How does Domo, a business intelligence software company, manage to develop infographics that attract hundreds (and occasionally thousands) of organic backlinks year after year? They know how to come up with great content ideas!
Domo produced the Data Never Sleeps infographic six years ago, which depicts the quantity of data used on the internet in a single minute. According to the most recent iteration of the infographic, we watch 4,333,560 hours of YouTube video and conduct 3,877,140 Google searches per minute.
Domo might have written a text-based blog post about data usage. That would have been tedious, my friend. Not the type of blog topic that gets a slew of links or becomes outrageously, enormously popular.
Instead, they devised a unique, visual approach to present the data-heavy information and then came up with a catchy label for it. They didn't stop there, though. They also made it an annual event to ensure that the data remained current and valuable.
Scott Brinker, the Chief Marketing Technologist Blog manager at HubSpot, performs something similar with his annual martech ecosystem supergraphic. In less than a month, the most current 2019 version generated over 1,400 organic backlinks, whereas the 2018 version received over 5,000 backlinks.
Great content performs well, so you'll need a steady stream of new content ideas if you want to cut through the clutter and reach out to potential consumers. However, if you capture your audience with the best blog content ideas imaginable, the benefits of content marketing extend far beyond just traffic.
It's not always easy to come up with a game-changing fresh idea. However, there are special techniques that can assist you in knocking it out of the park. So keep reading to learn 29 efficient methods for generating content ideas, overcoming writer's block, and turbocharging your content strategy.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when you sit down to brainstorm in order to avoid crickets and keep the inspiration flowing.
Important Points
- By broadening your staff and documenting every concept, you can keep brainstorming sessions effective.
- Discover popular topics, keywords, and goods by using social media, blog comments, and polls.
- Revitalize and update outdated content to create something new or viral-worthy.
- Maintain a pulse on your industry in order to forecast trends and distinguish yourself as a thought leader.
- Analyze analytics on a regular basis to generate even better content ideas in the future.
Avoid the phrase no, but...
All ideas are good ideas when you're brainstorming. The fewer constraints you impose on yourself and your team, the more opportunities you will have to develop distinctive, lead-generating digital content concepts. Don't be concerned if an idea isn't feasible right now. That outlandish notion could turn into an incredible piece of entertainment that no one has ever done before.
Diversify
Take use of the experience of thousands of people spread across multiple teams in large corporations. Diverse perspectives will assist you in avoiding silos and gaining fresh perspectives for bigger, better, and more creative content ideas. Someone in IT, for example, may bring some significant thoughts to the table that your content team might not have considered otherwise.
You'll be ready to build irresistible B2B content marketing concepts with a varied team and an open mind.
How to Generate Content Ideas from Trending Stories
Trends shift on a daily basis. A popular keyword or topic last year may not be so popular this year, and vice versa. Never assume that a particular issue is popular. Instead, do your homework to be certain. To find content ideas that are timely and likely to become viral, use Google Trends, the Ahrefs Content Explorer, or even Reddit.
Don't forget about the seasonal rise in general trends stories that appears in practically every industry in January. For example, we wrote this post regarding 2020 SEO trends.
Look for terms that have a large search volume.
The volume of searches is a good predictor of popularity: the larger the volume of searches, the bigger the interest. Naturally, with greater search volume comes increased competition. As a result, you must choose whether to target high-volume keywords or low-competition long-tail keywords and generate hypertargeted content.
Do you require assistance? Begin by reading our article on how to do keyword research like a pro. Then, read our topic clusters blog post to learn more about using pillar pages to cover wide keyword categories.
Take advantage of current social media topics
One of the finest methods to stay in touch with your audience's interests is through social media. Twitter, LinkedIn, and Quora, in particular, offer excellent industry insights on client pain problems, queries, goals, and discoveries. A little digital eavesdropping could result in a plethora of fresh content concepts.
Observe what people post on social media.
Do you want to discover how to come up with content ideas that people would enjoy? Examine what they're saying on social media right now. To find out what's hot, utilise tools like BuzzSumo, Moz, and Ahrefs, or use social media management solutions like HootSuite to find out what's trending. You can also use the native analytics embedded into your social media accounts to find out what's working. Which articles and videos receive the most likes and comments? Use them as a starting point for your own work.
Look for additional information from relevant industries.
Don't limit your research to your direct competitors. You should also get content ideas from similar sectors. A global apparel retailer? Examine the material in the travel business. There's no shortage of articles on how to pack light while yet looking stylish with a varied wardrobe.
Ideas from related businesses should be cross-pollinated.
Amplification is the key to successful digital marketing. Why not partner with other businesses to produce something unique if you locate overlapping information in another industry? As the content manager for a major life insurance firm, for example, you may collaborate on home safety ideas with a mortgage company.
You'll acquire vital insight into a similar business while also exposing your material to a whole new audience. Consider Airbnb and Flipboard: when Airbnb created Activities (tours, classes, and local events), they teamed with Flipboard to develop publications that showcase experiences available in key cities.
As a result, Millions of page views and tens of thousands of new social followers have resulted.
Research trade magazines and websites.
Search volume, backlinks, and share counts are all excellent SEO KPIs for generating content ideas. They emphasise what your target audience is interested in and, more crucially, what they adore.
But what about the specialists in the field? Specifically, the editors who sift through hundreds of article submissions to determine what appears on the front page of trade publications or at the top of the main page of their respective websites? Look through the magazines to see what the professionals choose. If an editor believes that some sorts of content marketing are crucial, you should, too.
Furthermore, those publications are likely to stimulate similar online searches. So, if you piggyback on the finest website content ideas, you could cherry pick some organic traffic - even if the terms don't have a lot of search volume yet.
Take inspiration from blog comments.
Why assume what your audience is thinking when you can read their exact questions and thoughts? Checking out what your audience is writing in your blog comments is a simple method to get inside their heads. What do they enjoy? Dislike? What types of queries do they pose? These comments might either help you develop the blog article they're commenting on into something bigger and bolder - like a white paper or course or they could inspire you to create totally new material.
However, don't just stop at your website. Visit the websites of your competitors and popular bloggers to observe what comments are being placed on their blogs.
Newsjack hot issues
Taking advantage of terms with high search volume is one approach to swiftly increase your website traffic. What better method to do so than through current events? Keep an eye on headlines to identify hot subjects and make your business a part of the conversation. It doesn't have to be industry-related; you may take a hot topic or event to draw a metaphor or build a picture for your audience. Just make sure to steer clear of contentious issues.
Review current goods
Every day, new products are introduced. If you're a furniture company, you might want to check out a new home decor app. A financial services company, on the other hand, could write a piece about the best five budgeting apps. Based on current patterns, this is an excellent approach to boost traffic.
Conduct online polls on your website.
You can't create compelling content ideas if you don't know what your audience likes, so why not ask them? Add a survey with a few fast, pertinent questions to your most popular posts. You'll learn about their problems and the answers you may offer.
Survey your industry
Don't just rely on your own little audience to generate content ideas. You should also perform an industry-wide poll to get a bird's-eye view of how buyers see your specialty from 30,000 feet. You'll be able to develop a plethora of amazing content ideas based on those findings.
We recommend including at least one qualitative question that allows participants to react freely. While multiple-choice questions are useful, giving people the opportunity to write whatever comes to mind will yield the most interesting insights and anecdotes.
Include testimonials from customers and industry professionals.
Everyone enjoys hearing stories. Conduct customer and industry expert interviews to capitalise on this. Your audience will appreciate hearing from another expert or a customer. Furthermore, your interviewee is likely to share the post or podcast with their own audience!
Attend industry gatherings
When you're stuck in a rut, it's difficult to come up with new content ideas. Conferences and events provide you with access to some of the industry's best and brightest minds. However, don't just take prospective ideas from the keynote speakers. Look for cutting-edge ideas in breakout sessions as well.
Do you want to take things a step further? In a series of blog entries, write a review or summary of each event with actionable lessons. Just don't trash speak anyone or you'll end up burning some important bridges.
Seek video inspiration
Video is a terrific example of content marketing that is sweeping the globe, but not everyone is on board. That means there's a great chance for you to pick up the slack and differentiate yourself from the competition - especially if you're a woman. If specific keywords return uninteresting video carousels, you can easily outperform them.
Create eye-catching infographics
Visual content marketing is effective, as demonstrated by Domo's Data Never Sleeps infographic and Scott Brinker's Marketing Technology Landscape supergraphic. Through sharing and backlinks, one piece of outstanding content has the ability to double (or more!) your traffic. Consider which of your content calendar ideas would make the most interesting graphic material. Then, create an infographic that will astound your audience!
Create useful industrial tools.
Blog articles, videos, infographics, and downloadable content tools are just a few examples of content ideas. SEO tools are also a wonderful approach to get leads. CoSchedule created this Headline Analyzer, which resulted in over 20,000 backlinks. Tableau provides a free, lightweight version of their data visualisation application, generating over 21,000 backlinks in the process.
What kind of tool might you make? Customers in the financial services industry would most likely appreciate a debt or interest calculator. If you own a furniture company, why not offer a technology that allows customers to generate a digital plan of the room they're attempting to furnish? The possibilities are practically limitless.
For content ideas, look to the past.
Refresh and invigorate old posts
Looking over your past blog entries is one of the simplest ways to get content ideas. Most likely, some of those posts contain out-of-date information that you should update. However, you can take content rejuvenation a step further by incorporating fresh aesthetic components (like that infographic we talked about).
Combine stuff to make something entirely new.
You may come upon some thin stuff when you go through your past entries. Assume you come across a dozen distinct short blog entries regarding debt management. Instead of simply updating these with fresh information, you might integrate them into a brand new post that will wow readers with its level of detail and comprehensiveness.
Revisit high-achievement themes.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it, as the old adage goes, certainly applies to your material. One of the best methods to create leads and increase traffic is to do what you've already done, as Scott Brinker did with his marketing technology infographics. Why not produce a fresh Top Interior Design Trends piece this year if you previously published a Top Interior Design Trends post that worked well?
Build on your industry's best-performing content.
Look beyond your own blog to find previous stuff that people enjoyed. Using tools like Moz's Link Explorer or BuzzSumo, examine what other experts have published. If those pages resonated with your rivals' viewers, there's a good possibility they'll enhance important off-page SEO signals for you as well.
Investigate why it performed well. What was the format? Did it include practical advice, statistics, insider information, videos, or graphics? Did it receive more shares, links, organic traffic, or a combination of the three? Learn why it worked so effectively and how to duplicate it 10 times better.
Disassemble viral content concepts
Just because something went viral in the past doesn't mean it was a one-time occurrence. With thorough examination, you may be able to replicate past accomplishment. Recreate that popular content with a new, updated spin and see what kind of traffic it can get. However, look attentively at the triggers that enabled it to perform so well. If you're familiar with chaos theory, you'll realise that even minor changes can have a significant impact on the outcome.
Use a timeline to visualise historical events.
If you work in a fast-paced industry with significant milestones, you might want to develop content ideas that chronicle those occurrences over time.
For example, if you work in SEO, you may start with Alta Vista, Lycos, WebCrawler, and Excite, then move on to Yahoo and BackRub before walking the reader (or viewer) through a history of all the important changes that Google has implemented over the years. Helping people understand complex topics visually and in an entertaining way can sometimes lead to greater sharing and backlinks to your content.
Seek out content ideas from the future.
Forecast future trends
If you want to be seen as a thought leader in your field, you must do more than just observe current trends; you must also foresee them. As an example, consider this Fast Company article about the future of retail.
That may appear complicated, but it is actually quite simple. Simply read voraciously, keep an eye out for innovation in other areas, and keep your finger on the pulse of your own. As a result, you'll be able to detect patterns that others haven't yet discovered.
Talk about emerging technology in your industry.
Even if you're a large corporation, it's critical to keep an eye on the little guy. There are several stories about little start-ups and inventions that go on to make enormous impacts in the industry. Instead of dismissing these new technology, why not publicise them? These kind of posts, like trend predictions, can brand you as a thought leader who knows what's what.
Look for ideas for evergreen content.
To balance out time-sensitive concepts that focus on current trends, you'll need evergreen content. Evergreen content is anything that endures over time, such as this piece about Better, Bolder B2B SEO. That material will be just as relevant in the future as it is now, so it will most likely be shared and linked to for many years to come.
Create content ideas with a high return on investment.
Some pieces of content, such as a blog post, can be created in a single day, whilst others, such as a video series or white paper, can require a significant amount of time or money to create. So, what are you going to do?
It all relies on your available resources, business objectives, and how you evaluate marketing ROI. You might not be able to make a video series about debt management right now, therefore the ROI won't be worth the burden on your staff. In the interim, you may start a debt management blog series. When you're ready to tackle and optimise video, you'll already have a solid basis to work from (and probably an audience ready for more).
Learn more about the significance of SEO content:
- SEO vs. PPC: Which is Better for Increasing Search ROI?
- SEO Return on Investment: How to Determine the Worth of SEO
Analyze Results to Improve Your Content ROI Consistently
Content isn't like a watch; you can't set it and forget it and expect fantastic results. To maximise the return on investment from your content marketing approach, you must assess the results.
As you go further into Google Analytics, you'll discover insights that will not only help you improve your SEO through content, but will also inspire you to generate better content in the future. The more you optimise your content to meet the needs of your target audience, the more traffic and leads will come your way.