If you want to talk content marketing, then you gotta talk tools while you’re at it. After all, some of the best (and most successful) content marketing comes from the help of top-notch tools.

The real Q is: what tools are the expert content marketers using? With so many of ’em out there, which tools are worth your time (and $$)?

Grab your notebook while Content Marketing Institute answers these questions for you. What we like most is the fact that these tool rec’s come from a survey of marketers, not one writer’s random preferences.

Let’s go…

1) Digital Analytics
Above all, analytics are noted as the most important category. Unsurprisingly, Google Analytics is the leader. But, Adobe Analytics and IBM Analytics made strong showings.

2) Content Marketing Platforms
This one seems obvious, no? DivvyHQ reigns as supreme in this round and ensures that all steps of the content marketing process are seamless.

3) Email Marketing
Also known as the most important marketing for nurturing an audience. MailChimp was the most-talked about fave in this category (it’s our fav too).🐵

4) Project Management
Do you get the biggest headache in the world trying to manage projects, tasks, and employees that exist all over the map? Tap into Asana to prevent headaches and lower your Excedrin Migraine intake.

5) Team Communication
What’s a business to do when communicating includes possibly thousands of employees in different timezones? You bet there’s a trusty platform for that. If you haven’t heard of Slack, we have one question: do you live under a rock?

6) Social Media Analytics
If your business is using social media, then ya better be using a social media analytics tool. If not, it’s never too late to start. Hootsuite landed the top spot in this category (TBH, that kinda surprised us).

We’re not done with this topic yet! There’s a much longer list for you to dive into and endless tools for you to consider (no exaggerating here).

Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, oh my!

If The Wizard Of Oz was remade today, social media platforms would probably be Dorothy and the rest of the gang’s biggest fear. A wicked witch that melts has nothing on the unknown of social media.

With content published literally every single second, it’s easier to have your messages be lost in the social media sauce than acknowledged…especially with blog content.

Today, we’re off to see the Wizard of Ultra-Sharable Blog Content For Social Media. Forget a yellow brick road. Just follow these tips from the experts at Social Media Today.

Think Audience-First
People want to read content that benefits them in some way. Company news? Nah. Advice that’s timely and helpful? That’s more like it!

Put yourself in your audience’s shoes and write away about the things they really care about.

Ask Your Audience
New trend alert: ask your customers to create content for you. In technical terms, capitalize on “user-generated content.”

What you’ll get in return: authenticity, a new voice, and customer interaction.
What you’ll lose: absolutely nothing.

Get Fresh
We’re not talking about investing in an air freshener. If your company has a unique point of view, write about it.

If you have an outside of the box solution to an everyday problem, write about that too. However, leave the clickbait headlines to the tabloids.

Judge An Article By Its Cover
Make sure your images are appealing, vary the types of typing you use (bullet points, short paragraphs), and make those share buttons as clear as a blue sky.

The more organized your content is, the more likely it’s to become a Kardashian of the blog world.

We’re almost to the Oz of the ultra-sharable content world! You know you want to hit that “read now” button to get there. 🚀

We ♥️ podcasts. Here are a few of our fav’s from the past week…

1. We fired up our own podcast machine and recorded an episode with the founder of Subtl Beauty. Tune in for her brand-building journey.
2. The Buffer team talks about the skills your whole team needs to create killer content. This one’s so good.
3. Wanna move up in the marketing world? Animalz has some ideas about how to move into senior marketing roles.

So today’s Watch is interesting, to say the least. It starts out showing the sweet dating journey of a young couple. No matter what the pair end up doing, the date ends with the guy bringing the woman back to her house.

As the ad comes to a close we find out the home where he’s been dropping his girl off isn’t really her home. And that raised a bunch of questions, but mainly…how the heck do you date someone for months and never enter their home (or even see them go into their home)?

Not sure if we can get past this loophole, but we still like what the ad is going for. You will too 👇