content inspiration marketing orange

Inspiration: it’s right under your nose!

These days, content creation is a cornerstone of marketing communications. We know our customers want information – and lots of it – before many of them will even consider doing business with us.

Thankfully, we’ve come a long way from the days when advertising ruled the marketing roost and messaging followed the Henry Ford philosophy: “You can have any colour as long as it’s black.” But it’s not just a case of checking off a set number of ‘touches’ between you and your audience before they’ll be motivated to act.

Each touch has to be meaningful.

That might sound like a lot of pressure and expectation on content creators. But it’s easier than you think to find content inspiration that is both accessible and meaningful.

In fact, it’s often right under your nose.

Here are 3 places you can discover new and relevant content ideas:

1. Social media comments

Every time someone interacts or comment on your social media posts is an opportunity to uncover new ideas, unmet needs and a better understanding of how your customer thinks.

Comments will show if your marketing message resonates with your ideal audience, and if your message is clear and unambiguous. It can also identify what needs to be amplified or eliminated.

Pay attention not only to what they comment on but the words they use and try to mirror this language in your own communications.

2. Current customers

Getting feedback from your customers might seem like an obvious place to start when looking for content ideas. It makes sense to focus on what people like about you, right?

But like social media comments, it’s also an insight into how they view or describe what you do, the questions they ask and how they ask them, and the problems they want to solve.

Again, the words they use and the emotions behind them are telling: they can guide the direction and focus of your content and marketing communications.

3. Social media hashtags

Most social media platforms now use hashtags to sort and categorise content by topic or theme. This is the hashtag’s primary function and gives you a great idea of what’s popular or trending. It also summarises the generic terms used to describe a product, service or industry.

But it can also give you amazing insights into the feelings behind someone’s point of view.

Scroll through Instagram and you’ll find a goldmine of self-expression driven hashtags that spotlight the mood, thoughts and language surrounding a topic. They might not all sound polished and business-focused, but this is trumped by their authenticity – something we’re all aspiring to convey in our content!

Eg. A post about family travel might use generic hashtags like #holidays #roadtrip, #drivingwithkids backed by personal ones like #arewethereyet and #thoughttheywouldsleep

Content creation doesn’t need to start from scratch. These are just a few ways to uncover your next great idea! But take a moment to look around, and you’ll be amazed at the rich diversity of messages and meaning that already surrounds you. Let that be your inspiration, and you’ll be on your way to creating more meaningful content.

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SOCIALICON
SOCIALICON