Content marketing, we love it! The constant demand for content however, can sometimes be hard to keep up with. Especially when it’s not your only job or your area of expertise. We're not all Instagram savvy. Or familiar with content strategy for that matter. And when it comes to content marketing: it truly is a matter of being persistent, keeping the content coming at a regular pace. Sometimes, strategy isn't in place and there is no continuity. Or, you just can't get the content in place quick enough. All reasons for followers to unfollow, costing you! This is why we thought we’d share some of our favorite tools that make creating content easier for you, so you can work smarter...not harder.

The best part is that most of them are free, or at least there’s a free version available. Then again, you are probably using Embrosa... In which case you don’t need to learn too many new tricks, because we’ve got you covered! But okay, let's - for the sake of this blog post - say you haven't started using Embrosa yet, we'll share our top ten favorites just in case:

Canva

In an ideal world, everyone would have a professional designer creating content for their business. Unfortunately, due to budget and business priorities, that’s not always possible. Enter: Canva. It’s a graphic design and infographic creation tool that is free and easy to use, even if you have minimal design skills.

It provides templates for lots of different types of marketing material, the ability to upload your own images (i.e. logos or brand images) and an image library that you can use. You can add text, change fonts and fully format a design from start to finish. Pretty much everything is done on a drag and’ drop basis, so it’s fairly foolproof and significantly quicker than creating things from scratch – you do need to have a rough idea of what will look good, but this can be picked up through trial and error.

Grammarly

This is a free extension for Chrome that goes above and beyond spellcheck, highlighting any grammatical errors or clunky phrasing. Perfect if you don’t have the time or skills to proofread content before it goes live. It even gives you instant suggestions of alternative phrases as you write.

It’s particularly useful for web content, customer emails and anything where you need to sound professional and mistakes simply won’t cut it.

Giphy

The internet loves GIFS (we’re including ourselves in that statement too), but did you know that you can create your own GIF super quickly with Giphy? Just upload your own video files or add in a YouTube link to the GIF maker and you can get busy. It’s great for humor, how-to’s or explaining the content more visually, especially if you only have photos rather than video but still want engaging content. It’s worth checking your smartphone too, as most of the new ones have the functionality to create GIFS, although you might need to download another app.

You can also search for existing GIFS to use in your content, as well as other services like Tenor. There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of finding the perfect reaction GIF. Another blog post on GIFS coming up soon! Back to more favorites...

BuzzSumo

Find out what content is trending and popular to get inspiration for your own content. You can plug in a topic or keywords and receive a round-up of popular content within those categories.

Another great thing about BuzzSumo is that it identifies influencers who talk about topics that relate to your content. This can be a great way to connect with influencers, as well as find out more about the content that your audience is consuming and what your competitors are doing.

Animoto

Video is a HUGE deal online, and it’s second nature by now, to jump to a video when you need to find out how to do something or want a review on a product. But video can also be really labor (and budget) intensive, plus it’s not always easy to get a slick finish.

Animoto is a tool that makes professional-quality videos that marketers can use on social media. It’s straightforward, with “drag ‘n’ drop” designs that are easy to use. If you want to get a bit more adventurous, you can start from scratch too.

SproutSocial/Buffer/HootSuite

All of these tools will help you to schedule, manage and curate social media content so that you’re not having to manually work across lots of different platforms. They’ll also help you to monitor mentions about your brand and social media handles online.

Each one does slightly different things and integrates with other tools too, so try out a couple of different ones and make sure that they meet your needs.

Bit.ly

Most social media platforms automatically reduce link size now, but where this doesn’t happen, you can use bit.ly. It turns a long, unwieldy hyperlink into a short, clean-looking clickable link that still takes the user where they need to go. It also tracks the number of clicks too, in case that’s not being picked up somewhere else.

Google Analytics

All social media platforms provide analytics – after all, that’s one of the major bonuses of digital marketing and social media. Google Analytics is free to use too. It’s not the most exciting way to spend your time, but by looking at analytics and working out which content resonates most with your audience you can create more of the same! Some of the social media scheduling tools also have this functionality and display it in slightly easier-to-read ways.

MeetEdgar

Repurposing content can be a great way to increase engagement without lots of extra input. MeetEdgar goes through your posts (once you categorize them) and recycles older updates so that you can benefit from engagement all over again.

Embrosa

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And of course, this list wouldn’t be complete without Embrosa – a tool that makes it easier for you to distribute content to your local dealers in the right way so that they can market your brand. For you, adding content is just as simple as using Dropbox, Google Drive or WeTransfer (and Embrosa lets you add content for free!!). But for your dealers, it makes all the difference. They can find all your content in one simple app on their phone. They only thing they need to do: click SHARE to post your promotional images on Facebook or Instagram.

In the paid version of Embrosa, you as a brand can manage (automagic) translations of your content for local distributors, see statistics of your content usage worldwide and you can see who is using your content worldwide. So you get a nice insight into who your dealers really are. The great thing about Embrosa is, it’s easy and great for you as a brand. But it’s easy and fantastic for your dealers (and their customers) too! Embrosa offers the full package, all in one. It’s a platform for your branded content, it’s a platform for general content which is awesome for your dealers, and it allows the dealers to plan ahead or post directly to their social media. A win-win in our humble opinion… You upload your branded content. The dealers spread your word. Their customers are reached. Embrosa powered!