Many EASA members have a website, post on social media or produce a company newsletter. Inevitably, you have an employee who is almost always in search of content. QuickSprout, an online digital marketing resource, suggests a few ways to make content generation a breeze.

• Social media followers: Start with people who follow you on social media. Click on their profiles and see what they are posting about. 
• Competitor websites: Take a look at your competitor’s blog. While you certainly don’t want to use their content word-for-word, there is nothing wrong with using their concepts for content generation.
• Sign up for newsletters: Sign up for industry newsletters and most will be delivered directly to your inbox. They’ll keep you up-to-date with trending topics, news and events.
• New products and technology: Writing content about a new service or product is always a good idea. First, you’ll be able to generate buzz for the release, which will ultimately drive sales. But the release also gives you something to write about.
• Use data and analytics: Do you have an interesting take on the industry research EASA published in late June? Write about that.
• Revisit previously published content: Your old content should not be forgotten. Use those topics for ideas too. Just re-work the headlines and write the article from a different updated angle.
• Create topic lists in bunches: Create a long list of topics all at once. Spend a few hours researching subjects for new ideas. Give yourself enough topics for at least a month or two. When your mind is focused on the single task of generating topics, then it’s much easier to brainstorm.
• Blog or social media comments: Always review and respond to the comments posted on your social media channels or your blog. These comments can be a great source of inspiration, and you can pull concepts from them to write about in the future. If people ask questions in the comments section, those questions could be used as titles for a new topic.
• Conduct interviews: Ask your customers directly what type of content they would like to see. Conduct interviews and ask them about their buying habits. The responders may start feeding you new content ideas without even realizing it.
• Google search suggestions: If you’ve got a general topic in mind, start searching for it on Google: https://www.google.com. In addition to the search suggestions that appear, you can also check out the related searches at the bottom of the page.
• Recent events: When you’re watching the news or reading updates from an online source, think about how you can make certain topics relevant to your brand.
• Product reviews: Think about recent products you’ve used related to your brand, your industry or your business. Review these topics in a video demonstration or in a blog post.
• Topic generator platforms: If you’re stuck and can’t think of anything to research or write about, use online sources to help you generate topics. One is the HubSpot blog ideas generator (https://www.hubspot.com/blog-topic-generator). All you have to do is add some keywords and the tool will come up with a list of potential ideas.
• Personal stories: Tell a story about something that happened to you or a customer. It could be a success story or it could be a story about a mistake you made. How did you learn from the experience?
• YouTube videos: YouTube can be a great resource when you need to come up with new ideas. Treat it the same way as a Google search. As you start to type in a subject, you’ll see suggestions. When you watch a video, there will be related videos on the sidebar for you to consider as well.

Categories: Technical topics, Miscellaneous

Tags: Marketing

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