How I Use Airtable to Organize Content
Maintain a library of your content.
I've published more than 1,000 articles on The Internet, across my blog, Substack, and more. I've also published my own newsletter, been featured on podcasts, and mentioned in articles. It's a lot to keep track of.
Years ago, I realized that I needed a single repository to keep track of everything and easily searchable. That's where Airtable [affiliate link] comes in.
My content library is completely customizable and much more robust than a spreadsheet. Everything is organized, easy to track, and automated — so it doesn't take much of my time to maintain.
Automatically add new content
Every time I publish something — on my blog, Substack, or elsewhere — Zapier sends the details directly to Airtable. The title, publish date, and location are all pulled in automatically using the RSS feed.
This means my Airtable base now holds more than 1,400 records without me having to manually log them. I also categorize each piece by topic and link it to bigger “pillars” of my content strategy. That way, I can see at a glance how pieces relate to one another and where they fit into my overall strategy.
I used to manually add topics and pillars, but now I've embedded ChatGPT into my Zapier workflow, with instructions for picking the most relevant topics and pillar based on the content. It's not perfect, but it's "close enough" most of the time and a much better substitute for making the selections manually.
Managing content assets
I use an app called Reflect to draft my long-form content. I've even been known to draft directly on my website (I know, I know... really bad practice).
I also use Midjourney to create hero images for my posts across different platforms. Do I do what I should do, and add these to my Google Drive when I create them, in case something happens to my website? Nope.
However, both images and copies of my work are added to my Google Drive after the post is published. Through Zapier, I create a Google Doc with the final published text. Zapier also adds the image to a specific folder on Google Drive.
Then, to make my Airtable library complete, the links to both the Google Doc and the image file are tied back to the newly published article. If I need to view them in my Google Drive, I only need to click over.
Repurposing content with ease
My friend Ryan Baum thinks of content like a garden. You don't just plant it once and hope it grows; you have to give it nourishment and prune it so it continues to re-grow year after year.
In Airtable, I've created a view for my Evergreen content. This is content that makes sense to re-share in the future.
Every week, I review articles that I published during the same week in prior years. I ask myself:
- Should I re-share the link?
- Could I create a new asset like a carousel?
- Was the content good at the time, but needs some updates?
- Could I create some social posts from this article?
Sometimes, I decide that content isn't worth any additional effort, and that's ok too. I change it's status in Airtable so it's no longer "Evergreen" and won't review it again in the future.
A quick check keeps my content fresh and saves me from constantly reinventing the wheel.
AI in Airtable
Every company is an AI company now, am I right? Airtable is no exception. When I visit Airtable's home page today, it says "From idea to app in an instant. Build with AI that means business." I also attended an hour-long webinar about AI capabilities in Airtable when it first rolled out. I listened to the CEO of Airtable talk about AI on Lenny's Podcast. And I watched an entire YouTube video with someone reviewing Airtable's AI features.
I'll be honest...I can't figure it out. At least not in its current form. The demonstrated use case is that it would build a database for you based on a prompt. But you still need to know something about database structure in order to configure the fields and link things together. Airtable has always had templates, and that's how I started many of my databases — and then added to and edited them over time.
Airtable also says you can ask its AI assistant questions about your data. That might be interesting since I have 1,400 records... but I don't trust the responses. No AI product is currently good enough to be free from hallucinations. If I need an answer about something in my data, I just use the filters by certain topics, locations, etc.
A few months ago, I tried vibe coding in Lovable to build myself a little app. And the prompting started fine, but then the app started misbehaving the more I tried to add things to it. I worked in software for a long time and have just enough coding knowledge that I could muddle my way through it. But I think it would be difficult for a novice.
Airtable AI feels the same way. Maybe if you understand Airtable and are good at prompting, you could save some time building a new database. But I don't think it can replace core knowledge about how Airtable works — and it is admittedly a product that has a learning curve.
Why a content library matters
For most people, organizing content is an afterthought. Or it's a mess of multiple spreadsheets, scattered Google Docs, and a prayer. So much can get lost in the shuffle.
At 1,400 posts, it's not possible for me to remember everything I've written. If I write something about social media, I consult my content library and link to prior articles I've written on the topic. And my Evergreen view helps me push the content's useful life a little further.
Creating content takes a ton of time every week. I could just publish and hope for the best — or I could try to make the most of my content. My content library helps me do that.
More resources:
- How to Create a Content Library... and why you need one! (free guide)
- How I Keep Track of Freelance Work: Pitches, WIP, and Delivered
- AI is Overhyped. You Should Use It Anyway.
Anna Burgess Yang
