Hey, hey, hey! It’s week two of Mattie Jame’s consistency challenge and I’m feeling pretty good! When she first announced that the goal would be to post on our blogs every single day, I was honestly less than thrilled. Even though I needed to be more consistent with my blog, I sometimes struggle with creating content ideas even after years of blogging. Do you find it hard to brainstorm content ideas? Is it difficult for you to create valuable content continuously? There’s no shame in that, but if so, then this blog post is for you. Here are 5 secrets to brainstorming content ideas that’ll yield valuable content for your audience!
Lists, Lists, Lists
Hi, my name’s Angelica and I’m a post-it note junkie. I have a pile of post-it notes in my office at all times and constantly use my notes app to create a list of my ideas. I’m the type of person that if I don’t write it down I’m bound to forget it, so creating lists is one of my favorite ways to get all of my ideas down.
When I’m trying to curate content ideas, I might take 10 to 15 minutes to brain dump everything I might want to talk about. This can include, product highlights, brand collaborations, current trends, industry issues, etc. Then, I’ll take another 15 to 20 minutes to group those ideas by common themes. This helps me decide which content ideas to keep and which to eliminate based on my blogging goals for the month or quarter.
When it comes to list-making I try to make it as free-flowing as possible. For someone who’s a planner that takes a little work, but I don’t want to be so structured that I end up getting stuck on one subject or give myself writer’s block. I had an art teacher tell me once, “Never go with your first idea, you can do better,” and they were right. There’s been plenty of times when I thought I had a great idea, but I thought of something better. Brainstorming can be unpredictable, you never know what you’ll create.
Start with A Story
Storytelling is the key to valuable content. A story will keep your audience engaged, will bring you new followers on social media, and will make your content piece memorable. As I mentioned earlier, I’m doing a consistency challenge with a community of bloggers. The goal is to write a blog post every day, Monday through Friday, during July. If you just grimaced, tell me about it! It’s been a challenge but it’s brought me back to telling compelling stories. These stories can include my accomplishments, experiences, and even failures. I hope that my content stories will inspire, inform, and encourage. Every piece of content needs a story. What is the story that you want to tell?
Re-Purpose Old Content
I recently had a coaching call with Majesty from majestyacheampong.com. She shared a lot of insight with me about blogging and taking my platform to the next level. However, the tip that stuck out to the most focused on repurposing my content for different platforms
Too often we assume that our IG family is the same as our Facebook family when that’s not completely true. While each platform may have some members in common, our community follows us on different platforms for various reasons. Never assume your audience has seen a piece of content because you posted it in one place.
For example, I recently collaborated with Rooted Woman where I created a video talking about my houseplant collection and how it’s become a part of my self-care routine. I recently re-purposed that video to share my collection (once again) AND talk about 5 houseplants that I thought would be great for beginners. Now that piece of content has a home on two of my platforms serving two different purposes.
Looking at older content can also inspire new posts. If you can’t repurpose something, think about what you can expand upon instead!
Ask Your Audience
I love creating polls and Q&A sessions on my IG stories. It opens up my platform directly to my audience and gives me a chance to hear their wants and needs. Often, my audience brings up a problem or content idea that I didn’t even think about. Ask your audience how you can help them. Encourage them to share their pain points and problems when it comes to your niche or expertise. Not only does this ensure that your content is valuable, but it also helps make you aware of what your audience needs and expects from you. Take the questions of the problems and concerns that your audience has and add it to your content list!
Solve a Problem
Now that you’ve made your lists, brainstormed a few stories, looked at older content, and chatted with your audience, it’s time to problem-solve. I follow other influencers and bloggers because they help solve a problem that I have. Whether that’s what to wear on a date night or where to buy supplies for a DIY project, they have content to solves and issue that I’m facing, which makes them valuable to me.
Last week, I posted two pieces of content that I felt were relevant to the blogging community: “How to Post like a Fashion Blogger” and “3 Reasons to Say No to a Brand Collaboration.” These two blog posts answered questions that my followers, family, and friends have asked me over the years. I’m creating valuable content by eliminating my audience’s pain points and therefore gaining their trust as an influencer.
Take the time to think about the questions or pain points that your audience shared with you. What are they struggling with? How can you ease their pain or solve their problem? What content will inspire them during this time?
If you find yourself struggling with brainstorming content ideas I hope that these quick tips helped! I will be taking my advice and planning the rest of my content this week to make sure I’m providing value to you all during the remainder of this challenge. So let me know in the comments, what would you like to see on The Strong Suit?
Leave a Reply