Canva and Hootsuite are two services used by businesses to enhance social media content.
Hootsuite allows businesses to manage their social media accounts in one place, while Canva is a user-friendly graphic design platform that’s perfect for businesses looking to create images for social media campaigns.
Here’s What You Should Know about Using Hootsuite and Canva:
Using Canva and Hootsuite in tandem can boost your social media’s impact. With Canva, you can create high-quality graphics specifically for your business to use on social media. You can then upload your Canva graphics to Hootsuite, either manually or with a Canva plug-in.
Does Hootsuite Work with Canva?
Hootsuite and Canva work well together.
With the Canva plug-in for Hootsuite, you can create graphics within the Hootsuite interface, then save them as a content source on your Hootsuite account.
You can also manually upload graphics saved from Canva to your Hootsuite account, with or without the plug-in.
Does Hootsuite Do Graphic Design like Canva?
Hootsuite has a photo editor that lets you edit the images from your image library, images from your cloud storage, or images you upload.
You can add filters or text and crop images.
However, Canva is specifically made to create graphic designs and is much more versatile and dynamic. With Canva, you can easily create an original design specifically for your business.
Does Hootsuite Integrate with Canva?
Canva can integrate with Hootsuite using a plug-in.
The Canva plug-in allows you to:
- Set Canva as a content source, making retrieving your images for use within Hootsuite simpler
- Create graphics right from your Hootsuite dashboard with a Canva pop-out
- Add previously created Canva images to your Hootsuite account
Is This Integration Free?
To download the Canva integration for Hootsuite, you must have at least a Professional account on Hootsuite. Professional plans are $29 a month on Hootsuite.
You must also have a Canva account, but Canva is free!
However, even if you are using the free version of Hootsuite, you can still manually upload your Canva images to Hootsuite for free and use them in your social media posts.
All you have to do is save your Canva images to your desktop or cloud storage—like Google Drive or Dropbox—and upload them to Hootsuite.
However, if you are using Canva and Hootsuite on your mobile device, you can share directly from Canva to Hootsuite.
On the Canva mobile app, you can share an image you created or edited directly to Hootsuite by using the share function on the app.
Do People Typically Use Canva and Hootsuite Together?
Hootsuite and Canva are great apps to use together, especially if you do not want to spend the money necessary to license a professional graphics editing software like Adobe or you do not have a graphic designer on staff.
Canva, like Hootsuite, uses a freemium business model, which means that you can use the service for free, but you gain access to more services when using a paid subscription.
While Hootsuite offers its own photo editing service, it’s pretty bare minimum and can only edit existing content with filters and such.
Canva offers templates and the ability to design your own content. It is user-friendly and easy to navigate, meaning you don’t have to be a graphic genius to make great content.
Canva also has a mobile app.
What Graphic Software Do People Typically Use with Hootsuite?
There is plenty of design software available on the market that is used to create social media content.
The most popular is Adobe Creative Cloud (CC).
Adobe CC features Photoshop and Illustrator, which are considered design industry standards. This software is used by professional graphic designers and teams to create anything from social media ads and posters to large projects like entire magazines and books.
Adobe CC is not supported on mobile platforms like smartphones or tablets. (While there is a Photoshop app for mobile, it only offers filters and does not offer the entire powerful suite that is available for desktops.)
And of course, there is the default photo editor of Hootsuite, which has pretty limited features and cannot create original content.
What Are Other Free Graphic Design Software Available to Make Social Media Content?
There are a few free graphics editing sites to know about.
Photopea is a free, online graphic design site.
- Photopea is a free, web-based photo editing service that lets you create designs from scratch or edit existing files.
- If you are familiar with Adobe Photoshop, you will find the interface of Photopea very familiar—it looks a lot like an older version of Adobe Photoshop.
- You can easily use Photopea with Hootsuite. Just edit or create your image in Photopea and export the file. You can then upload it to Hootsuite or the cloud storage you use with Hootsuite.
- The downside of Photopea is that it requires you to be online to use.
- Photopea is also best on a desktop. It’s tricky to navigate the site on a smartphone, what with the limited screen real estate, but it works well on a tablet.
Other free software you can check are Scribus and GIMP.
Scribus and GIMP software are free and open-source versions of Adobe InDesign and Photoshop, respectively.
As the cost of obtaining licenses for high-end software like Adobe can be prohibitive, these free apps are great for making templates or designs for your social media content.
While they may lack some features or plugins, these two apps can do most of the things Illustrator and Photoshop offer.
And when you are done with your image, you can save it in your Dropbox or Google Drive folder, or upload it directly to the Hootsuite media library.
Scribus and Gimp only work on desktops.
Final Thoughts
Canva and Hootsuite are a powerful combination. You can create compelling, engaging images to use on your social media accounts linked to Hootsuite.
The simplicity of Canva is noteworthy, and it is quite easy to use.
That said, do not hesitate to try out other software or web apps to help you create content for your social media profiles.
Sources:
Create graphics for social with Canva

