15 Awesome Tools To Assist Your Content Marketing  

by Adam Oakley | Aug 15, 2014 | Content Marketing

Content pieces are the indispensable aids that highlight the cool factor of your company, products and services, increase brand awareness and customer loyalty and help you get (and stay) on the same page with your prospects.

But unless you are commercializing your product—whether it’s the fairy dust that can prevent aging or sleek cars that run on tap water—chances are that you have a lot of competition in your sector.

Why Should You Invest in Content Marketing Tools?

A customized, cohesive content marketing strategy can help you separate yourself from other players in your field, reflect the best features/most notable benefits of your products and interact with your target audience in an ideal manner. In this context, great storytelling skills could guarantee your success. You may ask: what makes a good story? While your merchandise may be truly mundane, the story of your company and the message that you’re trying to send to your potential buyers should be anything but tedious and unoriginal.

A Plethora of Handy Tools for Every Conceivable Marketing-Related Problem

Maybe you’ve got a mean case of writer’s block. Perhaps you don’t speak SEO or don’t know how to adapt your content flow to the real necessities and expectations of your audience. Maybe in the absence of awesome content distribution strategies, your web writing looks like a crowned king who is yet to find his influent queen. Last but not least, maybe you’re the real ninja of words, but can’t or don’t know how to measure the success of your current content marketing strategy. Regardless of the real root of your problem, a great variety of content marketing tools can enable you to overcome any challenge and step up your marketing efforts the easy way.

What Are the Main Categories of Content Marketing Tools That You Should Focus on?

According to an awesome infographic introduced by ClickZ, content marketing enhancement tools can be broken down into 5 main categories, based on the specific purposes that they have been designed to serve:

1. Content research
2. Content organization
3. Content creation
4. Content organization
5. Content marketing analysis

It is advisable to use at least 1 or 2 tools listed in each category, to make sure that all your everyday tasks, ranging from extensive research that represents a major first step to content marketing analysis, are absolutely flawless.

15 Excellent Content Marketing Tools That Will Help You Steer in the Right Direction

Most content marketing tools are free or almost free. If you need another great reason to put them to good use, think about the fact that everybody else is already doing it. Without any further ado, here are 15 excellent aids that every online marketer needs in his life.

1. Quora. One of the most popular sources of knowledge, Quora is one of the basic tools that you should use while doing your homework. By simply selecting the topics that actually interest you (technology, luxury fashion, economics, history, psychology and so on) and following them you can stay in the loop and expand your knowledge database. Moreover, Quora defines itself as an accessible place to create new content and share existing pieces that float around the Internet.
2. Content Forest. Do you feel lost in the middle of a thick, dark forest of unwritten thoughts? If so, you should know that you can actually exit this labyrinth by using Content Forest, a handy end-to-end, complete marketing solution that ensures the hassle-free automation of all your daily operations, ranging from content creation to marketing and analytics. Flexible, modulated and powerful, this tool could become a valid substitute for your marketing consultants who are costing you a small fortune.
3. Pinterest. A great image is more valuable than 1,000 carefully chosen words. This is not a cliché; it represents the mechanism that made Pinterest so popular in the first place. People like to collect and organize images that reflect their style and aesthetic demands. Why wouldn’t you turn this hobby into an activity that could boost your content research efforts? Analyze different boards and create your own to become a cool trend scout and find out how you could put your products and services in a different light, to increase their power of seduction.
4. Curata. Content curation is one of the hottest trends that you cannot afford to ignore. If you are an avid collector of rare written gems that are only a few clicks away, give this useful tool a try to achieve business success in 3 easy steps. With Curata, you just have to find, curate and share first-class web content that can truly make a difference in the lives of your readers.
5. Contently. In case you are interested in finding the ultimate storytelling platform, remember to check out Contently. This handy tool ensures a win-win situation for brands looking forward to perfecting their marketing strategy and also for freelancers who are eager to get new assignments. Driven by the desire to create a “better media world” governed by great content and not by mercantile goals expressed via more or less compelling ads, Contently arms brands with all the tools and the talent that they could ever require to compete with the most gifted and influent publishers.
6. Storify. Your images are breathtaking and your calls-to-action are compelling. Your body copy is 100% unique and your headlines make your visitors ignore the fact that curiosity killed the cat. But what is all these essential elements don’t add up? Use Storify to glue all the pieces together and create an awesome whole. You just have to collect media online, publish the best pieces on Storify, share your content with the whole world and go viral. In addition, a Storify VIP subscription would enable you to unlock real-time updates and additional customization options that could come in handy, when it comes to telling a convincing story about your brand.
7. Percolate. Percolate defines itself as the complete content marketing software that is good enough to provide great answers to all your daily web writing-related problems and concerns. From proper planning, brand governance, content creation and outsourcing to comprehensive audience acquisition and analytics, Percolate is focused on all key marketing assignments that you need to conduct and monitor to grow your company and boost your profit margins.
8. Buffer. A content marketing strategy is pretty much dead and buried before its time without a proper social component. Buffer lets you discover the easiest way to distribute your content on networking websites, engage with your followers and build longer-lasting relationships with your audience. If you need to handle multiple social media accounts simultaneously, Buffer can lend a helping hand by enabling you to schedule posts, work closely with the members of your team and measure the success rate of your updates.
9. SlideShare. Maybe you feel the need to repurpose your old content. According to Quicksprout, it wouldn’t hurt to turn some of your articles into slide decks and promote them using SlideShare, the content marketing tool that brings you in front of more than 15 million presentations. By allowing you to discover, wrap and share what you love the most, SlideShare lets you build a bridge between your brand and your targeted audience and draw your inspiration from other people’s slides.
10. BuzzStream. Are you constantly tossing and turning in bed, trying to come up with new ways to build buzz around your brand and develop relationships with trusted influencers in your industry? If so, BuzzStream can provide the best solution for you and your team. Focus on two major components, link building and PR & social media, BuzzStream lets you source prospects, simplify your SEO and social workflow and improve your online presence in different environments without wasting time and money in the process.
11. Outbrain. Dreaming about simplified long-term monetization? Want to find the easiest way to turn your words into solid gold? If that’s the case, you may want to start using Outbrain. Known as a premium content discovery platform, Outbrain displays two handy components: Outbrain Engage (created to help you make great recommendations on your website and count on an extra revenue stream by promoting quality third-party content), and Outbrain Amplify (designed to help you broaden your audience by distributing your web writing on other platforms). No matter which options you choose to use, Outbrain will help you understand that engagement matters a great deal.
12. Addvocate. Want to empower all your team members by giving them access to a tool that turns content marketing into a child’s play? Try Addvocate, a neat advocacy platform that prioritizes content and internal messaging. According to a TopRank Blog on top content marketing tools, Addvocate lets your employees understand how, when and what to say about your business and helps them use analytics to improve their own performance.
13. Google Analytics. Launched by the mastermind that regulates and monitors all your online activities, Google Analytics allows users to breathe new life into their marketing strategy on a daily basis. Encompassing a wide range of killer features focused on different segments (analyzing and testing, campaign performance, audience behavior and characteristics, data collection and management and so on), Google Analytics gives you everything you may need to run a perfectly healthy online business and follow your plans for expansion.
14. Facebook Insights. According to Mashable, Facebook Insights dashboards let you assess the effectiveness of your digital marketing strategies and implement the right changes. By examining both user insights (likes, unlikes, demographics, total number of page links, media consumption and so on) and interaction insights (feedback for your daily stories) you’ll find out where you are, determine where you want to be, and estimate the distance between these two points.
15. Optimizely. Looking for a testing tool that doesn’t play with your nerves and doesn’t actually demand otherworldly technical skills? In this case, look no further. Optimizely is perhaps one of the most user-oriented A/B testing software that you could profit from at this point. Basically, it gives you prompt, precise answers to any questions that you may have on level of engagement, conversion rates, signups and clicks and more. It gives you the opportunity to test every little thing that goes on your website, from assets placement to the color of your buttons. Coding skills are not required, but constitute a major plus as they enable you to take this handy tool a step up.

You can definitely survive without all these handy tools, but why sweat more when you can have all the extra support that you may require at your fingertips? Whether you need a helping hand when it comes to creating, distributing and promoting content or analyzing the overall performance of your web writing, there are plenty of tools that can make your life a whole lot easier. Choose wisely and put them to good use to harvest the ripe, juicy fruits of your labor before anyone else.