5 Productivity Tools To Aid Great Content Creation
Content creators are surrounded by great expectations. They may have to provide quality content while working against the clock. So, it is no wonder that staying creative in a stressful and highly active environment is quite a challenge.
There is an ocean of unpredictable shifting trends and impossible deadlines on which the content creators are basing their careers. The good news is that some very useful programs have been created, to help them stay productive on a daily basis. Let’s take a look at the five essential productivity tools for content creators and see what their benefits are.
1. Buffer
This tool keeps creatives away from wasting their precious time on unnecessary work steps. Buffer offers a single platform for all the social media channels, which usually end up being in high number for only one company.
So, we have this one platform that rules all social profiles and things get more interesting from here on. Content creators know very well that posts have to be sent only at the right time to make the most of their potential. There is a pattern in the reading habits of a target public that is required to be respected. Most people prefer reading the news during mornings, while the evenings are for light entertainment articles. Thus, every post should be created for its ideal time frame and published precisely when it is needed.
With Buffer, creators don’t have to depend on each part of the day anymore and have more time to write unique content. They can create all the posts in the mornings and schedule them to cover the entire day. What sets Buffer apart from its competition is that users can create preset schedules for their posts. This works great when the social content respects the same timetables every day and one can always change the presets to fit any occasion.
The content can be distributed on up to 12 social media profiles at the same time on the premium version of the tool. This will run you $10/month. Buffer covers all the main social platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, and Google+. It also gives access to an analytics page where you can supervise the reach of your posts and even reply to comments.
2. MindNode
When creators are having a hard time connecting two subjects together in their content (for example, how to link the Pokemon Go frenzy to a Law company) mind mapping is the best strategy to make things work together.
MindNode is the one tool you need to make brainstorms on your own. With this program, creators can actually get to see what is in their minds. More than that, their work with MindNode will result in a clear picture of thoughts. Thus, they get rid of the mess and chaos that the endless imagination can create.
The basic concept behind the mind map is that you start from the main idea to which you can add as many adjacent ideas through nodes. These nodes can have child and sibling nodes on their own. So, the end picture will become a tree of ideas where every node is interconnected.
This tool has an intuitive interface that allows the users to create a real-time mind map. It can be used instead of the unorganized notes during a meeting which emphasizes the bigger picture and only the ideas that really matter.
3. DropBox
DropBox is a cloud-based storage platform that enables anyone to take their work with them wherever they want (as long as they have an Internet connection). Once you connect to DropBox, you can create folders and sub-folders to store and organize your files. You can create Word documents, Excels Spreadsheets, Presentations and more. Once they are stored in the DropBox folder, these documents will be synced on all devices where this storage tool is installed. This way, it is easy to take a look at work files from home or access important data during meetings from smartphones.
And there’s more. The folders can be shared to ensure that long distance collaborations are productive, or simply to avoid the time people waste going from one office to another. The collaborators can edit the documents and introduce notes with valuable feedback, while the creators can view the changes in real-time.
Thus, this tool can be considered a valuable asset that connects the creators with other teams they are working with.
4. Pocket
The Internet is an ocean of information, and staying on top of it can be an impossible mission. However, with the Pocket app, content creators are able to keep track of their work along with the inspiration and source material they need for their work. These can include articles, websites, blogs or digital platforms.
Pocket offers digital bookmarks to stop feeling lost when looking for inspiration. It is a free app, and once installed, a Pocket icon will be displayed in the upper right corner of the browser. When a useful article is found across the web, it can be easily saved by clicking the Pocket icon. The articles can be thus easily read or used for future reference at a later date. You can organize your collection of websites through an intuitive tagging system.
Pocket is another tool that encourages collaboration. It allows its users to share saved articles through email or even post them on others’ Pocket accounts. So, by using Pocket, the creators will have a well-built system of inspirational sources on which they can write their content.
5. Hemingway
Testing any copywriting with the Hemingway app should be the final step for any content project. However, this app is not for grammar mistakes, but it focuses only on syntax.
There are some rules specific only to digital copywriting. For example, the sentences shouldn’t be too long. The reason for this is that the attention span of digital readers is shorter than the ones that read from paper. This is because a web article usually has many eye catching features that distract the reader. Plus, the screen brightness tires the eyes too fast to sustain a quality attention span.
Hemingway app is well aware of these rules. It detects disturbing irregularities in the body of text, such as:
- Sentences that are hard to read
- Phrases that might have simpler alternatives
- The number of adverbs
- The number of passive voice constructions (the smaller these two numbers are, the better).
It also makes a quick inventory of the text, such the number of words, characters, paragraphs, and sentences. Once you get the approval of Hemingway, the content is ready to be published.
Over To You!
So, these are my 5 suggestions for essential productivity tools that content creators should be using. They can be used separately, but they could take the content world by a storm if combined.
Do you have any suggestions of tools which you prefer to any of the above, or perhaps one that can further supplement them? If so, please share your thoughts here.
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- 5 Productivity Tools To Aid Great Content Creation - August 30, 2016
