If you’ve ever been at a loss for topic ideas for your blog or social media feed, keep reading.
Sometimes, the struggle is real: It can be challenging to identify fresh, relevant themes for your brand’s content marketing—timely topics that resonate with your audience.
But there is a way to set yourself and your brand up for success in developing strong content.
The following summarizes essential content topic tips from WSI.
Start with your approach.
Before you start brainstorming, remember that content marketing is a subtle approach to building your brand. “As content benefits the user, it builds trust and establishes authority so that your brand eventually becomes part of the conversation. The goal is ultimately to bring the audience along on the buyer’s journey to convert them. This type of marketing is not meant for a quick sale. Content marketing is playing the long game.” It helps you build your business by establishing deep brand connections.
Define and understand your organizational goals.
“Choosing the right topics and setting the right goals for your content starts with establishing a strong foundation and gaining a solid understanding of your organizational goals. Why do you have a content marketing strategy in the first place? For many B2B and B2C companies and brands, the leading organizational goals could be lead generation, increasing brand awareness, driving engagement.” Start by finding your why.
Use your analytics.
After reviewing your goals, take a look at your content and see what your audience likes most. “If you ever feel stuck choosing the right topics for your content, select your top-performing content pieces and try a new spin on an old favorite.” Think about using a content management system to help you by tracking your content and providing performance data. And don’t forget to tap Google analytics: enter your content topic into the search engine and scroll down to view a list of questions or content people are searching for under that topic.
Ask your audience.
When you feel stuck, go directly to the source. Asking the people who use your content to provide you with topic ideas not only helps you respond to their needs. It shows that you’re listening—and today’s consumers want that connection with the brands they support. Gather feedback by using polls or asking a question of the day on your social media feed. “You can also let your FAQs help create blog topics. Taking a look at your most frequently asked questions from your target audience can help you choose the right topics for your content marketing strategy. Even when you feel like you’re running out of ideas and content, FAQs tend to evolve with trends.”
Read the full WSI article here: https://www.wsiworld.com/blog/how-to-create-a-list-of-blog-topics
Relax—and focus on what works.
To jump-start your creative process when you’re in a rut, try using automated tools like Hubspot’s Blog Idea Generator. But don’t rely too heavily on these tools as they may not always be relevant to your market segment or customers. Instead, continue to research industry topics, listen to your customers, brainstorm with your team. And pay attention to what customers and prospects are talking about on social media.
These are just a few of the ways we develop our content topics at Shamrock—and it works. Would you add any ideas to the list? Join the conversation on our Facebook page.
If you’re interested in learning more, click here to see how Shamrock can develop a content marketing strategy tailored to your business needs.
