Blogging has reached a popularity many would have scoffed at 10 years ago, not just limited to online content providers and self-proclaimed ‘bloggers’, many businesses both large and small are beginning to use blog content at the forefront of their marketing strategies.
The number one problem however comes in the arduous task of creating unique content over and over again. Maintaining a cycle of new and original blogs is a tough ask for anyone.
Even the most experienced of marketing firms can struggle for ideas from time to time, most notably if the site in question has been producing content for a long period of time.
It’s not uncommon to hit an idea wall, so how do you overcome it? Let’s have a look at some of the most effective ways to generate fresh blog content.
Brainstorm
The first port of call for any mind running low on inspiration, putting pen to paper and brainstorming ideas can be a fantastic way to reinvigorate you or your team’s creativity.
In fact, you don’t even have to put pen to paper, simply grab a group of you and bounce ideas off each other, no matter how ridiculous they sound (all inspiration is good inspiration!).
You’ll find that it won’t be long before new blog content pops out of places you had never thought of venturing your content into before, as they say many hands make light work and differing visions is the perfect environment to not only spark those creative embers but keep them burning.
Just Ask
What better way to understand exactly what your audience wants to see than by asking them? But that sounds far too simple.
Not at all, lets be honest sometimes simple is best, and it couldn’t be truer in this case. Getting feedback from your consumers is a fantastic way to gain first-hand insight into your target demographic; their likes, dislikes and everything in between.
Using social media, surveys, polls and questionnaires are all great ways on getting an idea of what your audience wants to see more of in your content.
A great way to incentivise a high response rate on the above can be incorporating a prize or reward element for your audience’s participation (we all love free things!).
Bear in mind that it can be beneficial to make such feedback from consumers completely anonymous. Why? Anonymity will ensure that all comments are wholly uncensored and unrestricted, leading hopefully to more honest opinions.
Explore Replies
As mentioned previously, social media can be an excellent window into the minds of your consumers, but what if we didn’t even need to run a survey or poll?
Going through past social media posts and exploring the replies can be a great way to inspire new blog content.
Not only this, keep an eye out for posts that gained a significant amount of engagement, as these signs of traction are perfect signals of what your audience enjoys seeing.
Expanding on these popular posts and their content through blogs can be a hugely effective and fail-safe method of generating content that’s sure to appeal to your demographic.
Past Blogs
Don’t leave your blogs untouched and ignored once posted, make sure you note exactly which content performed well. This is vital for checking any patterns which form over time, are your shorter blogs receiving more hits? Do your blogs with more images keep your visitors engaged for longer?
Learn what works and repeat it any new content. Hang on, I thought repetition was bad? In the world of blogging, not always…
Revisit old blog topics that worked well and update them. For example, if your “Footwear Fashion for 2019” blog had more hits than Anthony Joshua, there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t revisit this with a “Footwear Fashion for 2020” blog.
This method works extremely well for blogs that have not only performed well but are date specific. There’s no point revisiting and old blog that tanked!
Expand on Subheadings
As seen in the paragraph above, revisiting old content isn’t a sin punishable by banishment from the digital content world.
In fact, previous blogs can provide more than just a scrap of inspiration, they can provide a whole feast if you know where to look.
Look through subheadings you’ve used in previous content and view them in isolation, you’ll soon realise that many could be delved into in much more depth than a single paragraph or two can cover.
Let’s say you wrote a blog titled “The Best Days Out in the UK” and within there was a section covering family friendly activities, a subject that definitely has enough legs to run on its own. So why not explore it further with a blog titled “Top 10 Family Days Out”?
Inspiration for even just one new blog for every old blog looked through will leave you with a mountain of ideas waiting to fuel your content calendar long into the future.
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