or Airtable to custom-build your social media content calendar. As you start to use them, you’ll be able to spot trends, plan promotions, and much more.
Social Media Content Calendar Frequently Asked Questions
What are the benefits of a social media calendar?
The benefits of a social media calendar are that it saves you time, helps you to be more consistent, reduces errors, and allows you to be more strategical. This should help you provide your audience with better content and increase brand engagement.
Do I have to have a social media calendar?
You don’t have to have a social media calendar but it can be incredibly helpful. It’s hard to consistently offer your audience high-quality content, and sometimes you need time to plan what you’re doing. Knowing what posts you have coming up gives you time to get your copy and visuals in place and tie them to your promotions.
What should my social media calendar include?
You can get as detailed as you want with a social media content calendar. Some basic information to include is the type of content, title, topic, links, and visuals that are needed.
How do I create a monthly social media content calendar?
The easiest way to create a social media content calendar is in a spreadsheet. It’s very simple to set up, and you can have a functioning content plan in just a few minutes.
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Conclusion: How to Create an Effective Social Media Content Calendar
Creating an effective social media content calendar shouldn’t be difficult.
With some basic Microsoft Excel skills, you can create a content calendar that clearly outlines your strategy for the weeks and months to come. Not only will this help you create better content, but it’s also going to save you time.
Whether you’re a large social media team or an individual marketer, a good social media content calendar is going to make it much easier to coordinate your efforts and ensure you consistently meet your audience’s needs.
Start doing this, and your social media marketing results are going to improve dramatically.
How often do you post to social media?