Working as a small creator isn’t just tasking enough, it can also be time-consuming, with most small creators having no choice but to wear many hats in order to deliver on projects.
Most creators juggle between tasks, from communication and scheduling, to marketing and project management.
Hence, time can be considered a valuable resource for creators if they want to deliver projects more timely and efficiently.
Nowadays, automation tools are no longer optional. They are now considered integral to creators’ productivity, consistency, and growth.
In this post, we’ll look at a few digital automation tools for small creators and freelancers, their features, and why they are essential to integrate into your workflows.
Why Use Automation?
Automation shouldn’t be viewed as a lazy way for creators to bypass difficult work. Rather, it should be viewed as leveraging technology to scale work output.
You could automate repetitive tasks that doesn’t require any creative input. Think analytics, data collection, publishing, etc.
This could free up time to deliver more high quality content, serve more users, or even spend time on extracurricular activities.
So, why not start automating so you could focus on the creative tasks that matter?
Here are some automation tools to consider.
Buffer
With Buffer, you can start scheduling your social media content posting. This helps you stay consistent and continue engaging your audience without pressure.
You could schedule, preview and auto publish content across social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, etc.
And the good thing is, you don’t have to login to each of the platforms. Simply schedule, track performance, and restrategize from your Buffer dashboard.
Canva Magic Studio
With Canva Magic Studio, you can start automating design tasks like a pro.
For small creators who are managing lots of design tasks at a go, this could help automate the creative design process by generating graphics templates, video captions, and specific platform-sized content formats.
Some Canva Magic Studio features include Brand Kit which automates logo and color applications, and Magic Write for autogenerating captions.
Grammarly
Grammarly makes it possible for content creators to write error free content such as emails, blog posts, or even video captions.
The tool deploys ai-assisted technology to check for grammar, spelling, and also suggests sentence styles and tone in written content.
This means, for creators and freelancers who want to deliver impeccable written content, Grammarly is a valuable automation tool that saves time in editing, spelling checks and grammar corrections.
Airtable
Airtable is useful for solo creators and freelancers who want to automate tracking of activities around content delivery.
This could mean a world of difference between consistent content delivery and missing deadlines.
With Airtable’s automation and visualization features, creators can quickly track content delivery timelines, update content status, get timely project alerts, and follow up on collaborations.
MailerLite
With MailerLite, you can automate your email marketing to keep up a consistent marketing campaign.
That means, automated welcome email messages, marketing funnels, and product updates without scratching your head for new ideas.
The good thing about MailerLite is that it integrates well with popular creator platforms like WordPress, Shopify, and Gumroad.
Clockify
How many times have you been engrossed in a project, putting in creative manhours, but somehow unable to accurately account for the time spent and charge for it?
Well, Clockify solves that with automated time tracking.
Now, you can automatically track how much time you spend on a project and accurately charge for it.
With this, creators could improve time efficiency instead of relying on manual time tracking.
With Clockify, you can automatically:
- Time usage of tools once open
- Generate weekly time reports
- Send clients time reports for specific periods
With this, creators and freelancers can create a healthy balance between time spent on projects and compensation received.
Butler on Trello
Want to optimize your workflow and reduce time spent on managing projects? Then Butler on Trello is ideal.
Butler is a built-in automation tool on Trello that helps creators automate workflows such as setting work deadlines, sending reminders, and creating rules for assigning cards, etc.
You can automatically mark projects as completed and assign dates to them, or set deadlines for ongoing projects, with constant reminders to keep to assigned work timelines.
Make
With Make, creators and freelancers can perform complex conditional workflows that are manageable via a visual editor.
It is perfect for creators who need multi-step automation for multiple work systems.
Make’s documentation shows more than 1,000 integrations that are usable for a wide range of creator tasks, from content management and billing, to user and project management
An example of using Make could include automatically adding a new user to an Air table list and sending them a personalized welcome message.
Zapier
Zapier is touted as the ‘ultimate’ no-code automation tool for creators and freelancers, as it can connect with many popular creator tools and platforms such as Gmail, WordPress, Slack, Google Sheets, etc.
Zapier claims that its users could save up to 10 hours per week via automation, which is about a full day of work.
With Zapier, users could automate tasks such as reposting video contents on several social media platforms, receive and manage slack notifications for new payments, and save form submissions to Google Sheets.
This could help creators publish, share, and manage content faster, thereby freeing up time for other more creative tasks.
Notion
With Notion, creators can organize content, automate tasks, and collaborate on projects faster.
It is regarded as a full-fledged productivity and automation suite that could even work with other automation tools like Zapier and Make.
Here are a few tasks you could automate using Notion:
- Database management
- Schedule content
- Create invoices
- Create and manage leads
- Generate to-do lists from Google Calendar
- Track published content on WordPress
FAQs on Automation tools for Creators
Which automation tool is best for beginners?
It depends on what digital task you want to automate. However, many of the automation tools highlighted in this post are great for beginners.
You could start with Grammarly to create error-free content, then use Buffer to automate social media sharing, and then leverage Airtable to track all your content deliverables.
Can automation tools replace virtual assistants?
These automation tools can be usable in place of human virtual assistants, especially for cumbersome repetitive tasks. However, the more creative tasks would be better handled by human input.
Are free automation tools reliable?
Of course. Many of these automation tools offer free tiers for creators who want to test out basic features before committing to higher tiers or creators who only want to automate a few basic tasks.
How can automation improve client relationships?
Automation could improve client relationships in several ways such as ensuring consistent communication, faster response times, and accurate presentation and management of projects. These can improve trust and reliability which could help improve relationships with clients.
