8 tools that will help scale your content marketing and save time
No matter what your profession is, if you are wasting two precious resources - time and money, you won't succeed.
Any high achiever you'd know values these resources and using them efficiently is the only way to achieve the results you've been looking for.
The difference between delivering exception or a mediocre result is how you use your time and money. By making them work for you more efficiently, you can produce better results.
And, it's something I am going to discuss on in this blog within the context of content marketing. As a content marketer, you would've have often felt the need for some amazing and excellent content marketing tools that help you achieve more in less time and money, and this blog tries to do exactly that.
Before we begin, let's first understand what the essential components of content marketing are. Content marketing isn't some random activity you do trying to sell a product. No, it doesn't work that way, and you'll only regret wasting the two above mentioned resources.
Those who are experienced content marketers, would already know the process, but those who want are learning the skills of the trade, I will simply reiterate. Content marketing is a three step process:
1. Planning the content
2. Developing the content
3. Marketing the content
This, is the crux of content marketing and to improve your efficiency, there are numerous tools available for each of these steps. However, in the vast expanses of the internet and zillions of tools claiming to be productivity hackers and enhancers, it's pretty easy to drown in the deluge of the information trying to find the best tools.
To protect you from this pain, and trust me it's a real pain to find the best tools, I have compiled a short list of useful and cost efficient tools. And, you don't have to take my word for it. Try them and see for yourself which of these suit you.
Planning a Content
That's the first step, and the below tools are meant to work in your favour at this stage.
Feedly
So, you have a great content idea? But do you also know if it's what people need? If you're unsure, a little background research will help. The best way is to check out the hot topics – what people are actually writing and reading.
This exercise will give you an excellent idea of what your topics should be and how you can make your content more engaging. One of the ways to do it is to search the internet manually and look for such topics. But, that'll only waste your time, which you can use to do something productive and make money!
The alternative is Feedly, an RSS reader that'll compile the articles based on your preferences in a single place. Once you log into your Feedly account, you'll be able to see the complete list, which will help you with spotting the right topic for your next blog. And, this entire activity will only take a few seconds!
TrendSpottr
So, you want to develop content that is unique and yet provide value to the audience? How do you get it right then? How would you decide what your audience would like if there's no similar content already published? It's where TrendSpottr will give you the information you need. It identifies the topics and subjects that are trending instead of looking for the blogs or articles. Thus, you get to know what people will like rather than what they are already liking. You can then develop your unique content and present it to them.
The next step in the process is actually developing the content, and the below tools will be highly useful in developing excellent content
Hemingway Editor
After you have written your text and have worked hard completing it, a logical thing to do is to check it for grammar and other errors such as spelling mistakes. A little error like "then" in place of "than" will screw your hours of hard work as the critiques are more likely to highlight this simple typo instead of appreciating your efforts.
You wouldn't want an "e" to spoil all your hard work, would you? Hemmingway Editor is a helpful little tool to help you avert such embarrassment and get the best results. All you've got to do is to copy and paste the stuff you've written into the text editor of the app and follow the suggestions for improvement.
Easel.ly
Are you looking for something more saucy and sexy than a simple text content? An infographic is the best way to add some spice to your content. But getting on designed from a professional would cost you hundreds of dollars. Instead, do it yourself with Easel.ly and check the results. It may not be as good as a professionally made infographic, but it's useful nonetheless and helps save your and money.
StayFocused
This, is not a content development tool, but a means to keep you focused on your work. The biggest drawback of working on a computer with an internet connection is that you are bound to get distracted. It's a compulsive habit of most of the users to check their social media accounts, like a friend's photograph standing in front of Eiffel Tower or wearing a new dress, or simply make a comment or two.
Now it all might look innocuous, but when you do it repeatedly, it breaks your concentration and keeps you away from the work. They say time flies. And it indeed flies, if you don't catch hold of it. What you might think are a couple of minutes on Facebook could be actually 20 and even before you realise, your schedule's gone for a toss.
If you're serious about your work and want to avoid wasting your time and productivity, use StayFocused. It will allow you to block the websites you think are time wasters or specify the period for which you don't want them to be a distraction.
Tomato Timer
I am not going to waste your time telling you about how to improve your productivity. But I can say this, our mind prefers working for chunks of time and then take a break. Few studies put it at 25 minutes work and 5 minutes break while other suggest a 50-10 minutes' time distribution is ideal. In either case, it's important to function without any diversions for some time and then take a short break.
Tomato Timer can help you achieve it. You can set the timer to guide you when to work and when to take a break. A 25-5 is the ideal combination as 25 minutes is not a very long period and yet sufficient enough to let you complete a considerable amount of work.
A 5-minute break is also good as it's not too long to completely take you away from the work and still relax your mind. Use Tomato Timer to your advantage by letting it notify you.
Now that you've developed your content and have done it in an efficient manner by saving your time and money, the next thing is to market it. Unless you make your target customers aware of what you've to offer to them, all your efforts will go down the toilet flush. Here are two tools that'll help you to market your content.
ContentMarketer.io
One of the best methods to get your content promoted is to get it endorsed by influencers. ContentMarketer.io checks your content for the specific keywords and uses them to identify the influencers who are discussing or promoting contents of similar nature. The app provides a list of such influencers and also their email ids and Twitter account details. Based on the list and the specific influencers, you can modify your content and contact them. It improves the chance of your content getting promoted by them considerably.
Buffer
Buffer is a kind of an aggregator of all of your social media accounts. It helps connect and manage your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest accounts so that you can simultaneously publish your content on them. Also, you can schedule when to publish the content on the specific sites.
These 8 tools are the simplest and the easiest way to execute your content life cycle successfully. Once you have them in place, you wouldn't have to worry about spending too much time and money on tasks that have been keeping you away from developing top quality content.
Any high achiever you'd know values these resources and using them efficiently is the only way to achieve the results you've been looking for.
The difference between delivering exception or a mediocre result is how you use your time and money. By making them work for you more efficiently, you can produce better results.
And, it's something I am going to discuss on in this blog within the context of content marketing. As a content marketer, you would've have often felt the need for some amazing and excellent content marketing tools that help you achieve more in less time and money, and this blog tries to do exactly that.
Before we begin, let's first understand what the essential components of content marketing are. Content marketing isn't some random activity you do trying to sell a product. No, it doesn't work that way, and you'll only regret wasting the two above mentioned resources.
Those who are experienced content marketers, would already know the process, but those who want are learning the skills of the trade, I will simply reiterate. Content marketing is a three step process:
1. Planning the content
2. Developing the content
3. Marketing the content
This, is the crux of content marketing and to improve your efficiency, there are numerous tools available for each of these steps. However, in the vast expanses of the internet and zillions of tools claiming to be productivity hackers and enhancers, it's pretty easy to drown in the deluge of the information trying to find the best tools.
To protect you from this pain, and trust me it's a real pain to find the best tools, I have compiled a short list of useful and cost efficient tools. And, you don't have to take my word for it. Try them and see for yourself which of these suit you.
Planning a Content
That's the first step, and the below tools are meant to work in your favour at this stage.
Feedly
So, you have a great content idea? But do you also know if it's what people need? If you're unsure, a little background research will help. The best way is to check out the hot topics – what people are actually writing and reading.
This exercise will give you an excellent idea of what your topics should be and how you can make your content more engaging. One of the ways to do it is to search the internet manually and look for such topics. But, that'll only waste your time, which you can use to do something productive and make money!
The alternative is Feedly, an RSS reader that'll compile the articles based on your preferences in a single place. Once you log into your Feedly account, you'll be able to see the complete list, which will help you with spotting the right topic for your next blog. And, this entire activity will only take a few seconds!
TrendSpottr
So, you want to develop content that is unique and yet provide value to the audience? How do you get it right then? How would you decide what your audience would like if there's no similar content already published? It's where TrendSpottr will give you the information you need. It identifies the topics and subjects that are trending instead of looking for the blogs or articles. Thus, you get to know what people will like rather than what they are already liking. You can then develop your unique content and present it to them.
The next step in the process is actually developing the content, and the below tools will be highly useful in developing excellent content
Hemingway Editor
After you have written your text and have worked hard completing it, a logical thing to do is to check it for grammar and other errors such as spelling mistakes. A little error like "then" in place of "than" will screw your hours of hard work as the critiques are more likely to highlight this simple typo instead of appreciating your efforts.
You wouldn't want an "e" to spoil all your hard work, would you? Hemmingway Editor is a helpful little tool to help you avert such embarrassment and get the best results. All you've got to do is to copy and paste the stuff you've written into the text editor of the app and follow the suggestions for improvement.
Easel.ly
Are you looking for something more saucy and sexy than a simple text content? An infographic is the best way to add some spice to your content. But getting on designed from a professional would cost you hundreds of dollars. Instead, do it yourself with Easel.ly and check the results. It may not be as good as a professionally made infographic, but it's useful nonetheless and helps save your and money.
StayFocused
This, is not a content development tool, but a means to keep you focused on your work. The biggest drawback of working on a computer with an internet connection is that you are bound to get distracted. It's a compulsive habit of most of the users to check their social media accounts, like a friend's photograph standing in front of Eiffel Tower or wearing a new dress, or simply make a comment or two.
Now it all might look innocuous, but when you do it repeatedly, it breaks your concentration and keeps you away from the work. They say time flies. And it indeed flies, if you don't catch hold of it. What you might think are a couple of minutes on Facebook could be actually 20 and even before you realise, your schedule's gone for a toss.
If you're serious about your work and want to avoid wasting your time and productivity, use StayFocused. It will allow you to block the websites you think are time wasters or specify the period for which you don't want them to be a distraction.
Tomato Timer
I am not going to waste your time telling you about how to improve your productivity. But I can say this, our mind prefers working for chunks of time and then take a break. Few studies put it at 25 minutes work and 5 minutes break while other suggest a 50-10 minutes' time distribution is ideal. In either case, it's important to function without any diversions for some time and then take a short break.
Tomato Timer can help you achieve it. You can set the timer to guide you when to work and when to take a break. A 25-5 is the ideal combination as 25 minutes is not a very long period and yet sufficient enough to let you complete a considerable amount of work.
A 5-minute break is also good as it's not too long to completely take you away from the work and still relax your mind. Use Tomato Timer to your advantage by letting it notify you.
Now that you've developed your content and have done it in an efficient manner by saving your time and money, the next thing is to market it. Unless you make your target customers aware of what you've to offer to them, all your efforts will go down the toilet flush. Here are two tools that'll help you to market your content.
ContentMarketer.io
One of the best methods to get your content promoted is to get it endorsed by influencers. ContentMarketer.io checks your content for the specific keywords and uses them to identify the influencers who are discussing or promoting contents of similar nature. The app provides a list of such influencers and also their email ids and Twitter account details. Based on the list and the specific influencers, you can modify your content and contact them. It improves the chance of your content getting promoted by them considerably.
Buffer
Buffer is a kind of an aggregator of all of your social media accounts. It helps connect and manage your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest accounts so that you can simultaneously publish your content on them. Also, you can schedule when to publish the content on the specific sites.
These 8 tools are the simplest and the easiest way to execute your content life cycle successfully. Once you have them in place, you wouldn't have to worry about spending too much time and money on tasks that have been keeping you away from developing top quality content.
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Reddevil007 -
Thanks
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