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Lets be honest. Content marketing is not easy! Sure, anyone can set up a blog, sign up for Twitter and open a MailChimp account. The challenging part however is creating relevant content your target audiences finds valuable and shares it along to their network.
For a more thorough definition, Content Marketing Institute likes to describe it as a “marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
But you can’t just suddenly start blogging and expect a flood of retweets. Trust me it takes time. And being recognised as a thought leader certainly does not happen over night! It takes a lot of hard work to reach the level blogs like Buffer are at.
Fortunately we live in an age where apps are all the craze and they’ve also come to be incredibly valuable for content marketers. Below you’ll find 13 apps I use daily to get my content marketing organised.
13 Tools for Content Marketing
1. Wunderlist
After trying every task manager app out there, I’ve always found myself getting back to Wunderlist. As I mentioned in the introduction, content marketing is hard work and with it comes a lot of tasks to complete.
Image courtesy of 6Wunderkinder
Wunderlist is an app I use on a daily basis and keeps me on track with my content marketing. One of it’s main selling points is that syncs across multiple platforms such as iOS, Android, Windows and OS X. However with the introduction of adding notes to tasks, I’ve also started writing rough drafts of future blog posts straight from within Wunderlist.
2. Asana
However one thing we noticed in PAYMILL Marketing Team, was that Wunderlist wasn’t really cutting it for collaboration on multiple projects. Don’t get me wrong, the team at 6Wunderkinder have done a great job here, but it still feels suited more for personal use.
Asana includes a lot of features that make teamwork more efficient. The commenting feature is a very nice touch, and is a great way of making sure that task-related communication doesn’t get lost in your email inbox.
Image courtesy of Asana
It also features a way for you to attach files directly from Dropbox, Google Drive and Box. Asana also lets you get an overview of all your tasks with their calendar view that can be synced to your Google Calendar.
3. Mindmeister
Sometimes bullet points and lists just don’t cut it! That’s where Mindmeister comes in to fill my brainstorming needs and helps me visually outline information.
Mindmeister is an online app that is also available on iOS and Android. The app syncs your mind maps across your devices and it’s premium package offer offline support and PDF export. Personally I’ve found Mindmeister to be an excellent companion on mobile devices while I’m travelling.
4. Tweetbot
Yes the price tag can put many folks off, and there’s no way to test drive it before paying €17,99 to download Tweetbot. But this is seriously the best Twitter client available on OS X and iOS. And trust me you won’t regret it afterwards!
So what makes Tweetbot so great? For one you have access to third party services such as Droplr and Cloudapp. You’re able to save links to read later by sending them to Pocket, Readability and Instapaper. Plus your Twitter feed can be synced via iCloud or Tweet Marker.
Another cool feature I’ve found with Tweetbot is that it’s really easy to mention users in your tweets. It first tries to autocomplete the twitter handle for you, but then lets you search for the person if it didn’t find the username or got it wrong – the same goes for hashtags too.
5. Buffer
When it comes to content curation, i.e. collecting and sharing quality posts from the web, Buffer is my app of choice simply due to its simplicity and ease of use.
The most annoying thing on social media is the excessive updates some folks post in quick succession. If you’re active on Twitter you probably know what I mean. Nevertheless, Buffer is a neat scheduling tool to help you post your updates at optimal times and to multiple social media accounts, which now includes LinkedIn and Google+ Pages.
6. iA Writer
For producing written content you don’t need that much. All the features that come with Microsoft Word and Apple’s Pages just feels like overkill to me. iA Writer is an application that gets you focused 100 percent on writing to get your latest blog post finished.
It is a distraction free writing tool that dispenses the conventional features you’ll find in Word and favours a more minimalistic writing experience. Formatting is still available through markdown which keeps your hand firmly on the keyboard and allows to format your text. Another advantage with iA Writer is Focus Mode. This feature fades text into the background except the sentence you’re writing to help you fight the temptation to edit.
7. Evernote
I have a love hate relationship with Evernote. On one hand it’s incredibly useful for taking notes during meetings, yet when it comes to pasting information, it does so by keeping the original formatting – and sometime feels like it has way too many features for my needs.
But regardless of my feelings, it’s still an app I use daily and done so for a long time already. Personally I use it both for work and my private life by splitting the two into separate notebooks. For content marketing, Evernote is great for writing down notes during meetings and having them accessible wherever I am since the app is available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
8. Pocket
There’s no doubt content marketing involves a lot of writing, and for all the writing I do, there’s also quite a bit of reading involved. But usually, there’s not enough time to read everything at once and you just need to save it for later.
Pocket is my preferred application here, simply because it’s supported by hundreds of apps, while also delivering a pleasant user experience. It enables you to post to your favourite social networks and also supports posting to Buffer.
9. Reeder for Mac
For any content marketer, it’s essential to keep your ears on the ground and an RSS reader definitely comes in handy here. That’s why I use Reeder – a desktop RSS reader for Mac to keep me updated on everything that is happening in the world of startups.
I’m subscribed to quite a lot of blogs covering technology, startups and productivity, which makes it difficult to keep up with all them without having Reeder. The cool thing about this RSS reader is the social sharing options available which includes all the major social networks (except Google+) and Buffer.
Reeder for Mac is available for €8.99, and their iOS app can be purchased for €4.49. However if you’re looking for something free and available for web, iOS and Android, you might want to check out Feedly.
10. Day One
There comes a time when the words just don’t pop into your head and you’re suddenly faced with writer’s block. Trust me it exists, despite what opportunistic bloggers say. An ideal way to get the words flowing and get you in the mood to write quality content is through keeping a journal.
Day One is the application I use for both iOS and OS X which syncs via Dropbox or iCloud. It’s an ideal way to get your thoughts out in writing and clear your mind for content marketing.
Day One for Mac (also available on iOS)
A neat feature is that you can set a time for it to remind you write in your journal. The app can also sit in your menubar making it incredibly easy to jot down any thoughts through just a click of a button.
11. Dropbox
When it comes to syncing documents across multiple devices, Dropbox is my partner in crime. For content marketing, I use it to keep all my rough drafts accessible where ever I am. And because of its popularity, Dropbox is also available as a syncing option for third party applications such as Day One and iA Writer.
12. Skype
For collaboration between team members, Skype has been one of the first apps I fire up when I login. Even though Google Hangouts appears to be gaining momentum as a video conferencing and live streaming tool – Skype still remains one of most widely used applications worldwide, which makes interviewing people easy.
13. SumAll
While everyone will have Google Analytics installed to track how their websites are doing – you’ll also want to do the same for your social media channels. My tool of choice here is SumAll who have most of the social platforms covered with Facebook, Twitter and Google+ – but you also have the choice of tracking your performance on Instagram, Tumblr and Foursquare. When you’re doing email marketing, SumAll gives you the possibility of connecting your MailChimp, Constant Contact and SendGrid accounts.
Essentially SumAll is a tool where you can have your data in one place without having to login to a number of other tools. You’ll have all the important metrics you need to be tracking such as, reach, followers and engagement presented in a nicely designed dashboard.
What about you? Which apps do you rely on daily to get your work done? Let us know by sharing your comments below.
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