Here’s the situation: You know you need to create content to grow your business, improve your SEO and establish yourself as a thought-leader in your field, BUT you also have a business to run, client work to do, bills to pay and, a life to live. So how do you find the time to create shareable content, write blogs post, upload them, be active on social media and so on?
Even if you worked seven days a week, sometimes it just doesn’t seem enough. So, from experience, there are two good options (if you find a third, please do let me know). You can either hire a professional to design a plan of attack and maybe even do the work for you or, you can get yourself a few smart tools to speed up your content creation process.
With this in mind, here are five content creation tools to lighten the workload.
1. Canva
Tried and tested, Canva is not the new kid on the block, but certainly one you need to know about. Founded in Sydney, Australia in 2012, Canva is a graphic design platform, that lets you create social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents and other sleek visual content to support your brand. The platform’s templates make the whole experience superfast and super easy. You can either download the app or design on your desktop. Canva’s basic plan is free but should you want to step it up the company also offers enterprise and pro services.
2. Grammarly
An absolute favourite – Grammarly is the virtual editor you (never) knew you needed. Just upload your copy and let it do the work for you. From typos, grammar issues to misuse of words or suggestions on how to express yourself more concisely, this platform does it all. You can even install a plug-in so Grammarly checks everything you type all the time – pretty cool, right? The basic option is pretty comprehensive but if you’d like to step up your writing game, you can sign up for the Premium plan.
3. Hootsuite
Got your content ready, and now you’re looking for the easiest way to get it across your social media channels? Then Hootsuite is the tool for you! Hootsuite lets you connect your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube accounts so you can share and schedule with only a few clicks. This is great if you want to reduce daily stress and batch schedule your posts ahead of time. The free option is a great starting point, if you have more than three social accounts, you may want to consider upgrading to a professional account.
4. Piktochart
Another great design app, Piktochart is a real winner if you are looking to add infographics and charts to your content repertoire. The web-app lets you turn any text- or data-heavy document into easy-to-read infographics, reports, posters, presentations and flyers. Obviously, this isn’t just helpful for anything you put on your blog or social channels but can also elevate your internal as well as external client communication.
5. Pexels
Here are two photo libraries (yes, I threw in an extra one for good measure) you absolutely need to know about: Unsplash and Pexels both offer royalty-free stock images for personal brands and businesses. Pexels’ library consists of 3 million free stock images and photos, while Unsplash offers “Over 2 million free high-resolution images brought to you by the world’s most generous community of photographers”. Get browsing.
Are you looking for more great ways to amp up your content creation? Check out our services here or get in touch for a consult.