8 places to get research-driven content ideas.
In this article:
Do you need help with content creation ideas? (We all do sometimes,even if you have a strategy in place, you just sometimes need that spark!)
Often, we just need a content generating session to save to come back to, and I have 8 great ways to get those cracking ideas! Not only that, they'll be what your audience is looking for, as they’re research-based. And they can fit into your existing strategy with no problem.
Answer the public
This one is great.
Answer the public visually breaks down data and provides many content ideas based on what people are searching for on Google, YouTube, or Bing. You simply enter a keyword, and it will give you all the questions that are being asked around that term. Using this site will mean that you actually are answering the questions your audience have. You will find that you website traffic can increase when you use this tool for blog post content.
It covers everything from
search volume,
cost per click (cpc),
questions, prepositions,
comparisons,
keywords,
numbers (like ‘social media 2024’)
plus related searches.
Now, Answer The Public has a paywall and limits the number of searches you can do. You can do 3 a day, so it is not great if you want to do a big research session; however, one keyword search gives you so much to create, you won’t run out of ideas! There is an alternative, though, if you want unlimited searches.
Answer Socrates
This site doesn't offer appealing visual data like Answer The Public, and it only covers questions. But, it does gives numerous questions for exploration without search limitations. 🙂 It is just another way to get to the burning questions your audience has, so it shouldn’t be discounted, even though it isn’t as robust as Answer The Public.
Google Alerts
https://www.google.co.uk/alerts
Use Google Alerts to get notifications about your chosen topic or current trends; it's a great way to stay on top of recent discussions in your industry, and, you get them straight to your inbox! At the end of the day, not only are our audience asking a lot of questions about our industry, but our industry is changing, so using this free tool is a great way to keep yourself in the loop.
It allows you to mon monitor Industry Trends, setting up alerts for relevant keywords and topics.
Receive notifications about newly published articles, blog posts, and social media updates related to your chosen topics. This can also help you to discover new content and talking points in your industry.
It is also a fantastic way to track Brand Mentions, to help you monitor online conversations and manage your reputation. Respond to customer inquiries, address negative reviews, and track brand sentiment.
Some tips to using Google Alerts, be specific in your search word, adjust the frequency so that your inbox doesn’t explode, and use filters like "OR" and "NOT" to refine your alerts and exclude unwanted results. No one needs the extra inbox ‘noise’!
Google Trends
https://trends.google.com/trends/
use Google Trends to explore trending words or phrases, visually analysing and comparing their popularity and related queries. Google Trends shows insights into what people are interested in within your industry RIGHT NOW, plus it's location-specific!
In essence, it lets you,
discover trending topics,
compare search popularity,
uncover related queries that your audience might use,
analyze seasonal trends,
and gain location-specific insights.
Social Media Platforms
Explore platforms like Reddit, TikTok, and Twitter (X) to discover trending topics and discussions related to your keywords. Even if you are not suing them for your brand.
Analysing engagement and feedback on these platforms can spark content ideas, and give you a glimpse of the climate your audience is in. Now Threads has a keyword search feature too, this might be an option going forwards. Threads is definitely feeling like the Twitter of the olden days, so using your keywords in there might give you topic ideas based on what your audience are already talking about.
And while you’re there, if it is a platform you’re using for your brand, join in the discussions, those direct-to-audience conversations can really inform the content you end up creating, by letting you gather information and refine your approach as you go.
Industry Publications
Check industry publications, whether physical magazines or online websites, such as The Verge, to find relevant topics, emerging trends and topics and expert insights that can be use them with your unique perspective.
I don’t mean you run those articles though AI, and I don’t mean reword them.
But you might be able to use a new topic as a talking point for a video,
or you might use an article title as your starting point to write a social media post.
What I mean is let them spark insightful creativity so that you are current and relevant to your audience.
Customer Feedback and FAQs
Look into customer feedback and frequently asked questions to address common concerns and queries, turning them into content ideas that resonate with your audience. It's often overlooked, but FAQs are SO helpful for content ideas- not only that, but you know that your audience is looking for the answers!
Use all your questions, look on comments on posts, go through your DMs, anywhere that your audience has asked something of you.
What are people telling you? What are they talking about? What are you constantly being asked?
If you have identified that a competitor has the same audience as you, you can also look to the questions in their content for ideas too.
AI Tools (ChatGPT and GEMINI)
Lastly, AI! I tend to use a combination of ChatGPT and GEMINI, although Gemini has been winning lately! Although I know others who have said Chat GPT has gont infinitely better in recent months.
AI tools are brilliant for generating content ideas through different approaches, such as requesting suggestions, exploring different perspectives, and engaging in in-depth conversations for a nuanced content strategy. I don’t mean that it should write your content for you, far from it.
AI is writing on facts and data, whereas we write from stories and lived experiences. But it can help collate out ideas together and give us starting topics to work out what we need to talk about.
For example, I might say, 'Give me 20 content suggestions to make Instagram reels that come under the content pillar content repurposing' for some super quick content ideas. I might only like one, but that one might spark five other good ideas. And as always, with AI, the more detail you give it, the more it can give you back.
I keep a page in my Notion workspace that is a long prompt all about my brand. I use that prompt at the start of a new chat so that the AI has context.
And if you use AI with your findings from Answer The Public, you will find that you can create a whole lot of ideas that match your audience, and your brand, and that you will find far easier to create than starting with a blank screen!
Not sure that you have time to do your own content strategy plan or time to execute it? The pop me a note and we should chat.