No inspiration? This is how you get new content ideas

General tips

First, we’ll give you some general tips on how to find content inspiration; further on in the blog, you’ll find specific tips for a number of social media platforms.

– Ask yourself: do I still know my customers? You don’t create content for yourself, but for your customers or followers. If you’re no longer sure who your customers are and what matters to them, consider interviewing a few of them.
– Analyse the keywords on your site: look at the terms visitors entered into your site’s search bar to see what they’re looking for.
– Take a look at the competition: it’s OK to take a peek! Then, of course, put your own spin on it.
– Stay up to date: many fields are constantly evolving. Is yours a dynamic sector? If so, content is there for the taking if you keep abreast of these developments. For example, by attending events. You’ll hear the latest news about your field and can share with your followers that you were there. That’s how we posted this message on LinkedIn. Other ways to stay up to date with developments in your sector include following relevant hashtags and subscribing to newsletters from trade publications.
– Ask your followers: who knows better what followers want to see than your followers themselves? For example, run a poll asking what sort of content visitors find most interesting.
– Create a regular feature: for example, ‘Friday’s Question’, where you ask your followers a question to get to know them better. This allows you to tailor your content even more effectively to your target audience, and for your followers, it can be a reason to return to your channel.
– Infographic: sharing figures in a text can quickly become ‘dry stuff’. So why not present them in a more engaging format, such as an infographic?

Long-form vs short-form
‘Short but sweet’ seems to be a golden rule of content creation. After all, you often hear that ‘people can’t concentrate anymore’. It’s true – there’s a good chance that WhatsApp messages will pop up whilst someone is viewing or listening to your content, that other tabs are open, and that an email pop-up is demanding attention. But people don’t ignore everything that’s long: podcasts, Netflix series and (audio)books, for example, are still very popular.

So dare to post long content too and see what it does. Social media channels are generally for short content but longer content on your website, for example, can do well.