Express Writers

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Generating Captivating Content Ideas for Your Brand

by | Aug 5, 2022 | ContentWritingChat

Content Writing Chat recap

When building your brand, coming up with ideas to fill your editorial calendar can often be a daunting task. When the creative juices just aren’t flowing, it’s a struggle to come up with fresh ideas that your audience (and Google) will love.

So, what are you to do when you aren’t sure which topics to cover on your blog, social media, or other channels? Well, we have some ideas for you in the latest round of #ContentWritingChat!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Generating Captivating Content Ideas for Your Brand

Q1: Why is it so important to carefully choose the content topics you cover as a brand?

As Kathryn pointed out, you want to write about topics that are aligned with your brand overall. Consider how the topics you’re covering relate back to your brand’s mission, vision, and voice.

Your content is what will attract people to your brand. You need to make sure you’re writing about the topics that will bring in your desired audience.

Content is also key for building authority, so you’ll want to cover topics that are centered around your area of expertise.

Q2: A huge part of generating content ideas is understanding your audience. What should you know about them?

As Andrew pointed out, knowing the pain points and interests of your target audience goes a long way. It’ll help you create content that will resonate with them on a deeper level.

Consider what gets your audience to stop scrolling and take notice! For instance, speak to their needs or a problem they’re facing.

Beyond coming up with the right content topics, you’ll also need to know how they like to consume content (blogs, videos, etc.) and how long they like content to be.

To help you figure all this out, Carla suggests checking out your analytics for helpful data and even taking the time to talk to your audience.

Q3: Google Analytics tells you a lot about your website visitors. How can you use it to generate content ideas for your blog, social media, etc.?

It’s all about what gets the most attention! Andrea suggests looking at the pages that are getting the most traffic, engagement, and shares and use that as an indicator that your audience is really loving that topic.

It’s also smart to look at bounce rates to see where improvements can be made to your content and also to find ways to keep people on your site longer.

Q4: Is it worthwhile to check out what your competitors are doing to gain inspiration? If so, what do you need to know about analyzing their content?

When checking out the competition, pay attention to what’s working for them and what’s not. Knowing what resonates with their audience gives you some ideas on what you can do with your own content.

Dana offered some great advice here. While you want to watch your competitors, don’t undercut them or diminish them in any way. This practice is meant to inspire your content, so never copy what someone else is doing directly.

Q5: What are some other smart tactics or tools that can help you come up with fresh content ideas?

If you’re stuck for ideas, send out a survey to your email list, run polls on social media, or even ask people to hop on market research calls for in-depth, one-on-one conversations.

Jennifer suggests checking out Answer the Public. It’ll give you a look into what people in your target audience are interested in, allowing you to create content that answers their questions.

Carla’s advice is to also pay attention to what’s happening in your industry. This can often spark content ideas that will help you keep your audience informed.

Q6: What do you do if you chose a great topic for your content, but aren’t seeing the traffic and engagement you hoped for?

Simple tweaks to the content title or the imagery used can make a huge difference. However, in some cases, you may need to put a few advertising dollars behind the content to drive more traffic.

Consider repurposing! This is a great way to gain traction as a particular piece of content may work better in another format.

Andrew suggests adjusting the title, copy, and imagery first. You can also try different promotion techniques to see if that helps improve performance.

Q7: What’s the best thing you can do when you feel like the creative juices aren’t flowing?

Check out your analytics! See what people are searching to land on your website. Perhaps those keywords or phrases could spark some inspiration.

Don’t be afraid to talk to a friend in the industry. As Andrew said, it could offer a new perspective on things that could help generate tons of new ideas.

This is great advice from Jennifer, so be sure to always save any ideas that come along immediately. You don’t want to lose them!

But if the creative juices still aren’t flowing, take a break. Getting out for a walk, listening to music, or whatever else refreshes you can make a world of difference.

Want to join us for the next #ContentWritingChat? Mark your calendar for the first Tuesday of every month at 10 AM Central! And be sure to follow @ExpWriters to stay updated.

Tags: content creation