Great Resources for Content Creators

The means by which I create content has changed and improved over the years thanks to different resources that I’ve found. I would like to share some of my personal favorites with you so that you can improve your own creative practice. Let’s get into it!

Creative Pep Talk

If you are a creative person who needs encouragement, experiences burnout, or just needs someone to give you the occasional pep talk. The Creative Pep Talk podcast is for you! The host Andy J. Pizza essentially speaks on creative philosophy in an easy-to-digest way. Everything from prompts for creator’s block to quieting your inner critic is readily available on this podcast. I am so thankful that this podcast exists.

Url Shorteners/Link trees

I personally use bitly. A shortener is helpful when you need to tidy up your text whether it be in your youtube description, an email, or a blog post. This will help you add more polish to your work. As far as link trees, I personally have an account with Bio Link. Link Trees allow for you to put all your links in one place, so there’s no longer a need to list 10 different hyperlinks in bio’s or descriptions. I have all my social media accounts, website, etsy shop, society6 art shop, and even my business email hooked up to my biolink. You can think of it as a digital business card that makes connection so much easier. You can even look in your dashboard to see which links people are clicking on and you can always add more links or edit the ones you’ve already made.

Canva

I’ve been using this since college and it has been so helpful when creating social media graphics, youtube thumbnails, infographics, etc. I personally have a free account and am still able to get great use out of the assets and templates available, so I can modify them to my own needs.

social media scheduling system

Whether you use software or organize an editorial calendar that you keep up with, this will take so much stress off of you. I personally have a free account with Buffer and it is so helpful. I have my Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter linked up to my account. I just add new posts to my account and let buffer send them out on a timed schedule. If you’re trying to be consistent with your marketing, or have a specific marketing campaign in mind, this is a godsend.

Music and Sound Effects

At some point, you’re going to need background music and sound effects to set up some kind of ambiance. I personally like to use music from Lofi Records. My videos have usually been of the timelapse with a voiceover/vlog variety, so using chill music to fill in the background has worked very well for my flavor of content. When you go to the Lofi Records website, they have very clear terms for how to use the music and credit the musicians. It’s been really helpful and new music is added all the time. I also still use Youtube’s audio library as there are a great variety of sound effects and music. However, when I needed more specialty sound effects, I started to use the website Freesound. No matter if you make videos or run a podcast, you need sounds to really add the sauce to your content. Finding something as simple as a ‘ding’ can be time-consuming, but you can definitely find things like this easily on Freesound and abide by their clear licensing. Did I mention that these resources are free? I would definitely encourage you to scour these resources before you start to pay for sound effects.

Dictation Service

A Dictation Service like Natural Reader will help you with editing and or proofreading your content. Microsoft Word has a dictation button as well so that you can have your work read to you by the software. You’ll be able to pick up mistakes easier because you’ll hear someone else reading and your brain won’t fill in the words.

A Work Buddy or Buddies

You need to be able to surround yourself with people who get what it means to create content, no matter if you are a blogger, artist, YouTuber, or combination of all the above. I’d recommend that you join Facebook Groups that align with what you’re trying to learn/make. It’s a great place to ask questions, get critiques, find accountability buddies, and network.

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Leave a like if these resources prove themselves to be helpful to you and put any other resources that work well for you in the comments. Have a great day!