I can’t tell you what the BEST tool is for you, well I can, but that comes from my deep knowledge of tools on the market. I even created a tools directory website at one point, simply so I could organize all the ones I came across.
However the tools I tell you would be based on whether I think you personally can use them best, OR I think they are objectively the best in that category. For example two I bring up all the time being: OpusClip in the clipping category, or Nuelink in the social media management tool category.
The reason I think they are the best is that I have literally been looking for tools like them for 6 and 12 years respectively. They are a crucial part of my automation stack, and I don’t know if I could output as much as I do without them.
Why is Automation so important?
You are only one person, and even if you’re polymathic like myself it can be very hard. Time management is one thing, but we don’t always have the ability to do everything. There are only so many hours in the day, and however much energy you have as well.
In the future I’ll have a post on “My Content Automation Tool Stack”, and on the main website I do have a series I do every quarter of “Whats in PolyInnovator’s Tool Stack”. Meaning if you are interested in what I use, then I can share with you in those posts. Although today I’ll share three:
* OpusClip
* Nuelink
* Substack
Here is why I think these three will help most people. Substack is the closest thing right now to an all in one (all three content types) platform. I don’t even see it as the best newsletter/blogging platform. That title goes to Ghost CMS, but being able to have a FREE podcast host, alongside a video post to youtube automation (even with all the problems it has). I think that is something that cannot be ignored, especially for some newer creators.
You make your video post in Substack, it automatically takes that video and sends it to YouTube. It also makes clips that you can share BEFORE posting, to market your episode, and it can send your audio to podcast platforms.
Then you just write your blog post on there.
From there you can share the autogenerated social image for the post, as well as some short form vertical clips it makes (if you like). I would rather drop the video into OpusClip, and get higher quality clips out of it. Then you can use Nuelink to auto-post announcement social posts to any social platform that you have a new substack blog post, podcast, and youtube video (preferably at different times of day).
The point of all this is to automate what you should already be doing, its just easier with the right tools.
I don’t think a creator should automate their entire process, especially if they don’t have the skills for what they are automating in the first place.
How should you go about it
As I said before it should being all automated. Then the equation is off, and you end up shilling out AI slop or your automations break, etc.
Automation should help your strategy, and it should be a bonus. Not something to replace, at least not fully.
For example many creators do not want to do short form video, and while they should experiment for sure (I strongly suggest it). There are a lot of creators that just won’t get around to it until its too late, so if using OpusClip gets you to do it. Then that’s okay. Especially if like once a week, or a few times a month you put in the effort to try that content out yourself.
That is just one example, but this goes for other platforms as well. I don’t have any particular interest in making content for Pinterest. However I know how important it is to be there.
My blogs and videos automatically post to there, but so does all of my short form videos and instagram photos too.
Think of automation like supplements for working out. They cannot replace food, but they can help fill in the gaps when you don’t have everything you need.
Highlighted Tool of the Week: n8n
One of the more popular automation tools on the market, and it quickly shot up the ranks. A lot of people would say it competes with Make well, and probably blows Zapier out of the water.
Given the topic of this post I thought this was a fitting choice!
🥡 Takeaways
I tend to think about automation differently than a lot of people, and I spent a majority of this post warning against misuse of automation. I’ll probably make more posts on how to use automation more.
In context of the Creator Equation though, think of strategy as your exercise, and automation as your supplements. In the next episode we are going to get into Execution, which is how many reps you put into your exercise.
Related:
I’m sharing the other videos I made about this topic earlier this year, at the end of these posts.
