Everyone should know by now that posting regular content is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your business, whether that’s on a company blog or on social media. While creating masses of content comes with its own set of challenges, sometimes brainstorming the ideas to begin with is the most difficult.
If you’re stuck for inspiration and the pools of ideation have all dried up, you’re bound to find a solution in the following blog. Keep reading to discover 11 ways to generate new content ideas for your business!
11 Ways to Generate New Content Ideas for Your Business
1. Research Your Competition
Every business is unique, and our content is usually a reflection of that. However, those belonging to the same industries are bound to have things in common when it comes to creating content for a shared target audience.
With that in mind, scoping out your competitors is a great place to start if you’re struggling to ideate fresh content. Grab a notebook, pour yourself a coffee and see what your competition is sharing on their blogs and socials.
It goes without saying that this should be limited to title or content inspiration only – steer well clear of replicating the exact same posts or articles. As an expert, you’re bound to have something new to bring to the conversation!
2. Carry Out SEO Research
SEO, short for search engine optimisation, is all about building content or websites around a series of targeted keywords. Usually, these are search terms someone might type into Google to find your business – copywriting agency or content writing agency are just two examples.
As well as helping to make sure your content is optimised for search engines, SEO research can also provide some major inspiration when it comes to topics or titles for online blogs. Use a tool such as UberSuggest, Moz or Semrush to carry out some research and see what comes up!
3. Answer Your Target Audience’s Burning Questions
No matter what size of business you’re writing content for, chances are your audience will have some BURNING questions they need answers to. As well as an FAQ page providing shorter answers, this can be a great excuse to create some longer-form content.
For example, a business offering window cleaning services might want to create blogs or social media posts answering the following questions:
👉 What are the benefits of hiring a professional window cleaner?
👉 Are window cleaning services cost-effective?
👉 What’s the best time of year to hire a window cleaner?
👉 Can a window cleaner clean all types of windows?
These are just a few ideas, but getting into the mindset of your customer is a great way to start cranking out plenty of relevant content pieces.
TOP TIP: Want to know what people are searching for right now? Answer the Public is a brilliant online tool that provides a range of questions in relation to your focus keyword. Give it a try!
4. Carry Out Interviews
While this is an excellent option for all businesses, it’s particularly useful for those creating content for B2B companies. If you’re selling a service or concept rather than a product, it can grow increasingly difficult to come up with fresh content ideas worthy of your target audience.
This is where interviews can come in handy. Whether you choose to interview your own senior leadership team, someone important in your company or a fellow industry expert, the results will be immense. As well as the original article, you’ll be able to mine your interview for quote graphics, longer social posts and even video content for months after sharing.
5. Ask Your Audience for Their Input
What’s the best way to find out what content your audience wants to see? Nope – that isn’t a trick question. If you want to share your most relevant stuff yet, just ask them.
Instagram and LinkedIn are great platforms for posting polls, plus they’re perfect for boosting engagement. Reviewing your statistics is also a good way to see what’s performing well and what’s not, ideal for getting an indication of what you might want to post about next.
6. Host a Guest Spot
If you’re struggling to come up with content ideas for your blog or want to diversify perspectives, hosting a guest spot can be an efficient solution. This could come in the form of a social media takeover, or a column-style blog piece where audience members and industry experts get a chance to have their say.
Whichever option you choose, make sure to set clear guidelines for the content you’re looking for (and the content you’re not). Alternatively, why not hire a copywriting agency to pump out some click-worthy content instead?
7. Crawl Social Media
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X are all amazing places to find inspiration for content ideas, be it your own post or a blog for the company website.
Dedicate an hour of everyday to actively using social media, rather than just scrolling for the fun of it. This means taking notes when you see something interesting, or looking at specific pages that are relevant to your own target audience.
Want to grow your social presence? Read our guide on social media content for more tips.
8. Repurpose Past Content
If one of your goals of sharing content is to increase your SEO performance, regularly updating or repurposing your existing pieces is one of the best ways to achieve it. In fact, when providing browsers with search results, Google prefers to offer the most up-to-date content possible.
If you’ve got an old guide stashed away in the depths of 2019, or you shared some tips on a topic that’s no longer relevant, why not give it a rewrite? Not only will it boost your SEO chances, but it will also show your audiences that you’re always refreshing your own expertise.
9. Browse Relevant Forums
Forums can be tricky to navigate, mainly because there’s a LOT of information to sift through. However, every now and again you’ll come across a gem that’s well-worth incorporating into your own content strategy.
The best thing about forums is that they’re essentially live feeds, documenting exactly what your audiences are thinking and asking about. Provide the answers on your own site or socials and you’ll find they don’t need to seek their own solutions elsewhere.
10. Get to Know Trending Topics
Sometimes the most interesting (and attractive) content ideas are those that engage with something happening in the here and now. Taylor Swift released another chart-topping album? AI threatening to take over the world again? Have a think about how you can apply it to YOUR business and write about it.
This could be as lengthy as a full article, or as simple as a quote tweet (are we calling them Xs now?) weighing in with your comments. Accounts like Specsavers and Aldi are great examples to follow when it comes to an engagement-boosting response to trending content.
If you’re struggling to figure out how to frame your content around trending topics, a UK content agency or copywriting agency can help.
11. Step Out of the Marketing Department
There’s a reason marketing departments succeed – they’re made up of writers, ideators and creators. The problem is, when you spend so long bouncing ideas around the same room of people, inspiration can quickly run dry.
Need to generate some out-of-the-box content ideas? Why not go and chat to someone in tech, or check in with your product development team instead? Everyone in your business has a part to play in producing great content, even if they just spark the beginnings of an idea.
Need Support From a UK Copywriting Agency?
At Inspired Copy, our copywriters specialise in crafting original, engaging, and scroll-stopping ad copy for social media, emails, product descriptions, websites, and more.
Choose our UK copywriting agency to see how we can elevate your business with our incredible words.
