Content Ideas
This is Chapter 5, Part 2 from the Content Types and Ideas Guide.
Writing is all about coming up with the right idea. An idea that people would find interesting or valuable enough to share.
Ideas are the ones that help us grow and progress. Ideas help us prosper.
Ideas have the power to change the world. And because ideas have such a power, it’s important to handle them well, especially when it comes to your content marketing strategy. Why? Because…
“Everything Begins With An Idea.” – Earl Nightengale
So does your content marketing.
But sometimes it’s hard to come up with content ideas, let alone with good ideas that would get shared. So, let me share x ideas that would help you out when planning out your content strategy or when you simply want to experiment with new ideas.
So, take note of the following content marketing ideas you can use to create valuable content on your website, blog, and Social Media.
And to help you, even more, I have arranged them in several categories you can choose from. Here we go! 💪
- Offer a list of benefits
- Promote a seasonal sale
- Publicize an upcoming promotion
- Show a step-by-step demonstration
- Detail the life cycle of a product
- Write a product review
- Recommend your top products or services
- Ask customers what they want
- List essential tools and products
- Product photos
- Ask for input on your products
- Recommend your favorite products
- Post product recall notices
- Hold a flash sale
- Offer a sneak peek
- Post a creative or unexpected use of your product
- Promote your products or services
- A weekly links-roundup
- Document a buying trip (video footage)
- Make a post about your next conference
- Behind the scenes’ moments
- Turn your pics and videos into Instagram Stories
- Write a post-event summary
- Record a guided tour of your business
- Conduct a case study
- Write a live case study
- Highlight a customer or client
- Write about your company’s history – the ups and downs
- Create a list of the top social media influencers in your industry
- Tell people about where your business name came from
- Start with WHY – Make it personal and take time to write a post about why you do what you do
- Post a branded image
- A day in the life of’ post
- Take a trip down memory lane
- Random posts that show you are a real person
- Profile an employee
- Awards you’ve received (but make sure you don’t come off as bragging)
- Thank your fans
- Offer a sneak peek
- Find out what your competitors are sharing, and do it better
- Post a link to an employee bio
- Write about a survey and the results
- Write a ‘did you know’ feature
- Report on a Facebook Poll
- Track statistics to share – Keep up with trends and stats and turn them into an infographic or series of charts and graphs.
- Surprising facts
- Polls
- Statistics or data
- Hold a debate on Social Media
- Share industry research
- Share a chart
- Share a list of things to avoid
- Share a ‘must-do’ list
- Predict future trends
- Create a top 10 list
- Prepare a tip of the day
- Follow up on future trend prediction
- Share industry best practices
- List essential tools and products
- Put together a checklist
- Create a topical infographic
- Create an informational infographic
- Tell secrets about your industry
- Tell about the lessons you’ve learned
- Piggyback on Social Media trends
- Share a helpful resource
- Share random tips
- Ask for advice
- Recommend someone else to follow on Social Media
- Share and ask for predictions
- Share a trending Google search
- Offer expert insight into a topic
- Make an industry prediction
- Share an opinion
- Highlight a question of the week
- Combine old, outdated posts
- Feature a major celebrity or athlete
- Feature a local or regional celebrity
- Create a list of famous quotes
- Create image quotes for Social Media
- Quotes
- Fill-in-the-blanks posts
- Fan photos – share a customer photo on your social platforms
- Share a comic or meme
- Hold a photo contest
- Post a photo and ask your fans to come up with creative or funny captions
- Ask for questions
- Post a ‘truth or fiction’ question
- The fun of the month
- Post an expert quote
- Answer an FAQ
- Hold a Q&A session
- Share a funny commercial
- Get guest bloggers
- Respond to a blog post or article
- Post guides as PDFs
- Create an archive of old newsletters
- Write an A-to-Z guide
- Write a buyer’s guide
- Write a beginner’s guide
- Create an online course
- Create an email series
- Answer questions on Quora using your existing blog posts
- Repost an older blog post on LinkedIn
- Post a link to an old blog post
- Link to a guest blog post
- Link to a controversial blog post
- Link to your most popular blog posts
- Offer a free eBook
- Get your employees to guest post
- Link to a blog comment
- Post a link to old newsletters
- Post an excerpt from a blog post
- Write a post about trending topics
- Relate content to a news event
- Create a calendar of events
- Provide an opinion on recent legislation
- Write book reviews
- Write about your charitable activities
- Ask for reviews or testimonials
- Share breaking industry news
- Latest company news
- Share pictures from a recent industry event
- Create and share a compilation of industry news stories
- Start an interview-based podcast
- Start a daily or weekly based podcast
- Turn your blog post into a podcast
- Host a Q&A podcast
- Turn your YouTube videos into podcasts
- Create a weekly video tip
- Request videos from customers
- Post a video testimonial
- YouTube video
- List your favorite writers
- Show your products in unusual situations or places
- Write about inspiration
- Post a Slideshare presentation
- Create a decision tree
- Fascinating history
- Cultural differences
- List your best content of all times
- Who or what are your biggest influences
- Define your industry’s technical jargon
- Photos that have nothing to do with your products or business
- Let Pinterest inspire you
- Link to a case study
- Link to an industry-related IFTTT recipe
- Share a favorite book
- Provide a recommendation (for instance a business you worked successfully with in the past
- Share a popular Reddit topic
- Share a Pinterest board
- Recommend a colleague on LinkedIn
- Tag another Facebook page
- Share country-specific holidays
- Use Facebook Interest lists for content ideas
- Celebrate odd holidays
- Promote someone else’s sale
- Promote a free download
- Do a post series
- Weekly roundup
- Encourage your followers to support a cause
- Start a conversation with an industry leader
- Teaser content
- Tell a story
- Use your website analytics to find content
- Answer a question from Quora
- Respond to a tag or mention
- Post a screenshot of a Social Media Conversation (with permission)
Ways to come up with content ideas
You need content, and you need it yesterday. And you also need new ideas, ideas that you don’t have at the moment.
So what can you do? How can you come up with content your audience craves and needs? And what type of content should it be?
Well, to make things easier for you to come up with content ideas fast and easy, I have put together a list of simple methods to help keep a continual stream of content ideas flowing. 👇
- Visit Reddit to discover trending topics.
- Visit Quora to find relevant questions you can answer through your social media post or article.
- Join a Facebook group in your niche to see what your target market is talking about.
- Visit a LinkedIn group to learn what people in your industry are interested in and talking about.
- Send a short poll or survey to your email list or social media followers and ask them for their most challenging or important questions.
- Ask your social media followers what they want to know and are interested in learning.
- Visit trending websites or blogs in your niche to discover topics.
- Visit a LinkedIn group to find out what people in your industry are talking about.
- Find out what the #1 issue your target market struggles with and address it.
- Look through your own blog comments or from the competition to find questions or topics you could address.
- Visit an industry forum and read through the people’s comments and questions.
- Do a Google search for a trending/well-known keyword in your niche and find out what others are writing about a certain topic of interest, and then simply add your thoughts to the conversation.
- Find top hashtags in your niche by using a tool such as Hashtagify.me.
- Have a look through your Facebook newsfeed to learn which topics are constantly popping up in your feed.
- Type a specific keyword into Pinterest’s search box to find trending searches.
- Discover the trending topics in your Twitter sidebar.
- Click on your social media followers profiles and see what they’re talking about and learn what their wants and needs are – or what their fears and challenges are.
- Google search suggestions are a great place to start picking up some content ideas.
- Sign up for newsletters and get content ideas delivered straight to your inbox.
- Write about a product review.
- Write personal stories – get creative and tell a story about something that happened to you.
As you can see there are many resources at your disposal. All you need to do is discover how to take advantage of them and what works for you.
Tip: Try to come up with a long list of new content ideas at once and batch your ideas into categories. It will surely come in handy later on when you experience writer’s block, or it’s just one of those days when you are out of ideas.
“Content marketing is the only marketing left.” – Seth Godin
So, I guess it’s time for you to come up with the best content and enjoy a successful marketing plan.