Your social media success hinges on creating content that makes your audience tick. But..how do you even find content ideas that resonate? And how do you ensure you never run out of them?
This article will share nine places to find content ideas — ensuring you never have to stare at an empty content calendar (wondering ‘what should I create?’) ever again.
1. Ask your audience
I kept the best one at the top. There’s no better source for finding fresh content ideas than going directly to the source — aka, your audience.
All the major social media sites have a poll feature. This alone will help you understand your audience’s opinions, insights, and questions on any topic. Create content around these topic ideas.
For example, Brooklin Nash (founder at Beam Content), asked his audience the maximum amount they’d pay a writer for 1,500 words.
“The most I’d pay a freelance writer for a 1,500 word article is ___________”
— Brooklin Nash (@realBrookNash) February 24, 2023
This question can help him spark conversation with his audience on a broad topic, which will eventually lead to the discovery of unique content ideas.
And you don’t have to stay limited to polls: Instagram has features like Broadcast channels, Q&As, etc. on Instagram Stories. Most networks are coming up with new and engaging ways to help you communicate with your audience via your social media accounts. Use this to your advantage! Ask your followers what they’re struggling with, how you can help, understand their pain points, and create content they would find most beneficial right now.
There’s always Google trends, but today, almost all social media platforms help you find what’s trending on their network.
- Instagram has trending audio indicated separately on your profile or with the upwards arrow
- TikTok has its trending sounds in its Creative Center
- YouTube has a “trending” tab on its Explore page
- Pinterest also shows region-specific trends
You can even gauge how popular a topic is by seeing if the topic’s hashtag has a lot of followers and recent posts. Instagram even releases a weekly trend report on its @creators account.
Social media trends can help you understand what content format, audio, hashtags, and topics are getting the most engagement right now. Maybe you find a trending content topic that matches your social media niche. Or perhaps there’s a trending content format (like saying ‘very demure’) that you can spin for your own social media content.
Whatever it is, trending topics can be an excellent place to find content ideas. The only thing to remember is trends are usually short-lived. So you can’t find a trend today and create content for it four weeks later. Use current trends to find content ideas you want to use right away.
An underrated but smart way to find content ideas is to read what social media platforms publish.
- TikTok has a creative center that contains the major trends on the platform
- Pinterest has a trends forecast report that goes out yearly
- YouTube has a yearly culture report
These reports can help you find relevant content ideas, what your audience is searching for, and what’s working on the platform. Take these sites and reports into account when searching for content ideas.
This one’s a no-brainer, but notice what questions your audience asks via social media comments, blog comments, and DMs. Responding to these won’t just help you solidify your bond with your audience, but also find content ideas.
For example, skincare creator Aishwarya Nagpal regularly engages with her followers on her social media posts’ comments and uses those audience connections to find content ideas.
While you’re at it, I recommend snooping on your competitors’ comment section. It can be a great place to find content ideas — seek inspiration and see what questions your (overlapping) target audience asks. Examine if there are pain points you can help with or content ideas you can use.
Social listening is the easiest way to find relevant content ideas and stay ahead of the curve when it comes to fulfilling your audience’s needs.
5. Find high-value SEO keywords and topics
If you’re anywhere near the world of content marketing, you know about search engine optimization (SEO) and how it ties to a content strategy.
Many websites like TikTok, Pinterest, and now even Instagram are becoming mini search engines for your audience. Social media SEO has become its own thing. The good news? What’s valuable on Google is often also what’s gonna be valuable in the social media world. So, blog topics for Google’s search bar also make for A+ content ideas for social media.
There are dedicated keyword research tools like Semrush that you can use to find seed keyword(s), check keyword difficulty, and find recurring themes. But there are also simpler tools like Answer The Public (or even just Google autocomplete) to just find related topics.
For example, I used Answer The Public to search for the term “organic skincare” and found a variety of related and relevant content ideas.
Whether you’re using SEO for Google or for social media, your audience’s needs are the same. The content just needs to be presented in a different format.
6. Online communities
Online communities are the goldmine of social media content ideas. People share their honest opinions, ask questions, and swap advice. What’s a better place to be for a marketer to find content ideas that’d strike a chord?
There are plenty of places to find your niche’s online community. There’s practically a subreddit for everything. But there are also Facebook groups, Slack channels, and Discord servers. A simple Google search can help you discover these communities. Join them and show up regularly to see what your target audience is talking about.
For example, a Reddit user asked for product recommendations for all-natural skincare. If you’re a skincare creator, this is a great content topic.
You can dig even deeper and monitor what everyone in the community discusses. What questions are they asking? What claims are they making? Which difficulties are the most common? Even just being a fly on the wall can help you get a gorge of fresh ideas directly from the horse’s mouth.
7. Stay up to date with industry news
Industry news is a way to find trending content topics specific to your social media niche.
For example, if you’re a creator in the skincare niche, ScienceDaily can help you stay up to date on the latest findings — which can share with your audience. Allure will help ensure you don’t miss any new products in the market. British Vogue can assist in finding content ideas that are hot in your region. You get the idea.
Staying aware of what’s in the news can help you alleviate your audience’s worries, answer questions before they’ve had a chance to ask them, and truly become relevant. Find a few trusted publications in your niche and follow them regularly to derive content ideas.
8. Follow your competitor’s content
Competitor analysis is a sneaky way to find content ideas, but it’s one that works great — if done right.
To continue the above example, if you’re creating content in the skincare industry, try to follow your adjacent-peers — the ones who cater to a half-similar, half-new audience. Let’s say your primary content centers around reviewing skincare products, and you find another skincare creator whose core content is about marrying skincare with science.
Now, you can follow them to find new product recommendations that you can test for your own audience. You can also reach out for a creator collaboration if there’s a content idea that’s new and relevant for both of you.
Your direct competitors are great sources, too. But you don’t want them to heavily influence your content. To stay unique, sharp, and fresh, you need to steer out of the lines a little bit — thus the drive to find niche-adjacent competitors.
9. Industry newsletters, blog posts, podcasts, and research
Like with industry news, there are several niche industry podcasts, blogs, newsletters, and research reports. You can use these resources to find new and exciting content ideas.
For example, Valerie Monore has a very popular skincare newsletter about all things skincare and beauty. It’s an A++ source for finding content ideas.
Find similar newsletters, podcasts, blogs, and reports in your industry. They often talk about what’s bothering your audience and help you ‘test’ whether a content idea will land if your audience overlaps. For example, if you can see a newsletter issue with more than average likes or a viral blog, you have ensured that this particular content idea hits close to home for your audience.
Anything industry-specific is an amazing resource for finding content ideas, staying updated on what’s going on in your niche, and discovering unique content topics.
Empathy is the biggest source of content ideas
All the above sources are well and good, but the easiest and most reliable resource for potential content ideas is at your own disposal: empathy with your audience.
Put yourself in your audience’s shoes and think: What would they be struggling with? What do they need? How can you help? Create social media posts around these topics. When you come across new content ideas via the methods above, still pause and try to empathize with your audience. What would they want to know? How can you find a new angle?
Content ideas based on true empathy make your audience think, ‘They just get me!’ — the best parameter for social media success.