The best content concepts to support your SEO blog strategy can come from brainstorming sessions. However, brainstorming sessions can also result in silence if the wrong individuals, conditions, and freedoms are not present.
Here are a few things to remember when brainstorming to prevent crickets and maintain the creative flow.
Avoid Saying “No, But…”
When you’re brainstorming, every idea is an excellent idea. Your staff and you will have more opportunities to generate original, lead-generating digital content ideas the fewer restrictions you place on them. If a picture is more feasible at this time, don’t stress. That fantastic concept might produce a unique work of entertainment that has never been done before.
Diversify
Utilize the knowledge of the thousands of employees that businesses may have working in various teams. Diverse viewpoints will help you avoid silos and obtain distinctive perspectives for more expansive, superior, and innovative content ideas. Someone from IT, for instance, might offer some critical perspectives that your content team would not otherwise take into account.
You’ll be prepared to create explosive B2B content marketing concepts if you have a diversified crew and an open mind.
How to Find Content Inspiration
Trends are constantly evolving. A popular keyword or subject from the previous year could be less prevalent this year or vice versa. Never assume a topic will be popular. Instead, make sure by conducting a study. To find current content ideas and more likely to become viral, use Google Trends, the Ahrefs Content Explorer, or even Reddit. Also, pay attention to the yearly seasonal uptick in news reports about broad trends in January in almost every sector.
Find Keywords With the Most Search History
Search volume is a great predictor of popularity; the more searches, the more people are interested. Of course, there is more competition when there are more searches. Therefore, you must choose whether to target high-volume keywords or locate long-tail keywords with little to no competition and produce hyper-targeted content.
Utilize Popular Social Media Topics
One of the finest methods to stay current with your audience’s interests is through social media. Particularly Quora, LinkedIn, and Twitter offer insightful information about customers’ problems, inquiries, objectives, and discoveries. A plethora of fresh content concepts could result from a little digital snooping.
Observe What People Post on Social Media
Do you want to learn how to come up with captivating content ideas? Examine the social media content they are currently sharing. To find hot topics, you can utilize social media management platforms like HootSuite or tools like BuzzSumo, Moz, and Ahrefs.
To find out what’s resonating, you may also use the native statistics included with your social network accounts. What videos and articles receive the most likes and comments? Make use of those as models for your writing.
View Niche-Related Posts Elsewhere
Do more than merely look into your direct rivals. You should also get inspiration for your writing from comparable businesses. International clothes retailer Look at the travel-related content. There is no shortage of articles on maintaining style while traveling light.
Cross-Reference Ideas from Similar Industries
The core of digital marketing is amplification. Why not team up with companies in that field to produce something original if you find overlapping content there? For instance, as the content manager for a significant life insurance firm, you may collaborate on home safety ideas with a mortgage company.
Examine Trade Publications & Their Websites
The SEO metrics like search volume, backlinks, and share counts are all excellent for finding possible article ideas. They highlight the topics that attract and, more importantly, excite your audience.
What about the professionals in the field? Specifically, the editors review hundreds of article submissions and decide which appear on the front page of trade magazines or the top of corresponding websites. Browse the books to view the selections made by the experts. You should agree with an editor that a particular form of content marketing is crucial.
Additionally, such publications are likely to lead to related online searches. Therefore, even with little search volume for the terms, you could cherry-pick some organic traffic if you build on the most excellent website content ideas.
Take Inspiration from Blog Comments
Why make assumptions about your audience’s thinking when you can read their questions and ideas directly? Examining the comments left on your blog is a simple approach to gaining insight into the thoughts of your readers. What interests them? Dislikes?
What types of queries do they pose? These comments could either encourage you to create an entirely new piece of content or help you expand the blog post they are commenting on into something bigger and bolder, like a white paper or course.
However, stay at your site. Look at the blogs of your rivals and well-known bloggers to see what comments are being made there.
Be Attentive to Trending Topics
Utilizing keywords with peak search volume is one approach to increase your website’s traffic swiftly. The news of the day would be the ideal medium for doing that. Keep an eye on headlines to identify trending subjects and join the debate with your brand. It need not be business-related; you might utilize a hot issue or recent occurrence to make a metaphor or describe a scene for your audience. Just be sure to steer clear of contentious subjects.
Examine Recent Items
Every day, new products are introduced. A furniture brand might review a new home decor app. On the other hand, a financial services firm might write a piece about the best five budgeting apps. Based on current patterns, this is a fantastic strategy to increase visitors.
Take Polls on Your Website
You need to know your audience to develop exciting content ideas, so why not find out what they enjoy? Add a short survey with pertinent questions to your most well-liked content. You’ll learn what their problems are so you can offer them answers.
Broaden Your Field
Don’t solely rely on your tiny audience for content inspiration. You should also carry out an industry-wide poll to learn how consumers see your niche from 30,000 feet. You’ll be able to come up with many fantastic content ideas from those findings.
You should include at least one qualitative question that allows for free-form answers. Despite the value of multiple choice questions, you’ll get the most intriguing insights and anecdotes when you let them write whatever comes to mind.
Feature Stories Now and Then
Everyone loves a good story. Interview clients and business leaders to capitalize on this. Your audience will like hearing from a different professional or one of your clients. Moreover, your interviewee will probably spread the word about the blog post or podcast to their audience!
Participate in Tradeshows
Being in a silo makes it challenging to develop new content ideas. You may meet some of the best and brightest minds at conferences and other events. But take more than just inspiration from the keynote speakers. Look for innovative ideas in the breakout sessions as well.
Do you wish to proceed further? Write a review or recap of each event in a series of blog entries with practical lessons learned. Just be careful not to insult people, or you can lose some critical connections.
Check Videos Feeds or Stories
Though only some have adopted it, video is a fantastic example of content marketing dominating the globe. Hint: If some keywords produce uninspired video carousels that you can easily outdo, it implies you have a significant opportunity to take up the slack and stand out from the competition.
Create Captivating Infographics
As demonstrated by Domo’s “Data Never Sleeps” infographic and Scott Brinker’s Marketing Technology Landscape supergraphic, visual content marketing is effective. Through sharing and backlinks, one piece of great content can increase your traffic by double (or more!).
When creating ideas for your content calendar, think about which would make the most engaging visual material. Create an infographic that amazes your audience next.
Create Practical Industry Tools
Some material options are blog articles, videos, infographics, and downloadable information resources. Using tools is an excellent approach to increasing your SEO lead generation. This Headline Analyzer was created by CoSchedule and produced more than 20,000 backlinks. A free, simplified version of Tableau’s data visualization software is available, and over 21,000 backlinks were created as a result.
What kind of tool might you make? Your clients would likely appreciate a debt or interest calculator if you provide financial services. If you run a furniture company, why not offer a tool that allows customers to design a virtual layout of the space they’re trying to furnish? There are so many possibilities.
Check Past Posts for More Inspiration
Revitalize & Update Old Posts
Looking back at your previous blog posts is one of the simplest ways to develop new content ideas. You could update some of the posts if they include outdated information. However, you may go beyond content revitalization by having new visual components (like that infographic we discussed).
Combine Materials to Produce Something New
You might find some flimsy information when browsing your previous postings. Consider that you discover a dozen separate, brief blog pieces about managing debt. Instead of just adding new information, you may integrate these into a brand-new post that is so in-depth and comprehensive that it astounds readers.
Consider Future Prospects
Forecast Future Events
More than just keeping an eye on the latest trends is required to become recognized as a thought leader in your field. Though it can sound challenging, doing it is relatively simple. Read a lot, pay attention to innovations in other sectors, and keep a pulse on your industry. You’ll be able to make connections and see patterns that others still need to discover.
Utilize Emerging Technology
Keep an eye on the little guy, even if you own a large business. Many examples of modest start-ups and technology have significantly impacted the market. Why not broadcast these new technologies rather than underestimating them? Similar to trend forecasts, these posts might position you as an expert who “knows what’s what.”
