16 Content Creation Tools We’re All Loving Right Now

Using content creation tools gives you space to plan ahead, and prioritize quality over quantity. They can help you out at every stage of the content creation journey, including:

• Trend-spotting and newsjacking
• Content research and content curation
• Writing and editing
• Sourcing imagery and graphic design
• Podcasting and audio broadcast
• Video creation and webinar hosting

What are content creation tools? 

Content creation tools are apps that help you produce written, audio, or visual assets for your marketing and PR channels. 

A good content creation tool helps you produce quality content in a fraction of the time. 

These tools aren't just for content creators; they're also for graphic designers and marketing maestros, offering a mixture of features – think content analysis tools, slick video creation, and even Artificial Intelligence-powered editors. 

Examples of different types of content creation tool:

• Content research tools to help you come up with ideas
• Podcast and video editing tools to create clips for social media content
• Design apps to visualize ideas for blogs
• Writing assistants to help draft content
• Scheduling tools for planning social media posts

Why use content creation tools? 

You should use content creation tools if you want to streamline your workflow, produce engaging content faster, and up the ante on shares and traffic.

The benefits of using content creation tools are:

• Saving hours creating engaging videos, images, posts
• Increasing output without sacrificing quality
• Learning from content wins with engagement data
• Designing visually appealing graphics
• Getting ideas when you're feeling uninspired
• Collaborating smoothly with team members

Here are some of our favorite content creation tools for planning and polishing your engaging content:

The top content creation tools for trend spotting

Content ideation isn’t about coming up with ideas out of thin air. Engaging with what’s out there and understanding trends is essential in content creation. These content creation tools will have you trend-surfing in no time.

1. Google Trends & Pinterest Trends

The grandfather of all content creation tools, Google’s free trends tool shows you what’s trending today, as well as lets you research topics’ performance over time. Spot patterns, plan ahead, and make sure you’re not missing a trick in the ever-changing news cycle. 

This helps you stay on top of the game and react quickly with the right piece of content when a story breaks, otherwise known as newsjacking.

Pinterest’s Trends tool works in a similar way, and throws up a vision board of popular pins alongside the standard graphs. Ideal for thinking outside the box.

I like this Google Trends walkthrough for planning:

2. Exploding Topics 

Trend finding can seem daunting, but if you don’t get a thrill from reactive work, fear not. Trends always have roots, and having a sense of what’s going to take off is just as important as reacting.

Exploding Topics is a new content curation tool that provides insights into rising and newly trending topics, using an algorithm to predict what will go viral. 

“Really loving @explodingtopics as a content inspo source for emerging trends across finance, e-commerce, gaming, media, and other industries.” Brad Michelson, eToro

Its findings are ideal for content creators to hijack and start writing stories about – before everyone else catches on 😏. It’s free, but the pro version starts at $47/mo.

Head to Product Hunt to read more Exploding Topics reviews.

3. Brandwatch

To take your trends to the max, you need to get familiar with the past. Our friends at Brandwatch have a full suite of tools to slice and dice up to ten years of social and consumer conversation data, so you can spot patterns and predict the future. 🔮

Here’s a few ways you can do that:

• Segment and analyze data from a huge range of sources and over one trillion posts
• Use AI to spot insights and narrow down specific trends in the areas you’re interested in, so you can predict what will take off next
• Track and benchmark conversation from leading brands and influencers, or your own competitors, to understand how others engage with and react to trends
• Understand the huge variety of audiences who create and shape trends, and how they communicate

Head to G2 to read more Brandwatch reviews.

Now you know how to spot the trends, find out how to use them to your full advantage. Check out our complete guide to trendjacking.

The best tools for content research and ideation

Inspiration sometimes finds you stuck between a rock and a hard place. You want to come up with a great idea, but you’re short on time and have got targets to hit. 

Zooming out and reframing is one of the best ways to maintain creativity while staying on message. These content research and curation tools are all bursting with material to spark ideas:

4. BuzzSumo 

Feeling stuck? Finding a different way to look at the problem is guaranteed to help. BuzzSumo’s content research tools give you loads of great new angles. Here’s how:

• The Content Analyzer lets you deep dive into any topic or niche, showing you likes, shares, links and evergreen engagement. It has 8 billion articles in its databank, and is great for seeing what ideas, headlines, and content formats have worked in the past. A hidden gem is the analysis tab, which gives you a full content report of the best content formats, lengths and distribution tactics. And the best part: Access is free with a 30 day trial, or opt for a paid plan to get access to all features, exports, and more.

• BuzzSumo’s Question Analyzer presents actual questions from hundreds of thousands of forums and sites like Quora, Reddit, and Amazon, to help you hone in on the tension areas around a topic.

• The Topic Explorer tool offers a huge world cloud of content ideas that have already been written about or searched for. Our tip is to look for something that has been written about less but has a strong organic search profile (you can check this via the Keyword Tool). Sort of like a content gap analysis, this will help you find topics which will have the ability to generate big engagement.

• Once you’ve identified your topic, hop into the Content Ideas Generator and use the Brief Generator tool to create a content brief with all the data you’ll need to inform your writing. Simply search, copy the brief, add extra details, and you’ll be well on your way to producing incredible content. 

• And the new journalist research and outreach tool, Journalist Profiles, helps you to understand what angles top-tier publications are taking on your chosen subjects. This can spark new ideas and help you replicate their success.

“BuzzSumo is a GREAT tool for finding content ideas. In fact, BuzzSumo is one of my favorite content marketing tools." Brian Dean, Backlinko

Creator’s block, be gone!

Head to G2 to read more BuzzSumo reviews.

5. Answer the Public

What do people want to know? AnswerThePublic scrapes autocomplete search data from Google.

It uses them to create spider diagrams with strings of topics that relate to one another – which is ideal for content creators, because that overlap is where the juiciest longtail content ideas live🍹

You get two free searches a day – although a paid account gives you more searches, data, and tracking.

“AnswerThePublic is a fantastic, beautiful way to explore questions and problems that your prospects or customers actually have. (I really like the Prepositions wheel. Try it. You’ll see what I mean.)" Ann Handley, Digital marketing & content expert 

A less aesthetically pleasing, but just as quick, version is Soovle, which shows results from platforms like YouTube and Wikipedia too. 

6. Hubspot Blog Ideas Generator

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time for the hard bit: actually coming up with a brilliant idea. 

If you’ve got something uninspiring to grapple with, HubSpot’s Blog Ideas Generator can help get the idea train in motion. It does exactly what you’d expect: generating generic blog titles including whatever noun you type in, leaving you to your craft.

Best content marketing tools for writing

All content creators love writing, right? Not always. Having to tick a lot of boxes, from SEO to short sentences, while communicating what you want to say, is a true balancing act. There are a few content creation tools that can help you sharpen up and express yourself.

7. Hemingway

If you’re a writer and you haven’t heard of this app, you’re in for a treat. Ernest Hemingway’s ‘iceberg theory’ of short, straightforward prose may have won him some Pulitzer Prizes, but it’s also a killer way of writing for digital. 

This app named after the famous writer not only checks spelling and grammar, but points out where your sentences could be snappier, and when the dreaded passive voice has crept in.

“I do recommend the Hemingway App to help you tighten up your writing and identify problems. It’s easy to use, helps you spot glaring errors, and simplifies your language” Jennifer Geer, better marketing

It’s free, but you can buy a desktop program if you don’t trust yourself to switch onto other tabs while writing in a browser. 

8. Grammarly

If you’re feeling insecure about your spelling and grammar, many people swear by Grammarly, which has a free plugin that will sit on your browser to analyze everything you’re writing. 

“Grammarly is like a little superpower, especially when I need to be at 110%.” Jeanette Stock, Co-founder of Venture Out

Most helpful for content creators is the premium version, which helps adjust style and tone for different audiences. So if you’re juggling content for several different platforms, you’ll never miss a trick.

9. ProWritingAid

A similar tool to Grammarly, ProWritingAid is a grammar checker, style editor, and writing mentor.

However, unlike Grammarly, it provides super detailed reports on your writing, including:

• The Style report: This highlights when you use weak verbs like “make”
• The Sticky Sentences report: This highlights when you overuse connector words that hold a sentence together e.g. in, on, the
• The Echo report: This highlights repeated words or similar sentence structures.

ProWritingAid is brilliant if you're regularly writing long-form content – and it's even great for fiction writing!

You can add it as a Chrome extension, and it's cheaper than Grammarly!

10. Headline Analyzer

Extra, extra! 📰 You’ve written your piece. Now how are you going to get people to actually read all about it? 

Co Schedule’s Headline Analyzer is free (if you sign up for an account) and offers recommendations to help craft the most evocative and eye-catching headlines by giving you a score out of 100. Which can be a lifesaver when you’re stuck in a rut.

“There aren't many headline analyzers out there, and the Coschedule one works great for me. I highly recommend trying it out if you're a blogger. I use the Coschedule Headline Analyzer to get my headlines rated. Its [sic] a great "second set of eyes" for my headlines.” - Mac M. on Capterra

If you’re interested in buffing up on headline structure in general, Portent offers a formula to shake up your headlines, with a few tries at a time for free.

The top content creation tools for imagery

Looks aren’t everything, but if you’re not lucky enough to work with a designer, making your content beautiful can be a real headache. These tools help you look like a pro, imposter syndrome free:

11. Canva

If you’ve got a tone of voice for your website, you’ll understand the importance of visual cohesion. 

Canva lets you use templates to create awesome graphics, source and edit photos, and generally make anything you’re doing look spick and span – giving your content a unique look and feel. It’s free but paid plans give oodles more features and storage.

“This has been very useful for all my creative needs. The good UI has made it effortless to do work and just feels natural. I didn't need any tutorials or anything so well done. I also love the templates provided by the tool.“ - Renz R. on Canva’s reviews page.

12. Remove Background

A handy tool to pair your new Canva skills with (so much so that Canva has just acquired it) is Remove Background, which cuts shapes out of photos – ideal for creating professional-looking headshots while we can’t do photoshoots!

You can sign up for a paid plan based on how many cutouts you’ll need per month. It integrates with other tools and has different elements for different industry requirements.

13. Flourish 

Most online content needs to be backed up by solid data. The sort of data researched in tools like BuzzSumo, for instance. Presenting it in appealing charts is harder than it sounds when you’re not at one with spreadsheets. 

Enter Flourish, which helps you tell stories with data: from bar-chart races showing change over time, to interactive survey data and graphs. You’ll hardly need to write a word. 

“This software is a powerful tool for creating great presentations, which can make a difference when telling your story. Use your imagination, use the simple tools of Flourish Studio, and make a difference. You are the main actor, and you know how to tell the best story about your product or service.” Manuel Silva Robalinho, Data Driven Investor

The top tools for podcasting

Content creation tools are making podcasting more accessible than ever. It’s a fantastic way to build your audience and deep dive into topics, as well as sharing audiences with your guests and collaborators. Let’s get started! 🎙

14. Audacity

If you want to start a podcast, one thing that shouldn’t get in your way is a lack of access to software. Free tools like Audacity, and Spotify’s anchor.fm offer simple audio software that is making it easier and easier to get your (actual) voice out there. Record, edit and upload your masterpiece, either remotely or in person. Who says there are too many podcasts?

"Audacity was the first-ever audio-editing software I ever tried, and it's still something I use regularly. I really like its ease of use. Our cohost is not at all tech-savvy and has a 10-year-old computer. I gave him a USB mic and told him to download Audacity to record and export his audio, and we've had smooth sailing ever since.” Joey H, on G2

The Top Video Content Creation Tools

When you’re trying to demonstrate something to your audience, it might be better shown through video or live webinars. No equipment? No problem – there are several video tools to turn you into a director today 📽

15. Biteable

Without an in-house editor, making videos look professional can be extremely time-consuming. If you’re creating educational content or hosting a webinar to show something off, biteable is the perfect content creation tool. It has in-built templates and effects to decorate any footage or presentation.

A paid plan gives even snazzier effects, but with the free version you’ll be jazzing up your content in no time. 

“From the ease of use to the wonderful customer service, I have been thoroughly impressed. I had to create a small campaign video and this site far exceeded my expectations. The ease of use is what did it for me. I was able to upload images, change colors and themes, upload music as though I was a pro”, Baronica on Trustpilot