Content Ideation Tips
Every successful content strategy is born from an excellent idea. It’s what makes your message stand out and makes your readers share it within their circles. Investing in a bad idea will alienate your audience and make you lose credibility over time. Coming up with a good idea is not as difficult as it might sound. The rewards of the same can be immense, from a high number of conversions to high traffic to your webpage. In this article, you will get a guide on how to come up with ideas to create a winning content strategy.
Maintain a data bank of ideas
An excellent content marketing agency is one that promotes the creation of ideas. If you work as a content creator. You need a data bank of ideas. You can record these on project platforms such as Trello, Pinterest or Evernote. You will need to keep populating this data bank as your ideas keep coming. You may have the next best campaign, and you may not even know it. Brainstorm regularly with your team so that everyone can contribute to the common goal. The idea of a data bank is not only to offer you inspiration, but it can also be a great resource whenever you feel that your creative juices have run dry.
How to brainstorm successfully
Brainstorming if done well can result in killer content. Before you settle on any one particular idea, explore different options of the same idea space. Take into account input from others as this gives you different perspectives. Great brainstorming sessions do not involve arguments or negativity. In the beginning, every idea that is suggested is still viable. Ruling them out from the very beginning can stifle the creative process.
Who are the attendees?
Great brainstorming sessions require a mix of people. As a team for a content marketing agency, you may need to involve your designers, writers and project managers. This mix of people offers a different point of view around the same idea. Designers know what is pleasing to the eye, writers have a way with words and project managers know how to execute effectively. The ideal number of people is between five and seven. If you have a larger group, you can break it up into smaller groups and have these report back after their sessions. Coming up with a content strategy is a collective effort that requires input from different team members.
Establish working parameters
Parameters are vital content marketing tips that you should employ. Each campaign should target a particular market segment. Always consider how many people you are targeting. They are the core group of who will share your information with the rest of the world. The time that your content will stay online is equally important. Content that stays too long can run stale very quickly.
Here are more tips to get you brainstorming like a champion:
- Icebreakers help. Before beginning a session, try some icebreakers to make everyone feel at ease. Sometimes the pressure of brainstorming can be overwhelming, and the process can be a complete failure.
- There is no such thing as a bad idea. Be accommodating to all that your team is sharing. You are still in the preliminary stage of your content strategy. You can refine the suggestions later once you have settled on one.
- Always keep a record of your sessions. You always need to have a written record of all that you discuss. Sometimes you may miss out on an important idea for the simple fact that you did not record the session.
Assess what your competitor is doing.
You are not the only content marketing agency that exists in the market. Find out who is the go-to guy for the different campaigns that are running. Your competition will always want to get ahead of you. A great place to start is on the search results page – the brands that rank highest are doing something right. Find out what it is so that you too can be ahead of the curve.
As you do your research, here are some crucial things to keep in mind:
1. What sort of content is available within your niche?
Google Alerts is a great way to identify what people are talking about. You will have an idea of what the internet is saying about your brand as well.
2. What is currently trending?
At any one time, there is always a trending hashtag. Using these hashtags is a great way to ensure that your content will be visible to the masses.
3. What keywords is your competition using?
Keywords are what will determine how your content ranks on search engines. Simply measured, Similarweb and Google Analytics all have tools to help you identify what the leading keywords are.
4. Analyse social media
Social media can offer you a lot of insight into what people like, and the type of audience that your competitor is engaging. As a content marketing agency, leveraging on social media can help you immensely by amassing a loyal following. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are the go-to platforms for online content. Followerwonk is a great tool to see who your competitor’s followers are and who they follow as well on Twitter.
Keep it fresh
As you now start creating content, always keep it current. Look for topics that people are interested in and familiarise yourself with what is hot now. Keep abreast with the latest news if you are not sure of what is currently happening. You can also engage with your active following to get a feel of what is of interest to them.
Now that you have the content marketing tips, it is time to make your vision a reality. Make sure that you have a specific target audience in mind and focus on making your content easy to consume. If you nail these down, your content will spread like wildfire.