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A YouTube content strategy can help you deliver on your brand goals. But making high-quality videos can be challenging, especially compared to other types of content, and even more so if you're managing other social media platforms. That's where a YouTube content...
Jan 15, 2025
I recently attended Webstock. An event where I heard so many top creators share that (just like me) they’re still struggling with the many moving parts of content creation. It really struck me how essential it is to automate where possible.
The content creation tools we have available to us help streamline, quite literally, everything. So, in this post, I’ll walk you through 15 powerful content collaboration tools that can enhance your workflow. Let’s get started!
For marketing teams and agencies, the right toolset can make all the difference between a smooth, steady content pipeline and total chaos. So, start by thinking about what matters most for your team.
My advice? Look for:
Easier said than done, right?
Depending on the formats you’re creating, like blog posts, social graphics, videos, or all of the above, there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution.
But, there are tools flexible enough to fit multiple sizes.
To make things easier, I’ll break down some of the best tools in each category below, so you can find the right fit for your content creation process.
There’s no way to do a roundup of top content creation tools without talking about social media software. Let’s go through the top three in the field.
SM posts, media library, approvals, and collaboration features in Planable
Managing social media channels would not be the same without content planning tools, and if you’re administrating posts for multiple channels, Planable’s social media calendar can be a lifesaver. It offers visual scheduling, easy drag-and-drop rescheduling, and custom labels that let you filter by campaigns, topics, or team roles.
Content calendar with drag and drop function in Planable
Real-time collaboration, with comments, both private and public, and feedback, happens right next to the post itself. You can bring in a one-time reviewer or an external stakeholder with a simple shared link (no signup required).
Collaboration on a Facebook post in Planable
In my experience, this keeps the review and approval of your content centralized and adaptable. Everyone involved in the creation process is able to provide their input as and when it’s needed.
Multi-level approvals are especially useful for large teams or client-facing work, as you can set up sequences like internal team approval followed by external client sign-off.
Multi-level approval workflow in Planable
Plus, using Planable, you can schedule social media posts in advance, which completes the funnel of creation, editing, and posting.
Scheduling a Facebook post in Planable
Planable currently doesn’t offer built-in social listening capabilities and lacks direct WordPress integration.
Planable offers a Free plan, which provides access to all features with a limit of 50 posts. Paid plans start at $33 per workspace monthly.
Hootsuite is a well-rounded social media management tool designed for teams creating content for social media. With built-in publishing, messaging, advocacy, and engagement features across multiple channels, it’s a good choice if you manage high-volume social media campaigns and need your stuff in one place, especially since it comes with over 100 integrations.
Hootsuite’s tier plans are quite pricey, and the tool doesn’t always integrate seamlessly with native social media analytics, which can lead to discrepancies in reporting metrics.
The plans start at $99/month for one user. All plans include a 30-day free trial.
Buffer is a social media marketing management tool designed to help teams grow their social presence through scheduling, analytics, and audience engagement features. It supports scheduling for various platforms and offers AI assistance for content ideas and repurposing.
Users have noted issues integrating with certain platforms, such as Pinterest, which can disconnect sporadically. Additionally, basic plans lack support for popular platforms like Instagram Reels and Threads.
Some users reported that the interface can be slow, particularly when handling larger datasets or more complex scheduling.
Buffer offers a Free plan with limited access to 3 channels. Paid plans range between $5 per channel/month to $100/month for 10 channels.
Boosting visibility on search engines is a huge aspect of any content strategy. Let’s go through the top content creator tools in the field of SEO.
SurferSEO is one of my favorite content creation tools. Writers all over the world use this content creation software to optimize long-form content to rank highly on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Some users feel that SurferSEO’s AI-generated content quality has decreased, posing issues like generic or repetitive phrasing that lacks nuance.
The Content Editor lacks the advanced features of Google Docs, and the Keyword Research feature could be improved in terms of relevance and clustering (currently not over-performing free tools like Google Trends).
Surfer SEO’s plans start at $99/month. The good part? Each plan comes with a 7-day money-back guarantee.
Named after Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway Editor is a minimalist writing tool designed to improve text clarity by highlighting complex sentences, passive voice, and unnecessary adverbs. It helps content writers produce concise, easy-to-read text.
The tool’s AI suggestions sometimes result in overly simplified or “choppy” text. Also, it lacks advanced grammar checks and integration with other platforms.
At times, the score stops adjusting, regardless of the visible rephrasing and readability enhancements.
Hemingway offers a free web version. For a premium subscription under the Hemingway Editor Plus plans, it adds AI-generated rewrite suggestions starting at $8.33/month. The desktop app costs a one-time fee of $19.99.
Grammarly is great for anyone who needs polished, error-free writing, whether for personal, educational, or business purposes. With its real-time grammar, style, and tone suggestions, Grammarly helps you boost clarity and professionalism in your writing.
Like anything AI-powered, Grammarly’s AI suggestions can sometimes feel rigid. Additionally, as a cloud-based content creator tool, it lacks offline functionality.
Grammarly offers a free plan with basic grammar checks. Paid plans start at $12.5/month for the Pro plan, and there’s an Enterprise option with advanced customization and team features available upon contacting sales.
With Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube ruling the visual content landscape, we must include a roundup of the top video content creation tools.
Animoto is an ideal choice for beginners and intermediate users looking to create videos easily. It’s got an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, great customization options, built-in templates, and a stock media library from Getty Images.
Animoto is great for anyone starting their video content creation journey, but for advanced filmmakers, it may not be the best content creation software due to its limited feature set.
Animoto offers a free plan with basic features. Upgrades start at $8/month for annual subscriptions, providing additional features and customization.
Descript is a rather advanced editing tool combining text-based video and audio editing capabilities with AI-powered capabilities. It’s especially useful for content creators, podcasters, and businesses aiming to streamline their workflows.
Descript can get slow in processing, while frequent updates can disrupt workflows. The text-based editing approach may feel limiting for those accustomed to timeline-based editing tools. Descript’s transcription accuracy can falter on complex dialogues or when handling multiple speakers.
Descript’s free plan includes basic features. Paid plans start at $12/month per user (annual billing), providing access to added AI tools and editing hours.
CapCut is a comprehensive, free video editing app that rose to fame among TikTok users. CapCut is one of those AI content creation tools serving both beginner and intermediate users.
The mobile app may struggle with performance on more complex projects or longer videos, and the range of precision editing tools is limited compared to paid alternatives. Additionally, data privacy concerns have been raised due to CapCut’s parent company, ByteDance, which also owns TikTok.
CapCut is free to use, with optional upgrades like CapCut Pro for e-commerce tools and enhanced AI features tailored to business users.
Static content will always be around. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, we must go through the best content creation tools in the field of image and graphic design.
Canva is an extremely popular, intuitive design platform ideal for creating social media graphics, presentations, videos, and any other visual brand assets. It offers a huge set of key features and it integrates with an extensive range of social media tools.
Canva has limited advanced customization for professional designers, especially for those used to Adobe Creative Cloud. Plus, its free plan includes many watermarked elements and limited storage. The AI features aren’t stellar either.
Canva’s pricing is affordable, starting at $15/month for one person, or $120/year. Canva even has a free plan and significant discounts for students and those working in education.
Shutterstock provides a massive library of over 500 million assets, including photos, videos, music, and vectors. If your goal is to collect or research diverse, high-quality media, then Shutterstock might just be one of the top visual aid and content research tools out there for you. It’s also ideal for projects requiring unique visuals.
The platform is considered expensive, especially for smaller businesses or individuals on limited budgets. Peer reviews highlight that customer support can be unresponsive. Plus, search results can be inconsistent, sometimes resulting in inaccurate asset recommendations.
Packs start at $51 for 5 downloads, with subscriptions from $30/month for 10 monthly downloads.
Remove.bg is perfect if you need fast, accurate background removal, especially for e-commerce, product photos, and digital marketing. This AI-driven tool integrates with popular design software, providing you with clean image cutouts in seconds.
Image quality can be inconsistent with complex backgrounds, and advanced editing options are limited. It isn’t a graphic design tool per se, so it’s not ideal for complex needs.
Pay-as-you-go plans start at around $0.95/image, with subscriptions from $0.20/image for 200 monthly credits.
We live in the era of AI, so it’s only natural that we add a roundup of AI content-creation tools that can improve day-to-day work.
Planable’s AI Creation Hub is a suite of tools designed to boost social media content creation and management. It offers AI-powered solutions for generating captions, crafting message replies, and repurposing content so that you can produce great marketing materials with ease.
The platform also lets you draft message replies and repurpose content. All without any sign-up requirements.
No image generation capabilities.
Planable offers a free-to-use AI Creation Hub with no signup required.
Copy.ai is an AI-powered platform designed to assist marketers in generating high-quality content efficiently. It offers tools tailored to various marketing needs, including sales copy, social media posts, and product descriptions.
Some users feel that the AI-generated content lacks creativity and may need further refinement.
Copy.ai offers a free plan with limited features. Paid plans start at $49 per month.
Adobe Sensei is Adobe’s advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning platform, integrated across Adobe’s suite of products. It’s tailored to creative professionals and marketers who want to automate complex tasks and personalize user experiences in areas like workflows and content creation.
Some users have noted that Adobe Sensei can be resource-intensive and expensive. Moreover, it requires expert knowledge to fully get the hang of its capabilities.
Adobe Sensei’s pricing is not publicly disclosed.
Maria is a content marketer, SEO copywriter, and social media specialist with experience working for a wide range of B2B businesses. She loves to keep up with the evolution of digital marketing, particularly in areas such as social media management, content, SEO, and PR. She is passionate about her work and loves to add a unique spin to any topic.
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