How To Harvest Great Content Ideas?
Ideas are the lifeblood of content. No matter what you're creating – whether it's a blog post, video, or even an ebook – you need a steady stream of high-quality ideas to keep your content strategy going. Of course, coming up with unique ideas on demand can be challenging.
Before even starting, you need to ask yourself a few questions:
Who do you admire?
Who inspires you and why?
What can you learn from their success to help you be a better marketer?
These can be very helpful for finding great ideas and getting started. Don't forget that all great ideas come from people's experiences and are built on them.
So now that you know what kind of content you want to produce, it's time to figure out where to find ideas.
For example, let's say, for some reason, you admire Chipotle's marketing strategy.
You might look at their social media presence or content strategy and think about how your business can follow in their footsteps. Or, you might take things back to basics and look at the core of their business model. If you still want to learn more about how to harvest great content, here are a few tips for gathering great content ideas:
Spark your creativity
The human brain and its ability to learn and design are one of the most incredible things in nature.
Did you know that there are over 86 billion neurons in the brain?
What about the fact that our brains account for 2% of our body weight but use up to 20% of our energy intake?
Unique if you think about it. The brain is the core of creativity because it's not only the source of your ideas but also a complex network that can control your emotions and behavior.
A person's creative capacity can make them great at any activity, but it requires practice. Creativity doesn't happen independently, so you need to work at it constantly. There are many ways to spark creativity, but there are three fundamentals that all professionals have in common - being organized, being disciplined, and being resilient.
Some great artists have techniques such as doodling or sketching when they have a few minutes to relax; others can walk away from a problem and come back to it later; For some, it's just a matter of learning to look more closely at their surroundings or by being more open-minded about what could be an innovative idea.
Creativity is not something you get better at; you have to work on it every day. Here are some small habits that can help you with this:
Keep a notepad near you at all times.
Read or watch inspiring stories to get your mind going.
Set aside time every day to think freely, don't worry about what's practical at the moment. Just brainstorm and write down everything, no matter how foolish it might seem. You can always discard them later, but having a large pool of ideas will help you be more creative and productive in the long run.
Always be on the lookout for new experiences or things you haven't noticed before. You don't have to broaden your horizons and become an expert in every kind of activity, but if there's something that interests you, go all in!
When you look at something or focus on something, it's easier to think of the flaws than the good things about it. This is natural and can help you understand things better, but if you want to develop great ideas, you need to focus on the favorable and use that as a launching pad to create something new.
Make a list of content ideas you have wanted to write about
Start by making a list of all your content ideas and organizing them into different categories.
Can't think of anything? Don't worry; make a list of what you always daydream of, find inspiration in your everyday life, or use brainstorming techniques. Some examples of this could be:
What's trending?: Think about the biggest news stories and topics that everyone is talking about right now. What insights can you add, or what angle can you take on this story?
Combine unrelated items: Take two unrelated ideas and combine them to create a unique post. For example, For example, "If Napoleon had Facebook, what would he post?"
Use odd connections: Think of something entirely random but somehow related to one of the ideas on your list. For example, you could compare how love is related to nature. You will be surprised at the ideas you can come with.
Make sure you leave room for serendipity, which means being open to unexpected opportunities because you never know where your next great idea will come from.
Once you've made a list of potential ideas, consider how you can create content about that.
Ask yourself this:
What would I choose?
Why would I choose this?
What's the context of this idea?
How would I approach this content piece?
One of the best ways to get content ideas is to keep an eye out for them. When you go about your day, think about the different topics that interest your audience and what advice you can share.
For example, if you are targeting entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their business online, some of the content ideas you could include are:
How to build an email list?
How to increase conversions?
How to start a business online?
Let's say you are targeting singers, then your ideas could be:
How to improve your singing voice?
What are the best tips for becoming a better singer?
What are the everyday habits of successful singers?
Now, look at each of these ideas individually. Think about how you can add an element of interest or insight to each concept. This will help you create content that's more engaging and memorable for users.
Go through your social media feed and see what topics people are talking about
It is a great way to see what kind of content is going viral and how you can capitalize on it. You can also look at social media posts from people in your industry or competitors making the news and provide a different opinion, fact-check information, or add insight from your own experience, etc.
One of the best apps to do this is Feedly which allows you to create a feed of websites, blogs, and publications all in one place. It also provides an option to add RSS feeds from specific users or hashtags that you choose. For example, if you have a marketing blog, it would be helpful to follow other marketing influencers to see what content they are sharing and how their audience is engaging with it.
You can also use tools like TrendSpottr and BuzzSumo to see who creates content in your industry and what type of content gets the most engagement or shares. Another great way to find topic ideas is through Google trends; it can show you when and how often users search specific terms. It can also help you to find topics that interest your target audience at the moment and what they are most curious about.
What about having a conversation with your audience?
Keep track of the topics people ask or email you about through social media, in support emails, at events, etc. This will help you get insights from your clients and customers on what type of content they would be interested in learning more about. Then you can use that to create content that is more relevant and valuable for them.
Once you find them, think about how you would make them better for your audience. Remember that the best content usually answers a question or provides some value to your audience and has some unique insight or perspective on the topic.
You can recreate content that's already popular or that creates impact. For example, suppose the most shared content on your site is an infographic about blogging. In that case, you can create another new infographic with updated statistics and data to answer what people are still wondering about.
Another idea would be to create new blog posts and think of other formats like videos, infographics, podcasts, interviews with experts in the industry, or just any format that would work better with your audience.
There are many ways you can find great ideas when it comes to content marketing. Whether you keep your eyes peeled for them when going about your day or when checking social media feeds, the key is to think outside of the box.
Everything is about perspective. So if you think about it, even the simplest of ideas can be made more interesting if given some thought.
Search for recent news stories relevant to your niche
Sometimes, the best ideas are just right at your fingertips. This is why it's worth spending five minutes searching for recent news stories that are relevant to your niche. Google Alerts is an excellent tool for this because you can set it to send you an email every time there is a news story about your industry or area of interest.
What if you could find out who was saying what about your industry? This is where social media monitoring tools like Mention and Brand24 come in handy, as they alert you anytime someone is talking about or sharing content related to your brand.
Once you've picked a story, think about how to make it more valuable for your audience. For example, let's say you're noticing many people in your industry sharing about the best articles on blogging.
You can use this opportunity to determine what makes these blogs different and why they work so well with their target audience. You can then use this new insight to create a list of the best blogs on blogging that your audience will find more valuable and relevant.
If you don't have time to use tools, try using YouTube Alerts for this purpose, as it lets you know whenever someone posts a video about your keywords. So let's say one of the most significant blog posts this year was about "How to choose the best blogging platform," you can keep an eye on related videos by subscribing to new users, associated channels, and topics that are trending.
This will help you quickly visualize what type of content gets the most views or engagement with your audience, then use that information to create better content for them.
Check out what content performs well for your competitors:
If you're looking to get new content ideas, consider doing a competitor analysis to see what topics they are writing about and who their audience is. You can do this by using Buzzsumo or Google alerts which will allow you to track specific keywords and find out which of their posts are getting the most views.
Once you have this data, consider studying why these topics work so well and what they did differently to make it more valuable for their audience. By doing this, you can see if anything makes one post or piece of content better than another, which can help you create better content for your audience.
When you've analyzed what makes their posts or content so successful, try to recreate it with a twist. By following this process, you can uncover hidden opportunities that will allow you to connect with an entirely new audience interested in the same topics as your competitors' readers.
Once you have tried out what's going on in the news, think about how you would approach this topic with unique insight or facts that are not currently being discussed. This is a great way to stand out because your audience will be interested in learning more about something they didn't know before.
Even simple ideas like adding new insight from a survey or sharing relevant information from an expert in your field can make all the difference.
This is also an excellent opportunity to think about how you would approach this content idea differently based on your business goals and audience.
For example, if you were writing a post for your blog, you'd probably go for a detailed strategy-based post. But if you were writing for a client, you'd probably go for an infographic or list because this type of content performs well when it comes to social media shares.
To conclude, if you want to create engaging and valuable content, make sure it fits the needs of your audience.
What would they like to read?
How do they consume content online?
Are there any trending topics or angles in your industry that you can apply to your business goals and target audience?
The trick is understanding what type of content gets shared most on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These posts include infographics (visual information), list articles (top 10 tips for success), or even just a new statistic with an interesting fact.
Write down questions that you want to be answered at the end by your audience, then research them
Have you ever thought of the educational role you play to your audience?
You might be surprised to find out that many of your readers follow you because they want to learn something new or improve their knowledge; One of the best ways you can do this is by providing them with educational content.
If you're not sure what type of information people want to learn about, try asking them! After all, people always appreciate it when you take the time to ask them for their thoughts or opinions.
To do this, write down a few questions that you want your audience to answer at the end of your content and then search online for answers.
Let's try! To get started, write down a question that someone might want to know about your business or industry:
How can I grow my blog traffic?
What is the best time of day to post on social media?
What's the number one thing small businesses should focus on in 2022?
Let's go with: What's the number one thing small businesses should focus on in 2022?
Now, let's do some research and figure out the answer. It's simple! Here's what you do. Go to Google and type in your question:
"What's the number one thing small businesses should focus on in 2022?"
You will see that Google can come up with numerous articles that can answer this very question; make sure to read every content with a critical eye.
The question seems like it would have a clear answer, but there are many important factors to focus on. For example, some entrepreneurs believe that social media is the key to success in today's economy. However, others think that internet marketing will be the most essential factor three years from now. So, what's the correct answer?
After spending some time reading the content, ask yourself:
What would I change in this article to make it even better?
What did I learn by reading this piece of content?
How can I take these insights and apply them to my business myself?
Which of these articles would suit my target audience the best?
What changes should I make to this article for it to work better with my business strategy and goals?
By answering these questions, you should be able to develop some ideas for your content. After reading, we concluded that the most important thing for small businesses to do is to find their target audience. If they can successfully reach out to their potential customers, content marketing will become more effective and increase revenue.
You'll see that after you do this process once or twice, it becomes much easier, faster, and even more fun to come up with great content ideas.
Give it a shot!
What changes would you make to this article for it to be even better?
For example, by the time you have read this, I will have added more research and statistics on internet marketing since that seems like one of the critical factors in business success these days.
In the end, ideas are a dime a dozen, but it takes time and effort to turn them into something worth reading. The more ideas you have, the better off you'll be when your brain is tapped out of creative juice.
So what can you do about that? Start now!
Do some brainstorming with your team and yourself to get those juices going again. You never know which idea will lead to the next best thing for your content.
Do you want to learn how to create content that will create an impact?
I’ve been doing this for years and I can tell you from experience, it’s not easy. But if you follow my 30-day course, I promise it will change everything. You won’t have to worry about coming up with new ideas or finding the time to write them down anymore because I’ll be there every step of the way. It doesn't matter what industry you're in - all of these strategies are universal and they work!
It's time for a fresh start. A new beginning where your content is helping your business create impact instead of holding it back. This is an opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime so don't let it pass by without taking action now! Sign up today and see just how much better things can be when you take control over your content creation process. Let me show you how simple this whole thing really is...it's never too late to turn things around!
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