Blogs and social media posts have become a mainstay in building an online presence, with around 3 billion blogs posted a year and over 77% of businesses using socials to connect with customers. Content can be posted through these channels to offer value to your audience, create buzz around a business development or showcase a little personality. But with all the other spinning plates of running a business, it can become a little overwhelming trying to come up with enough content ideas.
This article will outline some ways of sourcing content ideas for social media and blog channels, so you can get the most out of the cheapest digital marketing channels out there.
Competitor research
If you are looking for blog suggestions or social media concepts, your first port of call should always be competitor research. By looking at the highest performing blogs and social media posts within your industry, you’ll get a good lay of the land in terms of what your audience is responding to. The next step is doing technical competitor analysis, using SEO and data tools to get into the specifics of how these pieces of content are performing so well, from keywords to video length.
The kinds of formats you can research include:
- Blogs
- Images
- TikTok videos
- Instagram Reels
- YouTube videos
- Polls
All of these elements of content creation can inspire one another, allowing you to differentiate from and improve on the work of your competitors.
Keep up with trending news stories
Cultural awareness is a virtue in the world of content marketing, and capitalizing on trending stories is a great way to demonstrate it to your audience. This can range from something you see in a tabloid paper to a trending video format – just try to engage with the flash in the pan while it’s still cooking. Check out tools like Google Trends to stay ahead of the curve.
Using a content idea generator/AI tool
Struggling for content generation ideas? Use a content idea generator! Tools like the Semrush Topic Research feature are effective for finding popular topics or searching around words or phrases. As long as you keep the focus on your industry clear, these tools should throw plenty of viable options your way. In a similar vein, while generative AI tools are a little controversial in the world of content creation, they can be very handy if you’re at a loss for things like blog titles.
Engage with your audience
If you really want to connect with your demographic, why not ask audience members what they want to see? Social media channels are a great way to leverage any existing followers as a part of the content creation process, while also actively providing them with the blogs and posts that they actually want to see. It offers useful ideas, while also demonstrating your attentiveness as a business.
Here are just a few of the ways you can source new ideas for promotional online content. Remember, while having strong ideas is very important, consistency is key and you won’t know exactly what will work until you put it out there. Do your research, start posting, and improve!