Let’s be real—creating great content is hard.
Between writing, editing, designing, and posting, it’s easy to burn out. But after testing dozens of AI tools, I’ve found 16 that actually save time without sacrificing quality.
No fluff—just tools that work.
1. Hootsuite – My Go-To for Social Media
- Best for: Scheduling posts, tracking engagement, managing multiple accounts.
- Why I love it: Juggling Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn? Hootsuite lets me schedule posts in bulk, track engagement, and reply to comments from one dashboard. Lifesaver for consistency.
2. Gemini – Google’s Best-Kept Secret
- Best for: Deep research, content ideas, answering complex queries.
- Why I love it: Move over, ChatGPT. Gemini digs deeper for research, answering niche questions (like “best time to post on TikTok in 2024”) with legit sources.
3. ElevenLabs – Scarily Good AI Voices
- Best for: Voiceovers for videos, podcasts, audiobooks.
- Why I love it: I used this for a client’s explainer video—their “human-like” voices fooled even me. Bonus: You can tweak tone to sound friendly or authoritative.
4. Runway – Video Editing on Steroids
- Best for: Removing backgrounds, motion tracking, adding effects.
- Why I love it: Need to remove a background or add motion graphics? Runway’s AI tools cut my editing time in half. (Pro tip: Their green screen feature is magic.)
5. Claude AI – My Favorite Writing Sidekick
- Best for: Blog posts, ad copy, overcoming writer’s block.
- Why I love it: Claude nails my brand’s casual tone better than ChatGPT. I use it daily to break through writer’s block—like this intro!
6. Sybill – For Sales Teams Who Hate Notes
- Best for: Analyzing sales calls, predicting customer behavior.
- Why I love it: Records and analyzes sales calls, then spits out actionable insights (e.g., “Customer hesitated at pricing—follow up with a discount”).
7. MS Designer – Canva Alternative
- Best for: Social media graphics, ads, thumbnails.
- Why I love it: Microsoft’s AI generates social media graphics in seconds. I typed “minimalist coffee shop ad,” and it gave me 10 solid options.
8. Hedra – Fix Bad Footage Fast
- Best for: Auto-editing videos, stabilization, subtitles.
- Why I love it: Auto-cropping, stabilization, even adding subtitles. Ideal for repurposing shaky iPhone clips into polished reels.
9. Zapier – Automate the Boring Stuff
- Best for: Connecting apps, automating repetitive tasks.
- Why I love it: My Zaps: Save Gmail attachments to Drive, post WordPress blogs to LinkedIn, and send Slack reminders. Zero coding needed.
10. Julius AI – Data Without the Headache
- Best for: Analyzing spreadsheets, generating reports.
- Why I love it: Paste a spreadsheet, ask, “What’s our top-selling product?” and get plain-English answers. No more Excel hell.
11. Captions AI – Subtitles in 1 Click
- Best for: Adding captions, dubbing videos, improving retention.
- Why I love it: Dub videos into other languages or add animated captions. My YouTube retention jumped 20% after using this.
12. ManyChat – Instagram DMs That Scale
- Best for: Automating Instagram DMs, handling FAQs.
- Why I love it: Auto-reply to FAQs (e.g., “What’s your pricing?”) and tag leads. Freed up 5+ hours/week for my small biz.
13. Notion – Organize Everything
- Best for: Content calendars, project management, note-taking.
- Why I love it: AI-powered templates for content calendars, meeting notes, even habit tracking. My entire biz runs on this.
14. Otter AI – Meetings, Decoded
- Best for: Transcribing calls, summarizing key points.
- Why I love it: Records, transcribes, and highlights key points. I share the summary with my team so no one zones out.
15. Tidio – 24/7 Customer Support
- Best for: AI chatbots, live chat, handling returns.
- Why I love it: Chatbots handle returns/store hours, while live agents jump in for complex issues. Cut my response time to <2 mins.
16. Flair – Design Prototypes in Minutes
- Best for: Product mockups, ad designs, branding.
- Why I love it: Drag-and-drop AI for product mockups. Made a legit-looking skincare ad in 10 minutes (despite zero design skills).
Final Thought: AI Should Help—Not Replace You
These tools work best when you lead with your expertise. Example: I use Claude for draft ideas, but my final edits always add personal stories (like why I quit over-optimizing for SEO).
Which tool will you try first?
Drop a comment below—I’ll share my favorite tips for it!