List of tools and apps that help you improve your content production workflow

Below is a comprehensive list of tools and apps that can enhance your content production workflow. They span multiple areas—from planning and writing to design, distribution, and analytics. Depending on your specific needs (whether you’re a solo creator or part of a larger team), you can mix and match these tools to streamline processes, improve collaboration, and maximize the impact of your content.

Project Management & Organization

• Trello
  A flexible board-based system for managing tasks and workflows. It allows you to create lists, cards, and labels to track progress on various content projects.
• Asana
  A robust tool that helps you manage projects, set deadlines, assign tasks, and visualize your workflows through lists, boards, and timelines.
• Notion
  An all-in-one workspace that blends project management, note-taking, and database functionalities. It’s useful for everything from drafting content calendars to tracking research materials.
• ClickUp
  Offers a highly customizable platform integrating task management, time tracking, and document sharing. It can be tailored to the needs of content teams.

Content Writing & Editing

• Google Docs
  A cloud-based solution for real-time collaboration on document creation and editing, which makes it easy to share drafts and receive feedback.
• Microsoft Word (with OneDrive integration)
  A traditional word processor now equipped with collaboration capabilities via the cloud, which can be particularly effective for more detailed formatting or offline work.
• Grammarly
  A writing assistant that helps catch grammar, punctuation, and style mistakes. It provides contextual recommendations to refine your writing.
• Hemingway Editor
  An app focused on improving readability and style by highlighting complex sentences and common errors, making your content more accessible.
• Scrivener
  Especially popular among long-form content creators and authors, this tool provides a powerful environment for organizing complex writing projects.

Design & Multimedia Creation

• Canva
  A user-friendly design platform with pre-made templates for infographics, social media graphics, and presentations. It’s great for non-designers looking to quickly create professional visuals.
• Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
  Includes tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Premiere Pro for advanced photo editing, graphic design, desktop publishing, and video production.
• Figma
  A collaborative design tool ideal for creating user interfaces, prototypes, and graphic assets that can support digital content projects.
• Lumen5
  A video creation platform that transforms blog posts or articles into engaging video content using automated design templates and stock media.
• InVideo
  An accessible online video editor that caters to marketers and social media content creators, offering templates for quick video production.

Social Media & Distribution

• Buffer
  A social media management tool that allows you to schedule posts, track performance, and manage engagement across multiple platforms.
• Hootsuite
  Similar to Buffer, it provides comprehensive social media management capabilities, including scheduling, analytics, and monitoring across a wide range of social networks.
• CoSchedule
  An all-in-one marketing calendar that integrates with your blog and social media channels to keep your content strategy organized and on track.
• Later
  A social media scheduling tool especially popular with Instagram and visual content creators, known for its intuitive interface and visual planning.

Research, SEO & Analytics

• BuzzSumo
  A content research tool that helps you identify trending topics, analyze competitor content, and find influencer partnerships, which can guide your content strategy.
• SEMrush / Ahrefs
  Comprehensive SEO suites that provide keyword research, backlink analysis, and competitive insights, essential for planning content that ranks well.
• Yoast SEO
  A WordPress plugin that guides you in optimizing your content for search engines, ensuring your on-page SEO best practices are met.
• Google Analytics
  Offers in-depth insights into your website’s performance, helping you measure how content is engaging your audience and where improvements can be made.

Collaboration & Communication

• Slack
  A messaging platform designed for team communication. It supports integrations with many of the tools mentioned above to consolidate updates and streamline project discussions.
• Microsoft Teams
  Similar to Slack, Teams offers chat, video conferencing, and seamless Office 365 integrations for robust team collaboration.
• Evernote / OneNote
  Note-taking applications useful for gathering ideas, organizing research, and quickly capturing content ideas on the go.

Time Management & Productivity

• Toggle
  A time tracking tool that can help you understand how long content creation tasks take and identify areas for efficiency improvement.
• RescueTime
  Monitors your work habits and provides insights into productivity trends, enabling better time management around content tasks.

Automation & Workflow Integration

• Zapier
  Allows you to automate repetitive tasks between your apps (for example, automatically adding a new Trello card when a blog post is published), thereby reducing manual work and improving consistency.
• IFTTT (If This Then That)
  Facilitates simple automation between your favorite apps, such as posting new content to social media automatically once it’s published.

AI-Powered Tools

• ChatGPT and Other AI Writing Assistants
  These tools can help generate ideas, streamline drafting, and even suggest content improvements. They’re useful for overcoming writer’s block and enhancing productivity in content creation.
• SurferSEO
  Combines AI-driven content planning with SEO optimization suggestions to refine your articles, ensuring they align with current search trends and outperform competitors.
• MarketMuse
  Uses machine learning to help you analyze content quality, identify gaps in your content strategy, and generate topic ideas that can improve overall performance.

By integrating these tools into your workflow, you can streamline content production—from ideation and drafting, through to design, collaboration, distribution, and analysis. The right combination will help improve efficiency, maintain consistency, and ultimately produce content that engages and performs better with your audience.