ContentStudio Review: The Swiss Army Knife Of Social Media Tools

Last Updated on 5 months by Christopher Jan Benitez

Fact: Content marketing can be challenging. While it’s lucrative and promising, it can cause you to flip tables out of frustration and go all over the place.

So, this is for bloggers, owners of online businesses, and anyone who wants to step up their content marketing game. 

In this ContentStudio review, let’s discuss ContentStudio and find out whether it is the ultimate social media marketing tool that it claims to be. We’ll dig into its features, pricing, pros and cons, and my verdict on it. We’ll also take it out for a spin and walk through a step-by-step process on how to use it.

Let’s jump into it!

What is ContentStudio?

ContentStudio was founded by Waqar Azeem, a world-class digital marketer, in 2018. 

It’s a cloud-based content marketing solution that primarily works as a social media management tool. Its concept lets you work more effectively as you manage all your content in one place.

It kicks things off by prompting you to create workspaces — with the ability to work closely with team members. And regardless of whether you’re a part of agencies and startups or flying solo, you can enjoy this powerful tool.

Features

The reason ContentStudio works seamlessly is the suite of products behind it. Use the suite well and you’re about to elevate your marketing.

What the products can do for you are:

Discover

It unearths everything you need to make your content more powerful. You can get your hands on the best content and influencers out there.

Content Discovery Feature

This is where you can easily research top-performing content in your niche. All you need is a keyword or domain name to get the flow going.

What makes this feature so unique? ContentStudio crawls over 4,000,000 domains to find the best and most relevant content for you. Plus, a vast search comes with an incredible content variety.

And as if this isn’t enough, you can also add your own source. If you have an RSS feed of a website or blog that you want to keep tabs on, you can add it as a source. 

Influencer Discovery

It lets you identify the right people who can amplify your content’s reach. This includes pioneers and key influencers in your niche. 

It is useful because it gives you a peek at an influencer’s following. You will see their number of followers and their engagement level.

Here’s a sample image I took when using this feature:

Publish

This feature introduces tools that allow you to publish content better. You’re granted better control of all the unlimited social posts you can create here.

Composer

Here, you can create, collaborate (with teams and clients), and distribute content. For example, what you can compose is a social media post or blog post.

It also prompts you when you want your post to be published. The more familiar options are Post Now and (save as) Draft. You can also Schedule your post, Add to Queue, and Add to Content Category.

And before you publish your post, you should specify whether you want it to be distributed repeatedly. If you do, the tool will automate the repeat process for you.

Approval workflow

The Composer is also equipped with a feature-rich approval workflow. The approval workflow permits every team member to customize the content’s structure.

When you tag a post as “Needs Approval,” that post doesn’t leave ContentStudio until a team member approves it. This feature helps grant the freedom to each team member to create a post for a higher-level member to give their green light.

Here is a screenshot of an approval workflow when I was creating a social media post:

And here is a screenshot of an approval workflow for a blog post:

Some of the Composer’s most useful sidebar features are:

Assistant 

This helps you easily locate the content you want to include in your post. As a result, you can save time and keep your focus while “your assistant” hustles on your behalf.

To use this feature, enter a search term and specify the channel you want to look into. The list of channels includes YouTube, Dailymotion, and Twitter.

Comments

This lets you add comments to posts. With comments, you can leave notes and end up collaborating with your team better.

SEO (blog posts only)

The SEO Toolbox can guide you as you create SEO-friendly content. This feature is straightforward. Once you load it up, you’ll immediately notice your content’s page score. 

Are you familiar with a popular WordPress plugin, Yoast? That plugin also helps create SEO-friendly content. So, if you can understand how Yoast works, you’d have no trouble using this ContentStudio feature.

To use it, type in a target keyword. Then, read through the notes to determine areas in a post that needs improvement.

Planner

This is where you can visualize and monitor the content that goes into your blog and social media accounts. It’s useful for helping you handle your account from a long-term perspective. For one, it can help you identify the kinds of content that you’ve already posted.

Also, it comes with powerful filters and list and calendar views. With these filters and view options, you can decide which planner entry you want to see — and how.

Here is a screenshot (in calendar view) of the feature:

Automation

This is where you can auto-fill channels using Automation Recipes. Go through a four-step process to begin.

And as the default setting goes, you can use seven Automation Recipes. These recipes can assist you as you repurpose readily available quality content.

Analyze

This feature lets you analyze posts based on the social media accounts that you connected to ContentStudio. Here, you can determine the total number of shares, reactions, and more. You can also look at the overall performance of your posts.

You can also access the Reports Hub here. It’s where you can view the engagements for the posts you published.

Inbox

This is ContentStudio’s new feature. The Social Inbox is unique because it gives you better control of all the exchanges across all social channels.

It comes with various filters so you can easily segregate conversations. For example, you can segregate conversations based on their status or go through each conversation by channel.

Additional features

Another impressive aspect of ContentStudio? The team behind it addresses customers’ feedback. 

The team listens. And as a result, it loaded up the tool with features based on what customers were asking.

How to Use ContentStudio

To use ContentStudio, create an account (or sign in to an existing one).

Then, proceed to the following steps:

Step # 1 – Create a workspace

Specify a workspace name and slug for a project. Choose an appropriate time zone and workspace logo, too.

Want to create multiple workspaces? Your desire to do so isn’t impossible to understand.

The tool’s pack of features can lessen the load if you have multiple projects and clients to watch over. However, you still might get lost because it comes with various features.

So, here’s a tip. Start with one workspace to get a feel of the tool. Then, you can easily add more workspaces only after you get the hang of using ContentStudio.

Step # 2 – Discover influencers, content insights, and new content

You can get inside ContentStudio and access the tool’s dashboard with a workspace. There, you can use its core features.

Launch the tool’s DISCOVER feature to begin the simple process of creating and publishing a social media post. Under it, fire up the Influencers section to determine the people who can help you out.

You can reach out to these influencers later on (once your content is ready). Or you can take inspiration from the content they post and how they engage with others. You can also check out how they run their account.

Under DISCOVER, you can also load content and search for relevant content using a keyword.

Here’s an example. Based on the search term “productivity,” here’s a glimpse of the results:

This is also where you can discover key insights (through graphs and charts) on the top-performing content. You can then review this information to understand the content that will be most impactful to your target. 

Examples of content insights that you should look into are:

Articles Published Over Time & Engagement

This refers to the number of published articles and their engagement levels. With these data, you can determine the piece with which people will be most involved. 

Articles Published Over Time and Sentiment

This refers to people’s sentiments or how people feel about a particular piece of content. You can use this data to use people’s sentiments as the basis for the direction of your post.

Let’s say the majority’s sentiment over content is negative. Therefore, you should consider creating different content.

Average Engagement by Network

This singles out the engagement levels of the particular kind of articles posted on specific networks. Based on the information you gather, you can get a clue about the networks that are more responsive to the articles you’re about to compose.

Step # 3 – Connect accounts

You can explore ContentStudio as much as you want. However, you can’t maximize the results unless you connect an account.

So, on the dashboard, click your account’s picture and expand the general settings. This way, you can access the Workspace Settings and Account Settings.

There, expand Social Accounts under Workspace Settings. This will redirect you to a page where you can easily connect your social media accounts. 

This is when you should add integrations, too. So far, the tool allows these integrations (featured in the following images):

Step # 4 – Compose a post

Now, hit up Composer. You can find it in the drop-down menu under PUBLISH.

From there, you’ll be asked what you want to compose. Here, choose Social Media Post.

You’ll then be redirected to a window where you can compose your social media post. There, use the sidebar features as you see fit. Then, based on the content insights you gathered earlier, write a post that will be a hit over time or for years to come.

Ready to get going? All you need now is to specify when and how you want to publish your post. And if your post requires the approval of someone in your team, tick the box that says Needs Approval. Then, complete the process by clicking post Now.

Step # 5 – Invite team members

To add team members, access the tool’s general settings. Under Workspace Settings, launch Team Members.

You’ll land on a page where you can click the Add button.

Step # 6 – Analyze

Remember, a way that ContentStudio can give you an edge is by providing useful reports about your post’s performance. So, don’t forget to hit up the ANALYZE section from the dashboard regularly.

Here, you can check out how your post is doing and find out what it can do for your business.

ContentStudio Pricing

ContentStudio offers plans available for businesses of different sizes. The good news is, regardless of which plan you subscribe to, you can save — and get 2 months free — if you pay annually.

Below is a screenshot that can provide you with ContentStudio’s annual pricing structure.

Want to see if it’s the right tool for your business before you officially go on board? Then, sign up for a 14-day free trial. 

The process is easy and doesn’t require a credit card. Simply sign up with an email account. Or you could use your social media account.

Pro

Having a single workspace to manage without team members to chip in makes you ideal for this. For example, if you’re a solopreneur, ContentStudio’s Pro plan can accommodate all your needs for $49 per month.

The image below will show you what’s included in the package.

Beyond the features above, the Pro plan also includes:

• Discovery, Publishing & Scheduling features
• Social media and blog posting automation
• Editorial Calendar

Small

Have you assembled a small team of five members? Need about five workspaces to work effectively?

Then this package, for $99 per month, is for you.

The image below will show you what’s included in the package.

Beyond the features above, the Small plan also includes:

• Everything in Pro 
• Workflow & Collaboration

Medium

Upgrade to the Medium plan for $199 per month if you want something over five workspaces. With it, you can create up to 10 workspaces and invite 10 team members.

The image below will show you what’s included in the package.

Beyond the features above, the Medium plan also includes:

• Everything in Pro 
• Workflow & Collaboration

Large

For $299 per month, ContentStudio’s Large plan will cover the needs of social media companies. It allows you to create up to 20 workspaces and manage 20 team members.

The image below will show you what’s included in the package.

Beyond the features above, the Large plan also includes:

• Everything in Pro 
• Workflow & Collaboration

Enterprise

Don’t you think the above plans can suit your business’ size and cater to its needs efficiently? Then, subscribe to ContentStudio’s Enterprise plan.

As to how much cash you will shell out, it’s up to ContentStudio’s team. First, it will evaluate your business, then propose a reasonable price.

ContentStudio Review: Pros and Cons

Like any other product, ContentStudio comes with upsides. And like any other product, some aspects are worth ironing out.

Here are the pros and cons of the tool:

Time, energy, and money will be used with ContentStudio’s automation feature. Once your social media accounts or websites are connected, the tool can automate content distribution — like clockwork.

Two ways to play this out? You can compose a post and then schedule it to be published later. Or you can leverage the tool’s automation recipes.

If you run lots of social media accounts, you’d be disappointed to know that ContentStudio doesn’t support some of these networks.

For one, there’s Instagram. Considering how it’s one of the most popular social media networks, the tool’s inability to directly post to Instagram is a bummer.

Inarguably, ContentStudio makes curating high-quality content easier. This feature doesn’t require you to open a new tab to look for content.

It acknowledges that searching the internet for the content you want to add to your post isn’t effortless. Instead, it can consume time and mess with your focus.

When you’re in the middle of composing a post, hit up your assistant. Enter a search term, and you’re good to go.

A muting feature would be handy. Since ContentStudio is feature-rich, it can call your attention to non-urgent aspects of the tool.

Its limited allowance for integrations is a concern, too. Integrations with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media networks have the green light. The tool has your back if you want to post to blogging networks such as Medium and WordPress.

However, if you want to join forces with your account on Slack or Zapier, you won’t get your way.

ContentStudio acknowledges how transparent communication is integral to a marketing team’s success. And with the Social Inbox feature, social media managers will have a much easier time getting each team member on the same page.

It’s a big plus that it comes with search functionality. This way, you won’t have to spend hours looking through your inbox for important details. Instead, you can enter a keyword and then dig through specific conversations.

ContentStudio isn’t for people who lack patience. After all, it takes a lot of time to set up. 

You need to key in many answers, and the process isn’t straightforward. For some social media marketers, it cannot be very encouraging.

An example is when you set up a new campaign for the tool’s Automation Recipes.

The good news? Once finished with the setup for these Automation Recipes, you can jump to using the tool seamlessly.

Once you invest in the tool, ContentStudio will invest in you, too. With the tool’s pursuit of regular upgrades, it’s understandable to have concerns at some point. 

Fortunately, the staff can support you anytime. You can raise concerns through the website’s contact page or chat with a dedicated client relationship manager.

You can even book a live demo and have one of ContentStudio’s experts show you around. Then, you have nothing to worry about, from account setup to how this social media management platform can help save time and maximize your efforts.

ContentStudio Reviews