Content creation tools generate and effectively manage content. These tools can be a website builder, a blog site, an app for mobile devices, or even software that manages content for promotions.
Table of Contents
How Content Creation Tools Works
Content ideation isn’t about coming up with ideas out of thin air. Engaging with what’s out there and understanding trends is essential in content creation. These content creation tools will have you trend-surfing in no time.
1. Google Trends & Pinterest Trends
The grandfather of all content creation tools, Google’s free trends tool shows you what’s trending today, as well as letting you research topics’ performance over time. Spot patterns, plan ahead, and make sure you’re not missing a trick in the ever-changing news cycle.
This helps you stay on top of the game and react quickly with the right piece of content when a story breaks, otherwise known as newsjacking.
Pinterest’s Trends tool works in a similar way, and throws up a vision board of popular pins alongside the standard graphs. Ideal for thinking outside the box.slide 1 of 2
I like this Google trends walkthrough for planning:https://www.youtube.com/embed/u_yMX2_4nHE?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1
2. Exploding Topics
Trend finding can seem daunting, but if you don’t get a thrill from reactive work, fear not. Trends always have roots, and having a sense of what’s going to take off is just as important as reacting.
Exploding Topics is a new content curation tool that provides insights into rising and newly trending topics, using an algorithm to predict what will go viral.
“Really loving @explodingtopics as a content inspo source for emerging trends across finance, e-commerce, gaming, media, and other industries.” Brad Michelson, eToro
Its findings are ideal for content creators to hijack and start writing stories about – before everyone else catches on 😏. It’s free, but the pro version starts at $47/mo.
3. Brandwatch
To take your trends to the max, you need to get familiar with the past. Our friends at Brandwatch have a full suite of tools to slice and dice up to ten years of social and consumer conversation data, so you can spot patterns and predict the future. 🔮
Here’s a few ways you can do that:
- Segment and analyze data from a huge range of sources and over one trillion posts
- Use AI to spot insights and narrow down specific trends in the areas you’re interested in, so you can predict what will take off next
- Track and benchmark conversation from leading brands and influencers, or your own competitors, to understand how others engage with and react to trends
- Understand the huge variety of audiences who create and shape trends, and how they communicate
The best tools for content research and ideation
Inspiration sometimes finds you stuck between a rock and a hard place. You want to come up with a great idea, but you’re short on time and have got targets to hit.
Zooming out and reframing is one of the best ways to maintain creativity while staying on message. These content research and curation tools are all bursting with material to spark ideas:
4. BuzzSumo
Feeling stuck? Finding a different way to look at the problem is guaranteed to help. BuzzSumo’s content research tools give you loads of great new angles. Here’s how:
- The Content Analyzer lets you deep dive into any topic or niche, showing you likes, shares, links and evergreen engagement. It has 8 billion articles in its databank, and is great for seeing what ideas, headlines, and content formats have worked in the past. A hidden gem is the analysis tab, which gives you a full content report of the best content formats, lengths and distribution tactics. And the best part: Access is free with a 30 day trial and 10 free searches a month (once that comes to an end) or opt for a paid plan to get access to all features, exports and more.
- BuzzSumo’s Question Analyzer presents actual questions from hundreds of thousands of forums and sites like Quora, Reddit, and Amazon, to help you hone in on the tension areas around a topic.
- The Topic Explorer tool offers a huge world cloud of content ideas that have already been written about or searched for. Our tip is to look for something that has been written about less but has a strong organic search profile (you can check this via the Keyword Tool). Sort of like a content gap analysis, this will help you find topics which will have the ability to generate big engagement.
- And the new journalist research and outreach tool, Journalist Profiles, helps you to understand what angles top-tier publications are taking on your chosen subjects. This can spark new ideas and help you replicate their success.
“BuzzSumo is a GREAT tool for finding content ideas. In fact, BuzzSumo is one of my favorite content marketing tools.” Brian Dean, Backlinko
5. Answer the Public
What do people want to know? AnswerThePublic scrapes autocomplete search data from Google.
It uses them to create spider diagrams with strings of topics that relate to one another – which is ideal for content creators, because that overlap is where the juiciest longtail content ideas live🍹
You get two free searches a day – although a paid account gives you more searches, data, and tracking.
“AnswerThePublic is a fantastic, beautiful way to explore questions and problems that your prospects or customers actually have. (I really like the Prepositions wheel. Try it. You’ll see what I mean.)” Ann Handley, Digital marketing & content expert
A less aesthetically-pleasing, but just as quick, version is Soovle, which shows results from platforms like YouTube and Wikipedia too.
6. Hubspot Blog Ideas Generator
Once you’ve done your research, it’s time for the hard bit: actually coming up with a brilliant idea.
If you’ve got something uninspiring to grapple with, HubSpot’s Blog Ideas Generator can help get the ideas-train in motion. It does exactly what you’d expect: generating generic blog titles including whatever noun you type in, leaving you to your craft.https://www.youtube.com/embed/DJn9gC4Jqok?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1
Best content marketing tools for writing
All content creators love writing, right? Not always. Having to tick a lot of boxes, from SEO to short sentences, while communicating what you want to say, is a true balancing act. There are a few content creation tools that can help you sharpen up and express yourself.
7. Hemingway
If you’re a writer and you haven’t heard of this app, you’re in for a treat. Ernest Hemingway’s ‘iceberg theory’ of short, straightforward prose may have won him some Pulitzer Prizes, but it’s also a killer way of writing for digital.
This app named after the famous writer not only checks spelling and grammar, but points out where your sentences could be snappier, and when the dreaded passive voice has crept in.
“I do recommend the Hemingway App to help you tighten up your writing and identify problems. It’s easy to use, helps you spot glaring errors, and simplifies your language” Jennifer Geer, better marketing
It’s free, but you can buy a desktop program if you don’t trust yourself to switch onto other tabs while writing in a browser. https://www.youtube.com/embed/ddaBuIzlnUs?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1
8. Grammarly
If you’re feeling insecure about your spelling and grammar, many people swear by Grammarly, which has a free plugin that will sit on your browser to analyze everything you’re writing.
“Grammarly is like a little superpower, especially when I need to be at 110%.” Jeanette Stock, Co-founder of Venture Out
Most helpful for content creators is the premium version, which helps adjust style and tone for different audiences. So if you’re juggling content for several different platforms, you’ll never miss a trick.
9. ProWritingAid
A similar tool to Grammarly, ProWritingAid is a grammar checker, style editor, and writing mentor.
However, unlike Grammarly, it provides super detailed reports on your writing, including:
- The Style report: This highlights when you use weak verbs like “make”
- The Sticky Sentences report: This highlights when you overuse connector words that hold a sentence together e.g. in, on, the
- The Echo report: This highlights repeated words or similar sentence structures.
ProWritingAid is brilliant if you’re regularly writing long-form content – and it’s even great for fiction writing!
You can add it as a Chrome extension, and it’s cheaper than Grammarly!
10. Headline Analyzer
Extra, extra! 📰 You’ve written your piece. Now how are you going to get people to actually read all about it?
Co Schedule’s Headline Analyzer is free (if you sign up for an account) and offers recommendations to help craft the most evocative and eye-catching headlines by giving you a score out of 100. Which can be a lifesaver when you’re stuck in a rut.
“There aren’t many headline analyzers out there, and the Coschedule one works great for me. I highly recommend trying it out if you’re a blogger. I use the Coschedule Headline Analyzer to get my headlines rated. Its [sic] a great “second set of eyes” for my headlines.” – Mac M. on Capterra
If you’re interested in buffing up on headline structure in general, Portent offers a formula to shake up your headlines, with a few tries at a time for free.
The top content creation tools for imagery
Looks aren’t everything, but if you’re not lucky enough to work with a designer, making your content beautiful can be a real headache. These tools help you look like a pro, imposter syndrome free:
11. Canva
If you’ve got a tone of voice for your website, you’ll understand the importance of visual cohesion.
Canva lets you use templates to create awesome graphics, source and edit photos, and generally make anything you’re doing look spick and span – giving your content a unique look and feel. It’s free but paid plans give oodles more features and storage.
“This has been very useful for all my creative needs. The good UI has made it effortless to do work and just feels natural. I didn’t need any tutorials or anything so well done. I also love the templates provided by the tool.“ – Renz R. on Canva’s reviews page.
12. Remove Background
A handy tool to pair your new Canva skills with (so much so that Canva has just acquired it) is Remove Background, which cuts shapes out of photos – ideal for creating professional-looking headshots while we can’t do photoshoots!
You can sign up for a paid plan based on how many cutouts you’ll need per month. It integrates with other tools and has different elements for different industry requirements.
13. Flourish
Most online content needs to be backed up by solid data. The sort of data researched in tools like BuzzSumo, for instance. Presenting it in appealing charts is harder than it sounds when you’re not at one with spreadsheets.
Enter Flourish, which helps you tell stories with data: from bar-chart races showing change over time, to interactive survey data and graphs. You’ll hardly need to write a word.
“This software is a powerful tool for creating great presentations, which can make a difference when telling your story. Use your imagination, use the simple tools of Flourish Studio, and make a difference. You are the main actor, and you know how to tell the best story about your product or service.” Manuel Silva Robalinho, Data Driven Investor
The top tools for podcasting
Content creation tools are making podcasting more accessible than ever. It’s a fantastic way to build your audience and deep dive into topics, as well as sharing audiences with your guests and collaborators. Let’s get started! 🎙
14. Audacity
If you want to start a podcast, one thing that shouldn’t get in your way is a lack of access to software. Free tools like Audacity, and Spotify’s anchor.fm offer simple audio software that is making it easier and easier to get your (actual) voice out there. Record, edit and upload your masterpiece, either remotely or in person. Who says there are too many podcasts?
“Audacity was the first-ever audio-editing software I ever tried, and it’s still something I use regularly. I really like its ease of use. Our cohost is not at all tech-savvy and has a 10-year-old computer. I gave him a USB mic and told him to download Audacity to record and export his audio, and we’ve had smooth sailing ever since.” Joey H, on G2
content creation tools for social media
To the outside world, creating posts for social media may seem easy. But, marketers and brands know there’s a lot more to social media content creation and editing than meets the eye, particularly in today’s social media landscape.
From choosing the perfect image to representing your point of view, to creating the perfect Twitter hashtag to making a video for TikTok, here are some great content creation tools to help you along the way.
1. Canva
A social media tools list wouldn’t be complete without Canva. One of the most popular tools for creating social media graphics, Canva allows users to create high-quality images quickly using layouts, templates and design elements.
The free version of the tool is extremely comprehensive, but those who want more can invest €11.99 per month (up to 5 people) or go with pro or enterprise pricing if it’s the best fit for the business. It is free for education and non-profits.
How to Create Beautiful Graphics with Canva:
- Search Canva’s amazing library of templates and choose to use them as-is or to customize for your needs. There is a section dedicated to social media graphics for an array of content formats across platforms.
- Choose your unique elements to make the graphic your own.
- Share your new visual on any social media platform!
2. Crello
Similar to Canva, Crello is a graphic design tool that makes it easy for certified social media marketers to create stunning graphics without a lot of design knowledge.
Crello’s advantage over Canva is that it offers more than 30,000 free design templates, 180 million photos, 32,000 videos and 15,000 illustrations. You can also design as a team by inviting members (up to 10), animate your designs and choose from a music library. Like Canva, a variety of different image types are offered, including templates specifically for social media. Crello is free for users, with limited usage, and pro plan starts at $9.99 a month.
How to Build Graphics Quickly with Crello:
- Use Crello’s ‘Create’ tab to find a free design template or templates that work for your brand.
- Simply click on a design template you love, and customize it using the Crello editor.
- Save your finished product, and/or share it across your social media sites.
3 Hashtagify.me
Hashtagify.me is a free tool (with paid add-on features) that allows you to search for hashtags. Once you’ve searched for a hashtag, you can determine its popularity and how it’s used. The tool is simple to use: in the search box, type in a hashtag you are curious about, and search to find out its performance and related hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. You’ll also see the top influencers for that hashtag, as well as recent tweets using that hashtag and other demographics. Paid users can sign up for alerts on particular hashtags, track influencers and usage patterns, and more.
4. Prezi and Flipsnack
Prezi allows you to create stand-alone presentations, appear alongside a presentation, and design awesome interactive graphics and charts. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, presenting and collaborating from home has become hugely important and the platform has capitalized on its technology to make it seamless while looking good!
Prezi can be integrated with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Webdex and has an ‘Inspiration’ section where you can see what other brands have done to engage their audiences. You can also get reusable designs and templates so you don’t need to start from scratch. An individual subscription starts at $3 a month.
If you’re looking to take your PDFs or ebooks to the next level, look no further than Flipsnack (previously known as SlideSnack. This tool has a flip book maker that allows you to create, share and embed online flip page formats.
For your mobile visitors, you can convert PDFs to HTML5 to make a book that’s fully mobile responsive and create mobile friendly content that engages.
5. Grammarly
Grammarly is an all-in-one spellcheck and grammar tool. It helps users write error-free copy on Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and almost anywhere else on the web.
Grammarly works by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to scan your text for common and complex grammatical mistakes, including everything from subject-verb agreement to article use and modifier placement. It also goes beyond regular checking to provide users with explanations and helps them improve their writing skills. The plugin is free for individual users, with premium and business plans also available.
6. Typeform
Asking questions is a great way to prompt engagement on social media. But sometimes asking one question isn’t enough to get the response you want from your audience. That’s where Typeform comes in.
Typeform is a user-friendly quiz, form and survey builder that allows you to ask your audience questions in different formats, including image-based, multiple choice, short answer, yes or no, and more.
Once you have your quiz in place, you can share it across multiple social media networks in the formats that work best for your audience. 10 questions and 10 responses per month are free, and Basic, Plus, and Business versions with additional features are also available.
7. Anchor
Anchor is one of the most popular platforms for creating, distributing and monetizing your podcast. All for free! It integrates with all key podcasting outlets and free social media platforms for audio. Its easy distribution with Spotify – the great audio disruptor allows you to analyze podcast performance through analytics through engagement insights. We use it at the DMI for distributing our own digital marketing podcast, Ahead of the Game.
With the Anchor app, users can easily create videos and audio recordings that are perfect for sharing on social media.
8. CapCut
There are many free graphics tools that allow users to easily create beautiful images for social media, but most of them aren’t available (or aren’t very intuitive) on your smartphone.
CapCut (previously known as ViaMaker) is a free all-in-one editing app for iOs and Android developed by the creators of TikTok, ByteDance. What makes it popular is the ease of use and a big music library. Like TikTok, the app has advanced filters along with stickers and fonts along with a range of magical effects.
CapCut recently topped the U.S app store so it must be doing something right. Best of all, CapCut is free to use so get editing and sharing!
9. PowToon
Video is the most popular medium on social media networks. The problem is, many companies rely on expensive external agencies to create these videos. The finished product can look too contrived, miss the message mark, and really drain the budget.
A tool like PowToon means you don’t have to be a video master to create engaging videos, especially for presentation purposes. The platform allows you to choose from several templates and customize them according to your business. You can simply plug and play your content and share across your social media networks. Free and paid versions are available from $19 to $99 per month.
Interested in learning more about video? Check out this guide to video marketing on social media.
10. Animoto
Animoto is another great video platform that allows non-experts to create captivating multimedia. Animoto allows you to turn existing video clips and images into video slideshows with little effort. You can either use one of their existing storyboard templates or build a video from scratch depending on how much time you have and your ambition!
Animoto does offer a free version, if you don’t mind having their branding on your videos. Other plans are at €28 or €69 per month based on your business’s needs. Annual subscriptions offer significant discounts.
How to Create Quick Videos with Animoto:
- Use one of the many storyboards provided by Animoto to speed up your video creation process. Each comes with a song, a style, and a particular structure.
- Replace the existing template content with your own text, video clips, and photos.
After you create your video, you can download it in various formats and levels of quality and upload it directly to your social media platforms. There are many ways to use video in your social media marketing, so make sure you do some research to find out the best route for you.
Knowing how to create a great video is one thing but understanding how to create good marketing videos is another. Consider a social media and marketing course to use video to its full potential!
11. Placeit
One more video tool in this list is PlaceIt. This image and video tool allows brands to showcase their products and digital designs in realistic web/video environments. It can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars on externally sourced product videos and images.
A one-time purchase on the platform costs a few dollars, or you can choose to pay $14.95 per month, or $89.69 yearly, depending on your brand’s needs.
How to Create Video mock-ups with Placeit:
- Search for your desired environment. Tip: include your preferred device (e.g. iPhone or Mac) and background (e.g. office or cafe).
- Upload your image or enter a URL to grab a screenshot. Placeit will automatically place your image in your selected environment.
Once you have your product images, you have the tools you need to promote your products on social media via organic or paid posts.
Looking for a social media and marketing course that ups your game?
Whatever social media content you want to create, these 11 tools will prove invaluable. With DMI’s Social Media Marketing course you will learn how to share, tweet and pin your way to success using engaging content that sets your brand above the competition. Plus you’ll learn how to research, plan and strategize along the way!
Conclusion
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