You’ve probably heard of writer’s block, a condition in which you try to write a blog post, book, or article but cannot come up with anything. It’s like your brain stops working; all you can do is stare at a blank page.
Similar situations can occur with content creators. In the social media business, content creators create blogs, post videos on TikTok, have YouTube channels, or create other forms of content online. Because of the various options, content creation can be overwhelming. As a content creator, you constantly decide which format to use: videos or photos. Do you follow a trend? Which audio should you use?
With so many options, creator’s block can happen to new and seasoned creators. Luckily, there’s a solution. Here’s how to create endless content ideas.
Consider your content goals and your audience
Posting content with clear goals will save you time and energy. To prevent random posting, consider your desired outcome and the purpose of your content. Some content goals could be:
Increasing brand awareness and authority
Generating leads
Monetizing your content
Increase engagement
Drive website traffic
Next, consider who you are posting for and what content your audience likes to engage with. Look at your past posts and see which types of content have the most engagement. The content the performs well is the content you’ll want to replicate.
Take a moment to jot down your goals and note which content is performing well so you can reference this information later.
Analyze your competition
Chances are there is already someone doing what you’re doing or something similar. Don’t be discouraged. This is a learning opportunity.
Once you’ve identified your competition, you will use their content to inspire your content. This does not mean you copy. Instead, you see what they are doing and add your unique story or value. When analyzing your competition, look for content gaps: What are they not talking about, or what is a different angle on something they have mentioned?
You can also repurpose their format. If you notice your competitor is producing a lot of infographics, you use the same format with your insights and expertise. For example, if you’re a fitness instructor, your competition might have a blog post on “5 Healthy Meals Ideas for Dinner”. You can add your perspective as a busy professional and create content around “5 Healthy Meals Ideas You Can Prepare” after a long day at work.
Repurpose older content
One of the biggest yet underrated content hacks is repurposing old content. You don’t have to produce new content all the time. The reality is that your content was probably only seen by a fraction of your audience. Therefore, showcasing it again will help your content reach more audiences.
Look back at your old content and see which performed well and which your audience engaged with. Note everything to help you with your content planning. High-quality content never gets old.
Ask your audience
If you’re ever stuck on what type of content to create, you can ask your audience. This will help you overcome decision paralysis when you become overwhelmed with options.
You can ask your audience by emailing them, taking a poll, creating a post, and asking people to comment on the post. Asking your audience will help you create content they will engage with, which can help you meet your content goals.
Create content pillars
Now that you have a list of content ideas, you want to make things concrete and clear with content pillars. As core themes or overarching topics, content pillars help create clear messaging and consistency around your content. Content pillars can vary, but many creators and marketers work with these pillars.
Promotional content is used to sell or promote your service, business, or product. It’s important not to overuse this content to avoid sounding spammy. Sharing testimonials, reviews, and case studies promoting your service, product, or demo can all be fruitful strategies to drive engagement and increase content production.
Educational content is aimed at newer audiences and helps establish you as an expert in your field. It also enables you to build trust and authority with audiences. Ideas include tutorials, checklists, how-tos guides, and FAQS.
Inspirational/Personal content involves sharing your personal story. It helps your audience relate to and trust you, and it is meant to provoke emotions. Ideas can include motivational quotes, sharing your origin story, how things started, and how things are going, behind the scenes.
Entertaining content: The primary purpose of this content is to capture your audience’s attention and get them to engage,
Ideas: Memes, quizzes, polls, funny quotes
Create a content calendar
The next tool in your content creator toolbox is a content calendar. This tool helps you plan when you will create, publish, and promote your content. It also helps you consistently produce content in a manageable way. When putting together your calendar, first decide on the format. Google Calendar is a simple tool. However, there are management tools such as Asana or Trello. You can also use pen and paper if that works best for your brain. No matter which format you choose, add the following elements into your plan.
Decide on what type of content you want to create.
Plug in dates of when you want your content to be published.
Allocate time to create the content
Have a system for tracking content progress
Lastly, Hubspot’s blog topic generator, Later’s AI Caption Writer, and ChatGPT are some easy-to-use tools to help you put your content together. Remember, when using AI tools, to fact-check and edit content to match your tone and style.
