There are so many apps out there, all proclaiming to be better than the last. Today's blog we're going to cover some of the best apps and equipment I've used in my journey as a content creator that are either free, or hekkin affordable. Hopefully this will take some of the guess work out of the job for you when it comes to what to buy and what to avoid.
Content Editing Apps
Face App: This app gives you a week free trial and then is $60 for the year, $5 a month. This makes editing your photos super easy. I like to use it to remove acne, or bags under my eyes and to make my makeup look a little more refined. It's very user friendly and pays for itself on the days I don't want to do full makeup. It's super easy to use but use the effects and filters minimally. It is very easy to go from subtle changes to improve your appearance to not looking like you at all if you over do it.
Capcut: You probably recognize this from Tiktok and all of the caput templets that pop up on your FYP. You can use it for more than just goofy templets, as it's also a video editor. I've found it to be a super easy way to thread two clips together if I goofed in the middle of a video. It will download the video with the caput logo at the end but you can trim this in your phones editor. It can also be used to add a better verity of music to your Canva reels. Capcut is also free to use.
Tiksave: This is another free trial/ yearly subscription app, at 39.99 for a year subscription, which is less than $4 a month. This app allows you to save your tiktok reels without the tiktok watermark. This is helpful as I find that tiktok is a lot easier to use in terms of video creation and editing vs Instagram Reels. There;s also a better verity of songs and trend on tiktok. However, Instagram suppresses content that has the tiktok watermark on it, so if you're going to repost a reel to instagram, remove the tiktok watermark on it using tiksave. In some cases, your tiktok reels will actually do better on instagram than they would on tiktok. For example, my tiktok is under a permanent shadow ban; I can barely get 1000 views per reel. But the same reel on instagram will reach thousands. For Example: this reel has been on my tiktok since late September and only has 3200 views on tiktok. Meanwhile I uploaded it to my instagram, without the tiktok watermark 3 days ago and its had 38.5k views. Tiksave is your friend.
4. Canva: I LOVE CANVA. Canva is one of the easiest ways to make graphics for your platforms. Everything from quick little reels to tip menus, to game flyers. I used Canva for creating all of my Exxxotica flyers, my doors game flyer and my tip and video menus plus so much more. It's really easy to use and is free with the option of upgrading to a premium version, which has a lot more tools like branding options and better templates and more graphics to use in your content. It's 54.99 a year for the premium features, about $4.60 a month Canva is really great for everything you need to create eye catching reels, flyers and menus for your spicy pages and even has options for printing off materials like the Unfiltrd Standee we had at Exxxotica, informational cards, brochures and business cards.
5. ChatGPT : Not necessary but Chatgpt can be super helpful with some stuff like writing captions for your social media postings, finding hashtags to use with individual postings and even taking something like a formal email and tweaking it for you to sound more professional. You can even use it to write blogs for you, but if you do go this route, I would advise that your read it through and then write your own blog based off the information it provides so that it sounds a lot more genuine. Because ChatGPT is AI, it tends to sounds very stale and robotic, which is not a turn on for your audience.
Equipment:
A good camera: A good camera is going to make or break you. This can be a DSLR or a newer / iPhone cellphone. The 2023 cellphones have amazing cameras on them and work really well for most content. I would advise the flagship Samsung phones or iPhone 13 and up models, as the older cameras and A-series Samsungs do not have as good of a camera system as the flagship phones. Blurry, distorted and pixelated images and videos are going to be a turn off for your fan base. You want crystal clear images for all of your content, social media or otherwise. For DSLR, these are really going to be for more advanced users when it comes to photos and videos as anything done in these types of cameras are going to need to be run though photoshop or a video editing application to pull out their full potential. You'll also need a timer or remote to operate these on your own, or a partner/friend to operate it for you. For social media we use a Fuji TX3 and for my videos and lingerie shoots I have an iPhone 12pro (I need to upgrade but she still has some life in her yet.)
A good ring light, or two: Lighting is going to be the difference between a so-so image and an amazing one. Good lighting is going to smooth out any pores, hide acne and just give your images and videos that WOW factor. Ring lights are fairly inexpensive can can be purchased starting at $30 You can even get some on Amazon that change color and can add cool color effects to your images that look better if you dont have to fudge it in post processing. Ring lights can also double as a tripod for your phone. I've got a $20 ring light with a center phone mount that I bought from a local store here in Quito.
A remote for your phone: If you're filming on your own, a small bluetooth remote is a must. For most of my lingerie content, and solo videos, I have a small remote that is easily concealed my hand that I can use to operate the camera on my phone, that is mounted in my ring light. The results are much better than having to rely on the timer on the phones camera as I can discreetly click the button when I'm posed and avoid that uncomfortable "is it done yet" face that will always come across in the photos. The remote I currently use is from a selfie stick I got several years ago, it also needs to be upgraded as its dying but it still get the job done.
Others:
We've covered a lot as far as apps and equipment go so lets wrap up with a few more things to consider in your content creation journey:
a clean filming space: Nothing turns a viewer off more than a cluttered or dirty space when they're viewing your content. Set aside an area or two of your home that are for filling and tidy them up before you set up your equipment. having a tidy space will also give your work a more professional look, which will allow you to charge more per image/video
Quiet and Privacy: If you have pets or children you'll want to make sure that when you're filming spicy content, they cant be seen or heard. For platforms like onlyfans, they will remove anything where pets, children or another person can be heard, Even if it's just the TV. Make sure your kids are not home and your pets are outside, or in their crates (my Tusa is crate trained and just goes to sleep when she's in her crate) when filming. There's nothing worse than having to totally refilm a whole video because your dog was barking at the door.
A Schedule: Having a schedule for when you film, when you shoot content for social media, when you post and when you interact with fans is going to save you from a ton of burnout. Set yourself a schedule based on your most productive times of day vs least. We talk a lot about setting schedules and managing burn out in a few blogs. Our most recent blog on this addresses managing all of this around the holidays, but it honestly applies year round.
I'm going to wrap it up here so that I dont overwhelm you with information. But this is a solid starting point for anyone just getting into being a content creator, or has been in it for a while and is just lost as to where to go from here.
Have a great rest of your week and Happy New Year! K Love You Byeeeeeeeee xoxox SaraLyn
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