Struggling to fill the gaps in your company’s editorial calendar? Combing the news and answering common questions are reliable topic generation strategies, but as every content developer knows, the well is bound to run dry at times. Digging a bit deeper will help identify the less obvious content your audience wants to see.
1. Data
Take advantage of the data you’re collecting anyway as a way to generate new topics, says freelance copywriter James Dabbagian. “I personally check Google Analytics to see what people who find my site are searching for. Then, I come up with examples and place them in the calendar as needed.”
2. Reddit’s Ask Me Anything
Janeesa Hollingshead, Digital Marketing Manager at Fundable.com, recommends using Reddit’s Ask Me Anything to generate topics. “I’ve held two Ask Me Anythings on reddit.com (one for Fundable’s CEO and another for a client of ours),” Hollingshead says. “Afterwards, I go through the posts to glean interesting or frequent questions and build a large spreadsheet with each topic or question, the date by which I intend to write the piece, and a potential outlet (be it the Fundable blog or an outside media outlet) for the finished piece. This provides plenty of content ideas and keeps my pieces relevant to what audiences would like to read about.”
3. Knowledge Markets
“Check places people ask questions online, such as Quora or LinkedIn Groups. Answering someone’s question with a blog post will do wonders for your credibility,” says freelancer James Dabbagian. Doing a bit of insider research ensures that your posts answer questions that your audience is actually asking. Here at lonelybrand, we’ve seen several spikes in high quality traffic from using Quora as a topic source.
4. Marketing Calendar
James Paden, VP of Product for Compendium recommends adding any scheduled marketing events to your editorial calendar. “Whether it’s outlined or not, you probably already have an overall marketing calendar in place. You’re going to conferences, hosting events, launching products or focused on seasonal sales and holidays. Plan your content strategy based on the marketing calendar. Launch content a little bit prior to an event or during a sale to boost awareness and activate your social fans.”
