All the Apps I Use As a Full-Time Content Creator

All the Apps I Use As a Full-Time Content Creator

Last month, I wrote more than 40,000 words for various articles and campaigns here and my clients at STT.  I create dozens of social posts, emails, images, graphics, and spreadsheets every month. I use several apps to support my content creation business. I wanted to share some of those favorite apps here.

Before we dig in, what does it mean to be a content creator? I looked hard for a definition. There weren’t many to be found. Here’s an adapted version from Wikipedia (I know… but it was the best out there).

Content creation is the contribution of information to any media, especially to digital media for an end-user/audience in specific contexts… Typical forms of content creation include maintaining and updating websites, blogging, article writing, photography, videography, online commentary, posting social media content, and editing and distributing other digital media forms. A Pew survey described content creation as creating “the material people contribute to the online world.”

I’ll add that content creation also encompasses speeches, newsletters, infographics, and press releases for me. Basically, if there is a message to be shared with the world, I find the right way to share it. Now, more than ever before, I’m making a full-time living doing this every single day. I get many questions about how I stay organized and how I make some things come to life. I put everything here for you to refer to when you need “just the thing” to solve a problem or bring a vision to life. There’s an app for that, trust me.

Apps For Content Creation

Planoly: I use this Instagram grid planning app to preload images and captions for my social feed. I can easily move images around so I can always predict what my feed looks like. I can upload directly from my desktop or from my phone, which is a huge functional plus. I use this for two Instagram accounts, so I pay $19 a month for it, but there is a free option.

Inshot: This is the easiest video editing app to use on your phone. I use this for reels mostly now, but I have also created short social ads for clients using Inshot. You can use it for free, but to remove the logo from your videos, it cost $1.25 a month with the annual membership ($14.99).

WordPress: All of my websites, for clients and myself, are based on WordPress. I have been working with WordPress website platforms for most of my decade-long career. I will recommend WordPress for anyone looking to launch a non-retail business. It is the most customizable platform and the most straight forward to use. I also love the way the app works on my phone. As a content creator on the go, I can make significant website edits and adjustments from my iPhone.

Canva: See the cool image at the top of this post? I made that image in Canva. I create social, email, and printed graphics designs for clients like CARITAS and Stegmann Clogs using this app. Though I have a studio art degree with digital design training, this app makes things so easy and provides templates and ideas to get you started. I pay about $13 a month for the premium version of this app.

iMovie: I am not a videographer, but I do incorporate video into my work here on Sweet Sauce Blog and creating simple videos for clients. You can do some wild stuff with iMove, but the basics are all I need and use. There is also an easy version for your iPhone for on-the-go editing. This is free with all Apps products.

The Adobe Creative Cloud: I know I use Canva for design, but I still refer to Photoshop and InDesign for technical design projects. Nothing quite beats the granular functionality of either program. I pay about $250 a year to have these handy.

Pixabay: Typically, this is for clients and my business. Pixabay is a royalty-free stock photo search engine. It’s not always the exact photo I need, but usually, I find something that gets the job done for social posts, print materials, and website visuals. This app gets more use than I give it credit for.

Apps for Organizing + Planning

Quickbooks: I don’t know where I’d be without Quickbooks. This makes creating invoices and tracking income simple, even for someone who hates dealing with money. If you read this post, you know I’m still working on managing and organizing my money. I haven’t found anything better than Quickbooks for the business side of many money management. I pay $25 a month for this service.

Tailwind: I always struggle with to maintain Pinterest. It’s a necessary evil in the online quest to bring viewers to your website. Tailwind helps me preload content for a whole month if I want. It spaces out my posts for peak posting times and helps me optimize posts for SEO. I’ve noticed a real difference when I use this app to its max potential and know I should do more. I pay $15 a month for this app.

Notion: This a new favorite tool that makes it super easy to work with other people on projects. You can upload shared files, create calendars to track deadlines, develop task lists, and more. It’s easy to log in and see things with or without an account.

Apps for File Storage

Google Drive: If you collaborate on projects, Google Drive is the best there is. It takes some getting used to, but it’s the only way to guarantee that a shared spreadsheet or article or letter is saved as the latest version. If a few hands have to touch a document, there’s never a person that’s out of date. Also, I love how easy it is to use it on my phone. I do pay $1.99 for extra space on this app.

Dropbox: If you are sharing images and video files frequently, DropBox is the best. I have a business plan, which allows for extensive space. I recently synced it up with my desktop to drag and drop files easily from my desktop without opening up a new website or app screen. I’m an even bigger fan now. I pay $119 a year to use DropBox.

Apps for Editing Text

Grammarly: This is new to me. I don’t know why it took so long. I use Grammarly to edit just about anything I type out on my computer. I also added it to my iPhone Keyboard to edit texts, captions, and email I send from my phone. I’m using the app to clean up an entire website with 80+ pages, and I love it.

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