10 effective tips for finding content ideas

Producing quality content on a regular basis is a difficult exercise. The biggest challenge: constantly find content ideas, topics that will bring value to your audience. In this article, I'll give you 10 tips to avoid blackouts and easily fill your editorial calendar.

Coming up with content ideas on a regular basis is certainly the most difficult exercise in content marketing (or content marketing). You have to find a lot of topics, and above all, topics that are relevant to your target audience.

If you are here, it is because you are in this situation that I call “editorial void”. You don't know what to write, you've exhausted all your ideas, you can't fill up your editorial calendar anymore.

Don't worry, there are a lot of solutions out there. In this article, I am sharing with you my 10 tips for quickly coming up with content ideas

Precision No. 1. By content we mean a lot of things. Content isn't just about blog posts. These can be social media posts, videos, infographics, charts, or podcasts. Content represents everything that participates in the information process, in the communication of a company.

Precision no. 2. In this article, I assume that you have already clearly defined your SEO strategy.

Find content ideas: sEngage your audience

This tip is the most obvious, but still few content creators/businesses take the step of contacting their audience directly. This is a shame because it is FOR this audience that you are writing.

So do not hesitate to ask your interlocutors, your customers what their problems are, what are their main current challenges. They will give you lots of inspiration for your next content.

How to do it?

Talk on LinkedIn, by email or by phone.

If you have a newsletter, you can send them a simple Google Form or a Typeform: several questions to know their expectations, their current topics. Your subscribers will give you a lot of topics to talk about.

To stand out, you can also create a video. For example, in one of my newsletters, I sent a video via VideoAsk. Launched by Typeform, the application allows interactive videos to be recorded. You ask your questions and your recipients can respond by video, audio or by clicking on one of the proposed answers.

The approach being original, I got a lot of feedback, and therefore, a lot of content ideas.

Use social networks: ask questions on LinkedIn by doing a survey for example, start a discussion on Twitter, etc. The answers can help you identify your next topics.

In short, rather than staying in your corner, ask the main interested parties directly!

Finding Content Ideas: Doing “Batch Writing”

Do you know batch cooking? This technique consists of preparing all the meals for the week in a single cooking session. To save time, the idea is also to optimize its ingredients. For example, squash will be used to make gratin, soup, and purée.

You can also apply this method to your content. You Can Call It “batch writing.” You take a subject, and you develop it as much as possible by developing a new angle or by delving into it. From a single subject, you will produce several.

You can also use them according to your publishing platforms: blog, LinkedIn post, podcast, video, etc.

Think OPTIMIZATION.

Identify content in your Google Search Console

Google Search Console Allows you to know your statistics on Google: number of impressions of your pages, click rate, average position in relation to a keyword, etc.

By using your Search Console, you will be able to identify the search terms typed by Internet users for each of your articles.

If a term generates a high number of impressions, but is not relevant enough to your content, you can write new content that will better respond to the user's intent this time.

Here's how to do it:

Step 1. Go to “Performances” and click on “Pages”

Step 2. Select the “average position” block at the top of the page then choose a page.

Step 3. Click on “Requests.” Google Search Console will show you all the terms typed by users.

Step 4. Identify terms that don't really relate to your article.

Example here for an article explaining how to make your own lip balm at home. The paper deals with several recipes using beeswax as the basic ingredient.

In related terms, we see “homemade lip balm without beeswax.” So here is an idea for an article to do!

Finding content ideas on Google (quite simply)

This technique is also used in SEO copywriting .

You type in your query, and Google will give you suggestions for popular searches. It will give you an overview of published articles, as well as the number of results.

Note that there is a little trick to get more results. Just add “+” between your words.

Example for “baby diapers.”

Type “+ diapers + babies +"When you click on the last +, Google will show you queries that include keywords after “baby diapers”: “Baby diapers toxic substances”

By clicking on the middle +, you will get keywords between “baby diapers” such as “disposable baby diapers”.

By clicking on the first +, Google will show you queries that include keywords before “baby diapers”: “baby diapers comparison”, “baby diaper budget”, etc.

I shared this tip in one of my newsletters. If you are not yet a subscriber, do not hesitate to register 😉

Related searches

On Google, also look at the section “Related searches”. At the bottom of the page, it contains other key phrases searched for by Internet users. This may give you some ideas.

Example with Facebook Ads:

Read YouTube video reviews

Are you watching videos on YouTube related to your market?

Don't just watch them, read the comments too! They will inspire you! Indeed, many Internet users react to videos and ask questions to get additional information.

Take frequently asked questions or comments and turn them into an article, video, infographic, etc.

Social networks

Facebook

Do not hesitate to join groups related to your market.

For example, on Growth Marketing, there is the Growth Hacking France group. Internet users ask a lot of questions and share their current problems. For my content, I am very inspired by it!

LinkedIn

On LinkedIn, you also have groups dedicated to each sector. For example, I am in the “Web Writing, Content Strategy and SEO” group. I note the topics that could be the subject of an article.

Twitter

Twitter is a source of inspiration to use. On the platform, you will find a lot of discussions, very interesting exchanges that will give you ideas for topics.

You can use hashtags to follow the news in your sector or type a specific keyword into the search bar. Instead of scrolling indefinitely, you can even have the most popular tweets directly related to your keyword: just type “your keyword” min_faves:300.

Here's an example with “Startup Marketing.”

Watch Out with BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo makes it possible to identify the most trending content. Here, you type in a keyword and the platform returns you the most shared articles that contain this keyword.

Note that BuzzSumo If loadable. However, you have a 30-day free trial.

Monitoring on Quora

Popular in the United States and English speaking countries, Quora is a question and answer forum. Here, Internet users ask all sorts of questions, whether personal or professional.

On Quora, simply type your favorite topic into the search bar, and you'll find lots of discussions related to your topic.

Here is an example with “Facebook Ads”:

Spy on your competitors

Your competitors certainly have the same target (s) as you. So you can take a lot of inspiration from them. I say “Inspire” correctly!

Read their blog, newsletter, etc. Identify the content (formats, themes) that work best (traffic) and do the same with higher quality.

Use Ahrefs to identify high-performing content

To identify high-traffic content from one of your competitors, you can use tools like Ahrefs.

Click on “Site Explorer” and enter the desired URL.

Select “Top Pages” in the “Organic Search” section. In this way, you will find the best content on the site in question.

Scrub ads on Facebook Ads

Also consider spying on your competitors on Facebook Ads: what content do they highlight? What topics are they betting on? If they invest, it's no coincidence 😉

To Do This, Go To The Facebook Advertising Library (Facebook Ad Library). There you will find all the ads shown on Facebook applications and services.

Tips. Facebook Ad Library doesn't say which ads work best. To find out, there is a very simple tip:

• Visit your competitor's site

• Go to your Facebook and Instagram account

• And let the magic of retargeting work

The most engaging retargeting ads are probably the ones with the highest ad spend, maximized. This means that they are the most efficient.

Participate in webinars

Once a month, I join webinars. What am I most interested in? Question/answer sessions. Participants often ask very relevant questions that I am sure would be of interest to a lot of people as well. I write them down, and I use them as inspiration for writing articles.

For the record, this article was created thanks to a webinar. Several participants asked this question: “How do I come up with content ideas?” I often lack inspiration.”

Bonus: go to Fnac or to your bookstore

Not everything is on the Internet. In some books, you will find many topics that are still not covered on the Web.

Believe me, I spend my life at my bookseller (hello Caroline 👋) to read guides and in particular to identify content ideas that I could discuss on the Growth Room blog or in the newsletter. The summaries are very inspiring.

There are still dozens of other tips for coming up with content ideas. Here, I have shared with you the 10 that I use the most often. I did not want to give you 50 so as not to scatter you.

Now it's up to you to choose the ones that will suit you best!

Also to read:

• How to write a blog post like a pro
• SEO Writing: The Guide to Writing Optimized Articles