How to set up a content machine for your brand and never run out of ideas
You're ready to start developing marketing content but you don't know where or how to start producing content - a common problem.
Whether a beginner or a seasoned marketer this guide will help you get your content machine up and running.
There are 2 main strategies to employ when you are out of marketing content ideas: generate new ideas and repurposing existing ideas.
Search for trends
The content creation space is very dynamic, therefore there are a variety of new topics and interests that are popping out almost every day. Use this to your advantage. One tip is to head over to YouTube and see what new/top videos exist around your niche. Utilise the YouTube search algorithm by asking questions. For example, if you are creating marketing content for a brand that does interior designs, you can type in the search box, “latest interior designs 2024." The algorithm will utilise this to suggest the latest trends and the latest videos that are in demand. This way, you can get an idea of the current topics that are in trend that you can then build upon and start creating.
Another example is the recent wave of AI tools which are pretty much affecting every industry and niches, you can start by searching “How to use AI to improve user experience” if you are creating marketing content for a Software as a service (SaaS) business. If these examples do not really apply to you, use the same concepts to generate questions that are relevant to your niche.
Leverage AI tools to help you
If you are out of ideas for marketing content, AI can give you new perspective that will save you hours of brainstorming. There are plenty AI tools (both paid and free) that are available for helping you get fresh ideas. Use tools like Perplexity AI, which can help you dissect sources, read and categorize full posts, and generate inspiration fast. Another useful tool is Creatify, enabling users to create video ads in minutes at scale using AI avatars, scripts, and more with just a product URL. Read more about how to get started here.
Get ideas directly from your audience and start social listening
One of the most effective ways to generate ideas for your marketing machine is to listen to deploy tools that allow you to hear what your audience are saying online.
Reddit and Facebook groups are places where people openly share their opinions on many things. Visit subreddits and groups in your niche and note the questions people are asking (particularly those that go unanswered), the posts that get high engagement, and the complaints and recommendations being posted.
For example, Artificial Intelligence Group is an excellent resource for people to learn and share ideas about AI! It's also an excellent resource for content creators to get inspiration for their content! Find groups like these, join them, and consult them for inspiration during your brainstorming sessions to feed your content machine.
Create a content bank for ideas and keep it churning
One of the reasons that marketers run out of content is because they wait until it is time to create content before they think of what content content to create. Avoid this problem by documenting content ideas as they come and logging them into your bank - a notebook or spreadsheet will suffice.
A dedicated content bank serves 2 purposes:
It's a place for you to store your marketing ideas for future use;
It gets you into the habit of generating content ideas, ensuring your mind is sharp and ahead for the next content cycle.
Breath new life into existing content
Rather than always generating fresh marketing content, improve or repurpose existing content regularly as part of your system. What have you produced in the past that performed well?
Analyze those posts to understand why they worked, then iterate upon it to recreate existing ideas. Chop them into shorter videos, lengthen them with additional clips, and disseminate across multiple platforms to squeeze value; chances are if a marketing video is dated by months, new users on the same platform could benefit from seeing it.
For example, take one of your long form YouTube videos and break it up into its most important segments that can stand alone as pieces of content. Allocate some to your TikTok, some for your Instagram, etc., over the course of the next couple of weeks to extend your content's life cycle. Look for the gaps on your calendar and insert those shorter form pieces accordingly. The added benefit of breaking your content into parts like this is that you can really analyse which points are resonating most with your audience - perhaps you'll even be inspired to expand on those performing points for even more content for your machine!
Learn from your competitors
If you have content that has neither blown up nor is it long enough to be repurposed, consider looking at what your competitors have done in the past that received a lot of engagement. Use their experience as a template to build upon. You do not have to copy what they have done exactly but you can identify gaps in their work that can fuel your own content machine.
For example, if you're a selling a software product for salespeople, start by identifying a couple of competitors in your niche on Instagram. Do this by searching with industry keywords, e.g., 'salesforce'. The results will pull up a list of accounts related to the term, and some will be competitors.
Peruse their feed to see what content they're producing, listen in their comments to see what people are saying, and note anything that could help feed your content machine. If you find one particularly useful source, ensure you add them to your social listening system, too.
For example, you might spot a comment asking the competitor to expand on a problem they're facing that the video didn't quite address. Take this opportunity to address that problem in your next video, then come back and let the commenter know that you have the answer!
Conclusion
Keeping your content machine whirling is a process that requires time and thoughtful setup of systems, but that payoff saves you a lot of pain in your brainstorming process.
Remember, it's normal to be short of marketing content ideas if you haven't set up your system efficiently. With the tips in this guide, you will have processes in way to constantly feed your marketing content machine, allowing you to produce content week in, week out.
