5 Tools for Content Creation

Google Trends

Google Trends makes it easy to follow trends, so you can know what kind of content is likely to get views and likes.

In the context of branding, this is sometimes known as newsjacking, where brands use headlines or trends to market their products. For example, when an image of a dress went viral in 2015 – some people seeing it as blue and black and others gold and white – the donuts company Dunkin’ posted a picture of two donuts, with icing in the different colours.

Google is still the most used searched engine in the world, which means you have insights about where most people are going.

Google Trends provides you with interactive graphs and charts, which can be adjusted by date and region. It’s easy to check whether an idea for one of your YouTube videos is likely to grab attention in North America, for example.

VidIQ

If you’re a YouTuber and want further insights on things like keywords, SEO, and tags, consider VidIQ. It’s particular suited for YouTubers, and is approved by YouTube itself. Some of the app’s insights are free, while others are available in paid-for plans.

VidIQ’s audit feature is another strength, offering suggestions to help optimise your video tags or improve thumbnail designs. You’ve likely noticed your favourite YouTube channels are particularly good at creating eye-catching thumbnails.

Its ease of use is a noted advantage, and the app has good reviews across sites like TrustPilot and GetApp. There are alternatives, though, such as Similarweb and AgencyAnalytics.

But what about actual content creation to make use of these analytics?

Streamlabs

You may have read about how to go live on YouTube but wondered if there’s any software that can make things even easier.

Streamlabs is the most popular streaming platform for sites including YouTube and X. It offers themes, overlays and other design elements to catch the eye and help your channel stand out.

One advantage of using software like Streamlabs is the ease of following along with new followers or donations as you livestream. You can also chat with your viewers with no additional software.

The app’s ease of use and intuitive interface are further reasons why Streamlabs is so popular. It also makes your life a little easier by enabling you to save settings and customisations (themes, overlays, etc) to the cloud for when you switch between your phone and computer.

As with many popular apps, its community support is another advantage. There are many tutorials and guides, as well as forums dedicated to helping Streamlabs users.

Affinity

Affinity’s “suite” of products is currently available on a six-month trial. Their products are increasingly seen as rivals to the popular Adobe apps. Designer (an Adobe Illustrator alternative), Photo (Photoshop) and Publisher (InDesign, for things like books, magazines and posters) are included in the trial.

These apps integrate with each other, and if you’ve been a previous Photoshop user, you can bring across your Photoshop plugins. Affinity Designer is particularly highly reviewed, with sites like PCMag rating it 4 out of 5 stars.

Well-designed content is important for a number of reasons: a consistent image helps customers recognize a business/brand; it ensures usability; and it helps you stand out in an ocean of other content creators.

A strong web design can be more than just visually appealing: a good design encourages engagement and clicks with an intuitive interface.

Optimising loading speeds is another consideration. Users are no longer accustomed to waiting around, so a design that enables shorter waiting times is important.

Even when that six-month trial runs out, Affinity’s lower costs offer a good alternative to Adobe’s higher prices.

A simple notepad

As well as coming up with their own original ideas, content creators are often researching competitors’, and learning what works and what doesn’t.

Scientific American reported that while handwriting “might seem like an anachronism” in the age of smartphones, a study showed that taking notes by hand increases activity in “brain regions responsible for movement, vision, sensory processing and memory.”

While you may be quicker getting ideas down when typing, writing by hand has been shown to be beneficial for memory and learning.

That slower process can actually help by forcing you to recognize the most important points, and process them.

Also consider your operating system and hardware

A recent PCMag review of Windows 8 noted its “relegating you to one window per screen” and how this might impact content creators.

The review argued that application software has the potential to impact how you create and consume content.

By widening or narrowing a user’s possibilities, software can make a content creator’s job easier or more difficult. Some have argued Apple’s OS and iOs, and products such as MacBooks and iPhones are better suited for content creation.

Apple hardware with high-resolution Retina displays are another potential benefit, especially if you’re a creator who values design.