Since most professionals spend one to six hours on a single piece of marketing content (Source: Statista), you’d better be focused on the best content ideas. With so much time and work invested in your content, it better pay off!
It’s worth it since the right content generates leads, builds a community, and improves sales for your business. But how do you create the “right” content to attract your ideal customer?
Today, we’re giving you actionable tips that you can use to find better ideas for your content.
TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:
[01:10] A Little Bit About Content Marketing
[02:53] The Role of Content in Your Business
[05:10] Analyze Your Existing Assets
[07:41] Search These Websites for Content Ideas
[09:39] Click Hashtags on Social Media
[11:15] Use Search Engines Other Than Google
[13:53] Final Tips About Sourcing Content Ideas
[17:02] Bloopers
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
AnswerThePublic.com
Quora.com
RightRelevance.com
Udemy.com
A Little Bit About Content Marketing
[Meghan] If you have an online business, you’re probably using some form of content marketing, whether or not you’re aware of it.
Content marketing is the production and distribution of non-promotional, educational information that your audience cares about.
[Theresa] So, a brochure about your spa services is not content marketing, right? That is an example of sales collateral.
[Meghan] Exactly correct. Content about your products, services, or brand are considered product marketing, not content marketing. Ads aren’t content marketing either. With content marketing people come to you. With traditional advertising, you’re going to the person. Content marketing is much less invasive in the experience than advertising.
Examples of content marketing are webinars, quizzes, ebooks, blog posts, social media posts, and videos that educate and entertain your audience on the things that interest them—and that are related to your business but don’t promote your products and services.
[Theresa] The idea behind content marketing is that your content increases your brand’s credibility, authority, and visibility with the people who are your ideal customers.
So, more prospects will find your brand and trust your brand because of your content. Over time, your content builds a community of people who are engaged. These community members are more likely to become buyers and repeat customers.
ADDITIONAL READING: How to Get More Leads from Content Marketing
The Role of Content in Your Business
[Meghan] Yes! Basically, effective content leads to community which leads to sales.
And that’s where I see businesses struggle. They don’t quite understand what content to create. They don’t know what effective content is.
In other words, they think they’re producing content that attracts their ideal prospects. They believe they’re choosing topics that will convert their fans into customers. But they’re lacking a content strategy and a plan.
What we’re getting at is that your content has a lot of responsibility. It’s important to the success of your business, right?
[Theresa] Definitely! Content marketing has a big role in your business. We just mentioned three factors that content affects.
- Visibility – since your content puts you on the radar screen of your ideal customers.
- Relationship building – since your content creates a community of relevant and targeted people.
- Sales – since your community members typically buy from you over the long run.
[Meghan] Now that you can see the role of content in your business, you can better understand that your content determines whether people find you, trust you, and buy from you.
Hopefully, you’re seeing how important it is to find effective content ideas and topics, yes?
Because if you get this part wrong, you’ll make less sales.
[Theresa] I’ll add this in there as well. Creating content is one of those necessary tasks when you have an online business. I really enjoy content creation, but it is very time consuming.
You don’t want to devote so much time to a task only to have it not work. Right? If you’re going to invest the time and effort into creating content, it may as well be the right content to help you succeed!
[Meghan] That’s a good point. Either people don’t know what they’re doing or they’re swamped and that leads to content topics that miss the mark. The lack of time really does affect your business decisions! You don’t think about that often.
Invest your time into creating content that supports your business goals. Here are 4 ways to find content ideas that attract prospects.Click To Tweet4 Ways to Find Content Ideas that Attract Your Ideal Customers
[Theresa] True. People don’t make the correlation between poor time management and other business areas, like marketing.
Okay, so now that everyone knows a little more about the importance of content for their business, what are your suggestions for sourcing content ideas? How are you going to come up with topics that your audience cares about?
RELATED: 5 Hacks for Finding Content Ideas When You’re in a Slump
1) Analyze Your Existing Assets
[Meghan] One thing you can do is analyze your existing assets. The content you already have on hand can be repurposed into other formats. Why not reuse your previous work to help you come up with ideas and new content?
For instance, if you have high-quality blog posts, they can be turned into podcasts, social media posts, and even online courses. If you have a podcast, turn your audio files into blog posts.
Your products and services are assets too, and your offers are terrific sources for content ideas. Take what people need to know in relation to your offers and create informational, educational content around it. So, for example, let’s say I have a course on how to create an editorial content calendar. I could record a video explaining the value of having a content calendar.
When you’re analyzing your assets, take a look at your metrics. My dad’s advice that “what isn’t inspected, isn’t respected” applies here. Research and respect the data. Take a step back to see a different perspective.
Look at your emails to see which ones performed best. This helps you see what your subscribers are interested in so that you can create more related content.
Review your website and social media account analytics. Identify what’s performing well and what’s not. Consider offshoot topics for the content that’s already performing well. Identify topic areas where you need more content.
[Theresa] Oh, I love these suggestions! Looking at your own assets and at your own data is solid advice. Create more of what people want from the best of what you have. That makes good sense, but you have to intentionally make time for that.
Essentially you’re researching your own content. First, schedule a spot on your calendar to look at the data at least once a month, if not once a week.
To manage that, I’d create a process for it. Create a simple checklist that includes the locations you’re checking (e.g. Google Analytics, email automation platform) and what number’s you’re looking for (like page opens, email opens, click throughs).
What if you don’t have any assets? I’m sure there are people who don’t have much content yet or who are newer to online business.
2) Search These Websites for Content Ideas
[Meghan] Whether or not you have assets, there are really awesome websites out there where you can source content ideas. Sites that specialize in data or in user feedback are so valuable!
I’ve mentioned this site before, but I love Answer the Public. You input your keyword or topic, then Answer the Public shows you the most popular questions related to that topic. Well hello! You don’t need to wonder or guess. Those are the actual questions that people are asking! You’ll get plenty of ideas to create content that answers the questions people are asking.
I also like Quora. You can search by category or topic to find the questions people are asking and the answers they’re getting. This may not work for every industry, but it’s worth a try.
There’s also Right Relevance for checking out what content is hot right now and performing well. Then use that data to spark content ideas for your brand. Check the “Insights” link and do a search by topic. When you’re doing a search on Right Relevance, you’ll also see other related content topics. So, that site offers plenty of ways to source content ideas.
These sites are free! What I like is that you’re getting information that’s based on what people actually want or what content they are already consuming. That takes out guesswork to improve your chances of creating content people desire.
[Theresa] That’s helpful indeed, especially when you haven’t created much content yet or you don’t have a lot of existing information about your ideal audience.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. There’s plenty of information out there to stimulate ideas from other relevant information.
3) Click Hashtags on Social Media
[Meghan] Another simple way to find content ideas is to click hashtags on social media.
You can use other brands’ content to see what’s performing well in your niche. Then let that content inspire ideas. This isn’t about copying other people’s work, okay?
[Theresa] Yeah, we’re definitely not advocating plagiarizing or stealing! But you can learn a lot from what others are creating.
[Meghan] Right! The suggestion here is to use hashtags to spark inspiration and to assess what people are responding to.
One tip with hashtags. Look for the hashtags that are more specific to your topics and more relevant to your audience. Remember, your goal is to attract people who are interested in your area of expertise.
For instance, if you click on #cosmetics you’ll see more generalized content than if you click on #vegancosmetics or #organicmakeup. If your product is an organic, vegan lip balm, you’ll want to create content specific to the audience looking for that type of product. So the more niche hashtags offer better, more targeted content ideas to help you attract that more specific prospect.
[Theresa] I love doing hashtag research. Keep a list of the ones that you find to be most useful. Then, they will be right at your fingertips the next time you go do some exploring.
4) Use Search Engines Other Than Google
[Meghan] My last tip is to research content topics on search engines other than Google.
You’re thinking Bing and Yahoo, but that’s not what I mean.
First, there’s YouTube and Pinterest. Yes, these are social media platforms. But they are also really powerful search tools as well. With Pinterest, you can see what blog posts, graphics, and courses people are creating around different topics.
With YouTube, you can find all kinds of ideas for content by looking through the videos and the comments. People use YouTube as a learning center, so it’s the perfect place to discover what people care about and to find content inspiration.
[Theresa] I have to say that I’ve not thought about using YouTube as a research tool. I do take advantage of Pinterest though. When I’m investigating a specific topic, I create a secret board for it so I can curate the content I want to dive deeper into.
I’ll have to add YouTube to my research process.
[Meghan] Also, search for content ideas using Udemy and Amazon. These are not considered traditional search engines. But they are both basically databases. Udemy is a database of courses. Amazon is a database of products.
Udemy shows you the courses people are buying as well as what’s popular. Amazon shows you what products are popular. So how are you going to use these two databases to find content ideas?
Check out Amazon books to learn what topics people are interested in. You can search books by topic and then look at the Table of Contents, book description, and review comments for content ideas.
The same goes for Udemy. Search by topic to find course descriptions, popularity, and review comments.
And, there’s a goldmine of information in the ratings and reviews on Udemy and Amazon. People suggest what they liked and didn’t like, which is another opportunity for content ideas!
[Theresa] The Internet is such a powerful resource for small business owners. All of that data is available for free! Of course, my suggestion is to set a timer to limit the time you spend researching and surfing the Net.
Final Tips About Sourcing Content Ideas
[Meghan] Don’t forget to choose content topics that align with your products and services. Just because a topic is popular, doesn’t mean you should create content for it. Make sure that you have a business reason for each piece of content you create. This ensures that your content is working for you and not against you.
One other tip before we wrap up. I recommend blocking off time on your calendar to source content ideas. Don’t go looking for ideas when it’s time to sit down and create content. All your time will be spent on ideation rather than creation. So, separate the tasks of research and content creation.
When you’re looking for content ideas, collect a bunch at one time and put them into a spreadsheet or note app. Then you have a repository of topics to choose from later.
Check out these last minute content ideas for those times when you didn’t plan!
[Theresa] Good advice! Finding content ideas is like any task. Like Meghan suggested, block time on your calendar for it. Don’t try all of these suggestions at once. Start with one!
Also, take your content ideas and put them into action by creating a content calendar. A content calendar keeps your content organized, helps you avoid creating duplicate content, and is good for collaboration. You don’t need anything fancy.
We use a Google Sheet document for our Messy Desk Podcast content calendar, and it works really well to manage our topics and content ideas.
[Meghan] A content calendar is so beneficial! That’s what we use and what I create as part of my strategy services because it’s so helpful to plan, create, and publish your content. You may not be ready for a content calendar yet, but consider creating one in the future! You’ll love it.
Like we discussed, content is front and center to nearly every brand, including yours. And the most effective content requires planning. But the planning is worth the time! Identifying the best content ideas and topics improves your marketing results.
[Theresa] Ok, that’s it for now!
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