Lou Bortone with coffeeIf you want to shine online, it’s going to take more than a few clever tweets and a couple of fab Facebook posts.  To stand out in the noisy, hyper-competitive web, you need creativity, innovation and a willingness to have a little fun!

With that in mind, here are five cool tools for being more memorable online:

  1. Cartoon Yourself with Bitstrips – Bitstrips is a fun, free, easy-to-use Facebook app that creates a cartoon avatar for you and then puts you into various cartoons that you can post on Facebook.  You can create and customize your Bistrips based on your mood or situation, and you can even add your friends with avatars into your comics.  It’s a great way to create more engagement on Facebook.
  2. Get Creative with Canva.com – If you’re not a designer or you don’t have the time or patience to learn PhotoShop, don’t fret.  You can still get creative and look like a pro with Canva.com.  Canva provides dozens of designs and templates that you can customize to create your own graphics.  The service is free and stock photos are just a buck each.
  3. Picture Yourself on Photofunia – If you’d like to light up Broadway or see your name in lights, check out Photofunia.com, where you can paste your face on billboards, buildings and just about anywhere else.
  4. Be the Bomb with BombBomb – We’re all drowning in email, and it’s tough to break through all that online clutter.  One way to stand out and make an impression is through video email, and BombBomb.com is a great platform for making it simple.  Just record your message with your webcam or smartphone and send like a regular email.
  5. Own Instagram with WordSwag – Instagram is fast becoming another powerful marketing tool, and WordSwag app (currently available for the iPhone) lets you combine words and photos into a post with style on Instagram.  Why just post a text quote when you can post a more creative and compelling photo quote?

Drawing outside the lines and exploring the playful platforms above will keep you top of mind online.  And all that visibility can be leveraged into profitability!  While it may seem a bit frivolous, it’s really what it takes to be buzz-worthy, and remain relevant to your current and prospective clients.

Good luck and have fun!